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Melissa Gira Grant

Melissa Gira Grant is a staff writer at The New Republic, the author of Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work (published by Verso), and the co-director of They Won’t Call It Murder (executive produced by Field of Vision). She was a senior reporter at The Appeal, and a contributing writer at The Village Voice and Pacific Standard.


All Articles
March 15, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
Sarah Everard and the Useless Generality of “Male Violence”
What is lost when we fail to name Everard’s alleged killer as a cop?
March 11, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Year That Broke Care Work
The crisis of care is not new for low-income parents. The pandemic just spread the pain—and created new audiences for old solutions.
March 9, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
A Trial Can’t Bring Justice for George Floyd
Convicting a police officer of murder or creating more oversight won’t stop the killing
March 3, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Sexism at the Heart of Cuomo’s Boss State
The nursing home scandal and harassment allegations exist on a continuum of labor abuses. This is how the governor operates.
March 2, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
This Is How Sex Workers Win
The mainstreaming of “sex work is work” and strong decriminalization policy proposals are signs of the movement’s success. What comes next?
February 23, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Depressing Whiplash of the Senate’s Capitol Riot Hearing
Republican senators culpable in the violence looked elsewhere, as did the police, for explanations of what went wrong on January 6.
February 22, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The 150-Year Prosecution of White Supremacy
At his Senate confirmation hearing, Attorney General nominee Merrick Garland awakened a violent chapter in our history—and vowed to write a new one.
February 19, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Mothers Leading the Battle Against Trans Student Athletes
Their tactics mirror those employed by white mothers who fought school integration: disguising bigotry with pleas to protect children.
February 16, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Non-Hypocrisy of QAnon’s Sexual Politics
A string of Trump-associated Republicans have recently faced charges related to the sexual exploitation of minors. It won’t matter to Q’s true believers.
February 10, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
A Covid Uprising in America’s Jails
A protest in St. Louis exposed the deadly risks incarcerated people in the U.S. have faced for a year. Vaccine delays have only heightened those tensions.
February 3, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Ascension of Marjorie Taylor Greene
The Georgia congresswoman is not some wayward suburban CrossFit wife, a Trump supporter caught in a conspiratorial riptide. She has only benefited from being so underestimated.
February 1, 2021
MagazineMelissa Gira Grant
QAnon and the Cultification of the American Right
The conspiracy theory has become a theology of right-wing rebellion.
January 29, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The March for Life Marches in Place
The anti-abortion gathering isn’t “canceled,” its organizers announced—it’s going “virtual.”
January 26, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
How Do You Deradicalize a Cop?
As law enforcement agencies search their ranks for extremists, deeper questions have emerged about the racist, conspiratorial thinking embedded in those institutions.
January 21, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Beginning of the End of Meaningless Work
Ten years out from “The Problem With Work,” the theorist Kathi Weeks considers the current labor crisis, “essential” jobs, and post-pandemic futures
January 12, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
Sheryl Sandberg, Resign
The Facebook COO’s denials about the platform’s role in the violence at the Capitol should be the last straw.
January 6, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
This Isn’t an Insurrection. It’s an Alliance.
There is only one side at the Capitol siege.
January 6, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
Saving Lisa Montgomery’s Life Requires More Than Stopping Her Execution
The system failed to protect Montgomery as a child. It should be able to offer more now than merely a reprieve from execution.
January 5, 2021
Melissa Gira Grant
The Election in Georgia Is About Reproductive Justice
Rather than seeing the concerns that shape our reproductive lives as an obstacle to reaching voters, some organizers are framing their approach around them. They think it’ll pay off.
December 23, 2020
Melissa Gira Grant
End the Cops’ Cannibalization of Our Budgets
“Defund the police” is not an austerity measure. It’s a demand that we put police department budgets to better use.

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