It doesn't take a gender expert to know that the nation's news is still being reported, edited and broadcast mostly by men. But on Slate's blog Double X an extension of the site's XX Factor blog the day's news is run through a frank and thoughtful female perspective. Serving as everything from a virtual book club and sex-discussion group to a parenting chat room, Double X's many contributors are acutely aware of any story that marginalizes or stereotypes the lives of women. Contributors have weighed in on prescription-drug ads that medicalize female sexuality, research on the impact of children on marital satisfaction and the controversy surrounding Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old girl who was rescued during her attempt to sail around the world solo.
From the savvy to the satirical, the eye-opening to the jaw-dropping, TIME makes its annual picks of the blogs we can't live without