Julia Burke

Julia is a wine educator with an interest in labor and politics in the wine industry. She has also written about fitness and exercise science, mental health, beer, and a variety of other topics for Skepchick. She has been known to drink Amaro Montenegro with PB&J.
  • FeaturedElizabeth Banks checks out Channing Tatum's abs in Magic Mike and they are fine as shit

    Five Reasons ‘Magic Mike XXL’ Is a Feminist Film

    I saw Magic Mike XXL over the weekend knowing absolutely nothing about the film going in except that both Mallory Ortberg and Alex endorsed it (which would be enough for me to do pretty much anything, if we’re being honest). While I expected it to be fun, I did not expect the characters and writing to impress me as much as…

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  • FeaturedCarli Lloyd raises her fingers in the air after her third World Cup goal

    Feminism Needs Women’s Sports

    How much fun is sports twitter? I was newly reminded last night during the breathtaking opening minutes of the USA vs. Japan World Cup, when my TL was a sea of caps lock and gif dexterity reacting to the USA team’s performance and Carli Lloyd’s unprecedented hat trick. “I love Twitter,” my male partner laughed as we watched the game…

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  • FeaturedAlan Rickman as Stephen Spurrier in the film Bottle Shock

    Grading Wine: What is the 100-Point System?

    If you purchase wine regularly, you’ve probably come across “shelf talkers,” the laminated tags displayed with wine that often include a review from a prominent magazine or critic such as Wine Spectator magazine or Robert Parker. The review typically contains a few sentences describing and appraising the wine, followed by a drinking window (“Drink now” vs. “Drink 2017 through 2020,”…

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  • Featured

    The 344th Slut: A French Feminist Fights for Equality

    It’s a longstanding feminist complaint: men can do anything from yardwork to club sports with their torsos exposed, but when a woman appears topless in public it’s considered illegal and indecent. What may surprise American readers is the fact that France, a country we associate with racy films and nude beaches, shares this double standard—and just like in the United…

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  • SkepticismRatatouille scene; critic with wine looks shocked

    Cross-Post: Tasting Notes

    This post is a collaboration between Julia Burke at Skepchick and Ashley Hamer at Mad Art Lab.  When Anne Sauer alerted us to a recent article in the Wall Street Journal by Lettie Teague asking whether music can influence the actual taste of wine, the prospect of enjoying our two favorite things (Ashley’s a musician; Julia is a wine geek) was enough…

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  • Feminism

    So You’ve Been Publicly Wrong: Anatomy of a Good Apology

    After making utterly distasteful comments during an interview regarding Black Widow, actors Chris Evans and Jeremy Renner offered two very different apologies today. From Entertainment Weekly: “Yesterday we were asked about the rumors that Black Widow wanted to be in a relationship with both Hawkeye and Captain America,” Evans said in a statement provided to EW. “We answered in a…

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  • Skepticism

    Toxic Wine! A Case of Arsenic

    I emerged from SkepchickCon at ChiFi to find the world’s cheap wine drinkers in an uproar over recent findings that certain cheap wines contain arsenic. A class-action lawsuit has been filed against 28 wineries, including Charles Shaw (the makers of Two-Buck Chuck), claiming the wines contain trace amounts of arsenic. Since then, wineries have begun to dispute the claims, saying…

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  • Activism

    On Madison, Tony Robinson, and White Liberal Defensiveness

    Last weekend Tony Robinson, 19, was shot five times by a police officer and killed. This happened just blocks from where I live. The last week has been a flurry of protests, press conferences, demonstrations, and local and national news coverage. It’s been surreal for me to see activists I follow as far away as Palestine tweeting pictures of my…

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