This article originally appeared on artnet News.

Last summer, artnet News conducted a survey of the most expensive female artists at auction -- and though we're a few months shy of hitting a year, with the auctions in New York and London having come and gone, a lot has already changed.

New to this year's list are Agnes Martin and Frida Kahlo, who advanced to the top of the auctions at Christie's earlier this month. Their rise, however, topples fan favorite Yayoi Kusama, who ranked in ninth place last year. Her $7,109,000 painting, "White No. 28" (1960), takes 11th place with canvases by Barbara Hepworth and Kay Sage not far behind.

To determine the new shuffle, artnet News mined the Price Database for stats over the past 10 years. See the lineup below.

1. Georgia O'Keeffe, $44.4 million

Georgia O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" (1932) was picked up by Arkansas's Crystal Bridges Museum for a record-breaking $44.4 million at Sotheby's in 2014, and it still stands as the most expensive painting by a female artist. The work first bloomed in its new home at a special exhibition the following spring.

2. Louise Bourgeois, $28.2 million

Hot on O'Keeffe's heels is Louise Bourgeois's formidable, nine-foot tall "Spider" (1996). The bronze arachnid, which secured fifth place in our roundup last year, jumped three slots at a Christie's Post-War sale in the fall of 2015. At $28.2 million, Bourgeois's "Spider" stands as O'Keeffe's closest challenger yet.

3. Joan Mitchell, $11.9 million

Beloved Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell maintains her seat in the top three with the 2014 sale of "Untitled" (1960). The painting sold at Christie's New York for just under $12 million, exceeding the high estimate of $9 million. Until O'Keeffe's "Jimson Weed/White Flower No. 1" surpassed it later that year, the canvas set a new record for all female artists at auction. When Mitchell's "Noon" (1969) sold for $9.8 million on an estimate of $5 to $7 million this month at Christie's postwar and contemporary art evening sale, it showed that confidence in Mitchell's work is still high.

4. Berthe Morisot, $10.9 million

Impressionist master Berthe Morisot has seen several works fetch high sums at auction, the greatest of which belongs to the nearly $11 million sale of her "Après le déjeuner" (1881) in 2013. Within her movement, however, the work still trails behind fellow contemporary Pierre-Auguste Renoir's "Bal du moulin de la Galette" (1876), which took home $141.5 million at Sotheby's in 1990.

5. Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova, $10.8 million

As a prominent artist of Russia's avant-garde movement, which made waves at the turn of the 20th century, Natalia Sergeevna Goncharova enjoys continued art market success with the 2008 sale of "Les fleurs" (1912), which sold at Christie's London for a little under $11 million. And with her "Espagnole" and "Picking Apples" taking home $10.2 million and $9.8 million respectively, Goncharova (who features prominently in Madonna's art collection) has proven to be a consistent hit.

6. Agnes Martin, $10.7 million

Earlier this month, Agnes Martin broke her record with the $10.7 million sale of "Orange Grove" (1965). The Christie's sale, which catapulted Martin into the middle half of our roundup, is an impressive achievement for the artist -- especially considering her previous record, for her canvas "The Beach" (1964), which sold at Sotheby's in 2013, comes in at $6.5 million.

7. Cady Noland, $9.7 million

As the only living female artist to make the cut, Cady Noland stands firm in our list with the 2015 sale of "Bluewald" (1989). The work, which exceeded the high estimate of $8 million at Christie's New York last May, surpassed the artist's prior record with "Oozewald" (1989), which sold for $6.5 million in 2011.

8. Tamara de Lempicka, $8.4 million

Pegged as the "first woman artist to be a glamour star," Tamara de Lempicka is a recurring hit at auctions. Her most successful moment came when "Le rêve (Rafaëla sur fond vert)" (1927) sold for $8.4 million at Sotheby's New York in 2011. The artist also happens to have a loyal collector in Madonna, who told Vanity Fair in a 1990 interview: "I have a Lempicka museum."

9. Camille Claudel, $8 million

Camille Claudel joins the list with the $8 million sale of "La valse, permière version" (1893) at Sotheby's London in 2013.

10. Frida Kahlo, $8 million

Frida Kahlo's "Dos Desnudos en el Bosque (La Tierra Misma)" (1939) sold for a record-breaking $8 million at Christie's this spring, capping off a rather lackluster auction week. Kahlo's recent market success comes as little surprise since the artist has been the center of considerable art-world attention in recent years. Notably, Kahlo's oeuvre is small, which makes opportunities for collecting her work all the more rare.

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The world of comedy can seem like a gladiatorial arena, where jokes are wielded like weapons, insults are the stuff of casual conversation, and only the quick-witted and thick-skinned survive. But it doesn't always have to be.

On the CW musical comedy "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," created by Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna, it's empathy that underpins and strengthens the comedy, not cynicism, and there may not be any show on TV doing a better job mixing the touchy-feely with the hilarious. Yes, this show is about a pathologically clingy ex-girlfriend, Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom), who abandons her high-powered corporate law firm and moves across the country to embrace an idyllic suburban lifestyle get closer to her long-ago camp boyfriend, Josh Chan (Vincent Rodriguez III). But far from reinforcing flattened stereotypes found in so many romantic comedies, the show subverts them by finding the vulnerability in all the characters.

At a Vulture Festival panel on Saturday night, Bloom and McKenna, along with executive music producer Adam Schlesinger, chatted about the show's distinctive music videos and how finding a more sympathetic angle to each character actually makes the show sharper. 

Take character Josh Chan's long-term girlfriend Valencia (Gabrielle Ruiz), who initially seems like the loathsome, cold, bitchy popular girl stereotype out of a '90s romantic comedy.

"Valencia is a character who is fear-based, and we'll be exploring that more," Bloom told the audience. (The showrunners also announced that Ruiz will be back as a season regular, despite Valencia's breakup with Josh.) "She's been told all her life that all you have is your looks and your prowess, and if you don't have a man, you're worthless."

We're prepared to root against Valencia, Brosh McKenna argued, because she's at odds with the show's protagonist, Rebecca, and "doesn't comport herself in a sweet way." The co-creators gave credit to Ruiz for the character's evolution toward complexity and relatability. "We had probably written her more one-dimensional on the page," said Brosh McKenna, "but Gabrielle brings a dimension and interiority." 

Ruiz's portrayal of Valencia as both a territorial girlfriend who hates other women and a vulnerable woman who loves her boyfriend and is afraid to lose him turns a stock character into a human, someone with serious flaws and worthy feelings of her own.

The showrunners could have chosen to balance a heavy-handed comedic trope with schmaltzy moments of emoting, but instead, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" finds the biting humor in the juxtaposition between Valencia's motivations and her actions. "For us, the comedy of the show doesn't work unless it's grounded in some serious dilemmas, but also things have to pull their weight comedically," explained Brosh McKenna.

Though combining the humor and the emotional arcs may sometimes be challenging, these artistic constraints have been fruitful for the show so far. Eschewing the easy way into a joke about a character tends to lead to both a more empathetic and revealing perspective, but also a funnier moment, like Valencia's earnestly eager yet painfully artificial attempts to win over her potential future mother-in-law, Mrs. Chan, while she watches her rival Rebecca effortlessly charm Josh's family.

In those moments, Valencia isn't just the loathsome girlfriend we expect, the one who could easily have been written as simply rude, proudly vapid and disrespectful. She's not what her boyfriend's parents want for their son, and she's humiliatingly aware of it; even as her attempts to remedy this fall hilariously short, it's easy to feel for her. Valencia, in these moments, is one of us.

Bloom and Brosh McKenna also pointed to the role of Darryl Whitefeather (Pete Gardner) as a potentially flat caricature brought to life by a talented actor and considerate treatment by the writers. "You could play him as a dickish character," said Bloom. It was Gardner's own "gracious heart" and warmth toward the character, she said, that opened him up into someone more complicated, with innumerable comedic possibilities.

"Darryl and Rebecca are actually the most similar characters we have on the show because they're both optimists with a deep sadness who're trying to find their ways in the world," said Bloom. The sad-sack divorced dad who suddenly becomes Ivy League-educated attorney Rebecca's half-competent boss blossoms into someone with a far more real inner life.

This was most notably demonstrated by the arc in which Darryl realizes he's bisexual, comes out, and begins dating a young man in Josh's crew. In the earnestly peppy retro number "Gettin' Bi," he celebrates his newly found identity with the kind of sweetly funny obliviousness of a well-meaning dad who's trying to seem down with his teenager's friends (even as they roll their eyes).The joke, it's immediately clear, isn't on Darryl's bisexuality -- it's on his hilarious but endearing assumption that everyone he works with wants to hear about his sex life. 

Darryl's anthem to single dadhood, however, posed a particularly delicate challenge to the writers. "I Love My Daughter (But Not in a Creepy Way)" sends up country songs routinely found on "father-daughter dance" playlists despite their uncomfortably creepy undertones. But in spotlighting Darryl's devotion to his young daughter, and spoofing the genre of "daddy's little girl" songs, the writers risked casting Darryl as a real creepster.    

"[Brosh McKenna] hit on one thing which was awesome," Bloom remembered, "which is ... we don't want to sell out Darryl. We don't want to make the song actually creepy, and the song went a really cool interesting way that's more unexpected." The final song, performed by a happily innocent-minded Darryl, devolves into frustration as he realizes just how creepy many of the father-daughter activities he's singing about actually sound. 

For a show called "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," it should be no surprise that the comedy specializes in deconstructing cultural tropes and making us root for traditional villains. The show's diligence and range in reshuffling stereotypes is still impressive, however. It's not just the titular crazy ex, Rebecca, who we both laugh at and sympathize with, but her rival, her best friend, her boss, and her love interests. Josh seems like a lunkhead jock who could never be right for overeducated Rebecca Bunch, but we also see that he's straightforwardly kind, loyal and appreciative of Rebecca's talents. Greg seems like the smart, well-suited guy with potential, but he's also granted a host of ugly insecurities, a tendency to self-sabotage, and a touch of smarm. 

When it comes to the music on the show, its dance-pop tributes and Sinatra spoofs, Brosh McKenna said, "They send up the thing, but they are the thing." This also encapsulates the entire show's approach, and how it so insightfully and empathetically enfolds each character into the story in a meaningful way.

Rebecca's character is a deconstruction of the crazy ex-girlfriend trope, but she also is, very much, a crazy ex-girlfriend who comes in and causes trouble. Valencia's character deconstructs the trope of the woman who hates other women, but she also does hate other women. The show as a whole is picking apart pop cultural messages about romance and sex, but it's also a romantic, sexy show in its own way.

By doing both at the same time, "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend" shows us that sure, these tropes might be messed up, but we're not crazy for embodying them, buying into them, being compelled by them. They're problematic, but they're personified by real people with real, relatable motives. We can't have our cake and eat it, too; but maybe we can have our feminist satire and enjoy our romantic comedy, too.

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The hip-hop group "We're Muslim, Don't Panic" was conceived of by dancer Amirah Sackett in 2011, a moment Sackett referred to as "a really tumultuous time in history as far as Islam is concerned." Just seven years earlier, France banned students from wearing hijab to school, the headscarves that in Islamic tradition represent modesty and morality.

Although much of the Western rhetoric surrounding the hijab, niqab and burka focuses on the importance of freedom and empowerment, Sackett noticed that by forbidding women to wear certain clothing, France wasn't liberating women, but controlling them. 

Determined to shift the terms of the conversation, she teamed up with dancers Iman and Khadijah to create WMDC, a three-woman performance group that executes flawless hip-hop numbers in niqab and high-tops.

"I wanted to flip the script," Sackett told Bust Magazine. "I wanted to educate others and reflect the beauty that I know and love in Muslim women. Yes, there are oppressed women in the Muslim world. Women are oppressed the world over. These are our mutual struggles."

WMDC dancer Khadijah explained her personal relationship to the hijab as a 13-year-old woman. "I wear hijab because I like wearing hijab," she said. "I feel as much beautiful as when I don't wear it. When I didn't wear hijab I felt like boys were more attracted to me and I didn't like the way they treated me. Now that I do wear hijab I feel like they respect me more and they look at me as a regular person."

In 2011, Islamophobia was rampant not only in France, but in countries around the world. Unfortunately, five years later, some things have not changed. As of April, The Huffington Post documented 124 anti-Muslim acts in the United States, just in the first few months of the year 2016.

One of the most recent offenses involved presumptive Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump telling, for the second time, a false story about U.S. Gen. John Joseph Pershing shooting Muslims in the Philippine-American War with bullets dipped in pig's blood.

At a time when hate and intolerance have become a common theme of political discourse, Sackett's work is as important as ever. The women of "We're Muslim, Don't Panic" reject stereotypes and preconceptions regarding what a hijab or niqab is and who is wearing them. After watching just a few seconds of the dancers' hypnotic motions, it becomes perfectly clear that the formulaic image of the defenseless, oppressed woman beneath the hijab is, in many cases, pure fallacy.

Rather, they're wildly talented artists and activists who are out to change the world. And dance. Watch the routine in full below:

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We’re now in the throes of Short Story Month, a gleeful celebration of fiction writing with a word limit. Short stories are typically classified as any work amounting to fewer than 7,500 words, but of course, there’s much more to the form than that.

Working within a smaller frame, writers mustn’t meander; short stories often rely on economical descriptions of settings, spare dialogue exchanged between characters, and single scenes rather than years-long plots, although the latter isn’t entirely unheard of, either.

A successful short story should, like any story, present a conflict that in some way or another resolves. Pretty, picturesque settings aren’t reason enough to construct, or engage with a work of fiction; they should also possess a few other traits, according to Kelly Luce, an editor who doles out the career-catapulting O. Henry Prizes. (For example, they should not relate a real-life drug experience, no matter how revelatory, and they should probably veer away from Dumpsters as motifs.)

The below short stories -- and abridged novel chapters -- thankfully, do neither, and we love them all the more for it.

1. “Jubilee” by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Published in Guernica
In short: A college student attends a party her father was invited to cater.

2. “Beneath the National Palace of Culture” by Garth Greenwell

Published in Vice
In short: An abridged excerpt from Greenwell’s novel, about unrequited sexual obsession.

3. “The Tobacconist” by Anna Noyes

Published in American Short Fiction
In short: A man stifles his romantic fantasies about a cigar salesman.

Read our review of Anna Noyes’ book.

4. “You, Disappearing” by Alexandra Kleeman

Published in Guernica
In short: When the apocalypse finally happens, it’s more melancholic than tragic.

Read our interview with Alexandra Kleeman.

5. “It Doesn’t Have to Be a Big Deal” by Rebecca Schiff

Published in Electric Literature
In short: A woman new to dating visits a moochy pot grower in California; hilarity ensues.

Read our review of Rebecca Schiff’s book.

6. “Virgins” by Danielle Evans

Published in Paris Review
In short: A voice-driven story about young women discovering the exhilarating dangers of sexual exploration.  

7. “Midnight Zone” by Lauren Groff

Published in The New Yorker
In short: A woman cares for her two sons at a hunting camp over spring break.

Read our review of Lauren Groff’s book.

8. “Lawn Dad” by Lincoln Michel

Published in Midnight Breakfast
In short: A suburban family deteriorates surreally.

Read our review of Lincoln Michel’s book.

9. “Four Tales for Dry Land” by Kaitlyn Greenidge

Published in The Offing
In short: A woman apprehensively gets acquainted with her body; a woman teaches a reluctant student about poetry.

Read our review of Kaitlyn Greenidge’s book.

10. "The Knowers" by Helen Phillips

Published in Electric Literature
In short: A dystopian story with characters who may choose to know the date of their deaths.

Read our review of Helen Phillips’ book.

11. “The Swan as a Metaphor for Love” by Amelia Gray

Published in Joyland
In short: The author rips apart the quixotic idea of mating for life.
Read our review of Amelia Gray’s book.

12. “The Game of Smash and Recovery” by Kelly Link

Published in Strange Horizons
In short: A girl and her brother celebrate her birthday, along with a houseful of strange creatures. 

13. “The Girl I Hate” by Mona Awad

Published in Post Road Magazine
In short: A woman who struggles with body confidence watches a ravenous coworker at lunch.

Read our feature on Mona Awad.

14. “Composite Body” by Tony Tulathimutte

Published in Cimarron Review
In short: A boy adjusts to his new family after his parents get divorced.

Read our review of Tony Tulathimutte’s book.

15. “Fugue” by Maryse Meijer

Published in Joyland

In short: A girl fends off a crew of young men pursuing her. 

16. “The Janitor in Space” by Amber Sparks

Published in American Short Fiction
In short: A woman embraces her loneliness while cleaning up after astronauts.

17. “You Were Here” by Cote Smith

Published in Crazyhorse
In short: A Kansas sheriff plays cops and robbers with his rowdy sons.

Happy reading!

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Festival organizers often point to scheduling issues and musical genres to explain why there are so few women performing at American music festivals. But in talking with women in the industry, HuffPost found that the truth is much more complicated. From the subtle distaste for the musical genres that women dominate most to more overt instances of sexism -- the gender dynamics of music festivals say a lot about our society at large.

Read the whole story to find out why there are so few women performing at festivals. 

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Most traditional art museums are teeming with nude images, many of which, in one way or another, illuminate particular moments in the history of sexuality.

There are Greek vase paintings and their myriad sexual positions, the reclining painted nudes immortalized by Titian and Manet, the mythological tales brought to life with no sparing of NSFW detail. And yet, sex remains, for the most part, largely unspoken inside the sacred (and often, yes, uptight) museum space, hovering silently beyond the museum plaques and audio guides.

Unless, of course, you're at the Museum of Sex, New York's whimsical sanctuary of sexuality. Then you may just be jumping upon a bounce house of inflatable breasts or climbing a rock wall of penises.

Since it opened in 2002, the Museum of Sex has explored the history and evolution of human sexuality through immersive exhibitions at once informative and imaginative, vulgar and whimsical, cheeky and rigorous. Just as the sex act itself dissolves those pesky boundaries between bodies, so MoSex excels at doing away with distinctions between seriousness and play, masterpiece and schlock.

Most importantly, sex is not shamed, whispered or cast aside as frivolous or offensive at the museum. Rather, sex is studied, shared and celebrated in all its salacious glory, as a crucial site of knowledge, passion and human culture. 

For the past decade, Sarah Forbes has worked as a curator for MoSex, an experience she elaborates on in her upcoming book Sex in the Museum: My Unlikely Career At New York’s Most Provocative Museum. I reached out to Forbes to learn more about her experiences as the most well known sex curator in the game. 

Do you remember the first time you heard about, learned of or witnessed sex?  

I grew up in a household that never made sex a taboo. Instead of it being a single moment where I was shocked by the idea of it, it was a topic that was introduced to me slowly, in age-appropriate ways, across my childhood. While I would say that by kindergarten I was aware of how babies were made, this is quite different from our, at times, more pornographic definition of what sex is, can be or believed to be.

What was the attitude around sex in your family and community growing up? 

While my own household was very open-minded and information-centric, where I could ask any question I had, I remember from an early age realizing this wasn’t the norm. I would see this represent itself in two extremes, either friends who spoke about sex as only a ballet of extreme pornographic acts or as a topic that needed to be spoken of in whispers and code. For me, I grew up with the idea that sex was a normal and healthy part of life. Only as I entered young adulthood did I realized what a gift this had been.

When you first attended the museum, you write that you were struck by the exhibit "Sex Among the Lotus, 2,500 Years of Chinese Erotic Obsession." Can you talk about what in particular moved you?

"Sex Among the Lotus" captivated me in the way in which it blended history and present day content, and was unapologetically frank in its discussion of sex. So many other exhibitions seem to hide this aspect or rely upon innuendo. Merging fine art, anthropological artifacts as well as contemporary commercial representations of sex, this exhibition gave me, then as a patron, a scope of understanding the fascinating continuum of sexuality.

Museums were a big part of my upbringing (my grandfather’s fiber glass company had fabricated the famous blue whale at the American Museum of Natural History), and though I had visitor experiences across a diversity of institutions, the inherent character of the Museum of Sex felt revolutionary to me on this first visit. It wasn’t just because it was about sex, it was the way in which it was dedicated to presenting the topic without the veil of censorship found elsewhere.

It is about creating experiences that educate and contribute to a larger discourse around sex, sexuality and gender.

Did you have apprehensions about accepting a position at the museum? 

Although my background is in anthropology, I had never intended to work in a museum. In many ways, I had issues with how identity is represented across some institutions, in addition to a disdain for how anthropological artifacts have been acquired historically. If I had any apprehensions it was about working in a museum, and never about the topic of sex, though it is always an eyebrow-raising word on your business card.

What reactions did you receive from your friends, family and significant other at the time? 

While the people in my life, before I started working at the Museum, didn’t think of me differently because of my role at the Museum of Sex, those I met afterward certainly did. Some people assumed that my job was a direct line to my personal life and my private desires. Particularly as a young woman, many assumptions were made about me. (Was curator a euphemism for sex worker?)

When people asked how I got the job, there was always an implication that my own sexual prowess had something to do with it, which I’m certain is not an experience most other professionals experience. Dating in NYC as a “curator of sex” certainly led to some memorable experiences.

What did your position as curator of the museum entail?  

As the curator of the Museum of Sex, I was responsible for the totality of exhibition creation. This included the whole arc of a project from ideation, research, sourcing of artifacts, writing of exhibition text, coordinating with outside experts and advisors as well as working with designers to establish all aspects of the exhibitions' visual identity. I had a hand in every single aspect and stage of the exhibitions' formation. As a small museum, I learned how to project manage not only the content creation, but also the management of all the physical aspects (construction, fabrications, installation, etc.) that turns an idea into reality.

What were some of the greatest challenges you faced?

The greatest challenge of my work was doing all of this with a very small staff and limited budgets, particularly in those early years of the museum, when people weren’t yet sure what in the world the Museum of Sex was. Yet, in many ways, having to do much ourselves -- of course, a tremendous challenge when you are in it -- I now credit for my skills and strengths as a curator, content creator and project manager.

What was one exhibition or initiative at the museum you're particularly proud of? 

The exhibition the "Sex Lives of Animals" will always have a very special place in my heart, as it was a dynamic synthesis of science and fine art, resulting in a powerful presentation. With sculptures by Rune Olsen, design by Pentagram and the research of more than a dozen academic advisors, it was an exhibition that in many ways created a “new natural history” model for museums.

How would you describe the mission of the Museum of Sex? 

The mission of the museum has evolved since its inception in 2002, but for me, at its heart, it is about creating experiences that educate and contribute to a larger discourse around sex, sexuality and gender.

While we still have a long way to go, over the last decade working in this field, I have seen a tremendous cultural normalization when it comes to sex.

Have you seen the larger conversation surrounding sex and sexuality grow since you began working at MoSex?

When I first started working at the Museum of Sex in 2004, the institution wasn’t allowed to advertise in the subways due to the taboo of the topic. Now the Museum can be found on billboards across the city and spotted on your morning commute.

While, in some ways, this is due to people’s understanding that the Museum of Sex is actually a museum, it is also a part of a larger cultural shift in which the mainstream is more aware of and open to the diversity of sexuality. The Internet has exposed many to the depths of definitions of sex that were once considered fringe. Objects such as vibrators are no longer hidden novelty objects, but rather designer luxury lifestyle pieces. While we still have a long way to go, over the last decade working in this field, I have seen a tremendous cultural normalization when it comes to sex.

What is a common misconception about the museum you'd like to dispel?

While I think this is improving, the juxtaposition of the word “museum” and the word “sex” has been difficult for people. What is it that we expect a Museum of Sex to be? What do we expect to see? In many ways, it all goes back to our personal definitions of how we view sex. But I do think it’s very important to remind people that the inclusion of the word “Museum” was a very purposeful decision.

What are your hopes for the future of the museum? 

After almost 12 years I have recently left the Museum to focus on the promotion of my book, Sex in the Museum: My Unlikely Career At New York’s Most Provocative Museum as well as prepare for a move to London this summer. Across the more than 20 exhibitions I have worked on it has been an incredible adventure creating content that is both educational and entertaining, which I really do believe has contributed to a discourse surrounding sex and sexuality, an institutional objective.

I hope the museum continues its effort to be a revolutionary institution, creating one-of-a-kind museum going experiences, and I am personally excited to extend this ethos to projects that take shape within and beyond the museum walls.

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The Social Security Administration released the official list of the most popular baby names of 2015 earlier this month. While the national data remained relatively unchanged compared to last year, the state-by-state breakdown reveals some interesting patterns.  

Emma and Noah may be the most popular baby names in the U.S. as a whole, but in more than half the states, other names rule.

Seven other girls’ names -- Olivia, Ava, Sophia, Mia, Harper, Isabella, and Genesis -- are number one in 28 states. And another seven boys’ names -- Liam, William, Mason, Benjamin, Henry, Jackson, and Elijah -- surpass Noah in 37 states.

Some of the differences are regional. Olivia is a favorite in northern states from East to West, reaching the top spot in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Minnesota, Idaho, Washington, and Alaska. In the South, Ava rules for girls at number one in almost every southern state, from North Carolina to Louisiana, as well as in Delaware and North Dakota.

Classic William is also a southern favorite, reigning in a solid block of states that includes Virginia and Kentucky but not Florida and Louisiana. William is also number one in Montana and Utah. 

Other popular baby names defy regional patterns. National number two boys’ name, Liam, for instance, is a favorite from Maine to Florida, New Jersey to Oregon, Alaska to Arkansas. Liam claimed the top spot in 16 states, suggesting the name may dethrone Noah for the national favorite next year.

And then there were the "One-State Wonders," names that claimed the top spot in one state (or the nation's capital) only. On the girls’ side, these include Isabella in Florida, Harper in South Dakota, and Genesis in Washington, D.C.

For boys, Jackson won New Hampshire, Benjamin ruled in Massachusetts, Mason topped the list in Pennsylvania, and Elijah won Oklahoma.

As far as the national list, Noah won first place by dominating in high population states, taking the crown in California, Texas, and Illinois. Emma’s dominance is wider. This name rules in Texas and Ohio but also is a favorite throughout the middle of the country, from Virginia to Utah, Maine to Montana.

To learn more about the state-by-state breakdown, check out all the stats on the Social Security website.

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Heavy is the head that wears the kinky, curly, coily crown of blackness in America.

Poet Hanif Willis-Abdurraqib reminds his audience of this in his piece titled "That Crown Ain't Worth Much." Performed at the 2015 National Poetry Slam in Oakland, California, Willis-Abdurraqib talks about the hardships, tragedies and pain that many black people have to endure.

Even though Wills-Abdurragib is still breathing, he said he couldn't help but to "see my reflection in the slick red river spilling from" a late childhood friend who's story is woven throughout the poem.

Death becomes routine, the poet laments. 

"I know there's always going to be a dead black body in summer," he says in the video above, connecting the lynchings of years ago to the alarming rate in which young black lives are being taken by police brutality. "In a country that wishes your children buried, you do not wish a child on your children."

Though Wills-Abdurragib is older now and in a different environment than the one in which he was raised, he says in the poem that he still longs for freedom from this encumbering routine:

"Nostalgia is a gift for the living. When I say that I am growing old, I mean that I have lived long enough to fear death. I have seen my name carved into stone pressed in the cold earth. I can see what rests on the edge of my reflection, how I look so much like my mother who now looks like no one still alive. This nomadic face. This blank slate eager to shake itself free. This legacy eager to be given but no one wanting to carry it's burden. "

Unfortunately, his words may feel all too familiar for many.

Watch Willis-Abdurraqib recite the full poem in the video above.

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Teens have been showing up and showing out this prom season and this "Coming To America" inspired trio is no exception.

Jawana Young, of Benton Harbor, Michigan, payed homage to the classic film, starring Eddie Murphy, by channeling her inner princess-in-training of fictional country Zamunda. 

From head to toe, Young and her date, Jaylin Lee, perfectly replicated Imani Izzi and Prince Akeem in the "Queen-to-be" scene from the 1988 film. Young donned a sky-high pony-tail and a flawless golden gown with a train that stretched beyond your wildest dreams while Lee sported a tux and fur stole in the likeness of Akeem with a modern twist (because the kids love Ferragamo belts). 

Young's friend, Ardale Clark, also accompanied her dressed as Oha, Akeem's personal assistant, to carry her train. Clark even sang the iconic entrance song as Young strut down the red carpet in the videos, which her mom posted on Facebook May 21, below.

There's no doubt that this teen committed to the role, even hopping on one foot and barking like a dog in one video and, of course, she SLAYED.

We see you, young queen!

H/T Vibe

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Thirty-nine years ago in a galaxy not so far, far away, "Star Wars" was released in theaters. The film, later titled "Episode IV - A New Hope," spawned a franchise and a following of astronomical proportions. Recently, Chewbacca Mom made Facebook Live an actual thing with her record-breaking video that racked up 140 million views in three days, but that's nothing compared to the whole of "Star Wars" legacy.

The most recent "Star Wars" film, "The Force Awakens," broke box-office records, pulling in $936 million domestically and more than $2 billion in ticket sales worldwide. What's more, the combined lifetime domestic gross of all eight "Star Wars" movies also exceeds $3.2 billion. 

But box-office revenue is just the tip of the iceberg. Fan loyalty is worth its weight in gold to Disney. Forbes estimates that the "Star Wars" franchise has earned over $12 billion from toys and other merchandise, $3.4 billion from games and over $1.8 billion from book sales.

In short, George Lucas and Disney/Lucasfilm are flush.

The franchise's following is so massive that it is unrealistic to accurately estimate the number of Jedi wannabes on this earth. That said, "Star Wars" box-office records are a strong indication that everyone worth knowing loves "Star Wars" the force is strong among millions of fans.

Even if you're on the dark side ("I find your lack of faith disturbing"), you can't deny the film's impact on this earth. The space saga has its own Wookieepedia (when it was launched in 2005, that was a big deal), a Death Star in Dubai, and many more things in its honor. Hell, "Star Wars" has it's own beetle species. Without George Lucas, there would be no drunk stormtroopers or "Star Wars" weddings.

"Star Wars: Episode VIII" hits theaters Dec. 15, 2017 and will almost certainly break more records and lead to stranger merchandise and themed weddings. To quote Obi-Wan Kenobi, the force will be with us always.

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Enchanted by Paris' concrete housing estates and their longtime residents, self-taught photographer Laurent Kronental launched "Souvenir d'un Futur," or "Memory of a Future," a captivating photo series that combines the past and future to reveal a stark generational divide.

Kronental began the ongoing project in 2011, chronicling the lives of elderly Parisians lingering in the city's historic "grands ensembles" -- massive housing complexes built after World War II.

Poignantly contrasting the aging buildings and their inhabitants, he said the series encourages viewers to reflect on the resilience of senior citizens who are "sometimes neglected" in a world that focuses on youth.

"I was literally absorbed by the atmosphere of the megalopolis and by its astounding mix of futurism and tradition," Kronental told The WorldPost. "[The architecture] deeply inspired my series by sketching the setting that I wanted to explore: a timeless universe, oscillating between future and past, marked by the wrinkles of its arabesques of concrete."

Take a look at more of the artist's extraordinary photographs on his website and below.

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To see how technology has impacted her family members, Chelsey Hale decided to capture the moments when they were wrapped up in social media, and the results are eye-opening.

The photographer from Watertown, New York, decided to focus on technology for a school photo assignment after she wrote her senior paper on the effects of social media. Hale told The Huffington Post that her photos, which mostly feature her mom, dad and sister along with a few friends, reflect how social media impacts relationships between family members.

"Families are becoming very detached from each other due to social media," she said. "Nowadays at the dinner table, instead of discussing how everyone's day went or making plans for the weekend, family members are scrolling through their news feeds."

Hale also said that social media makes it easy for kids to cyberbully each other and communicate things they might not say in person. Hale believes that spending too much time plugged-in affects the way children interact with each other.

"Children are making social media accounts as young as 8 and 9 years old these days, which means instead of playing outside with their friends, they are commenting back and forth with them on posts," she said.

The photos showcase different social media situations that highlight how technology can have a controlling presence. In one photo, a girl's wrists are tied up by a cord that is attached to her iPhone. Another echoes street art from a Vancouver-based artist that shows a little boy crying after receiving no likes, comments or followers on Instagram. 

A poster of all the photos from Hale's social media series is available to purchase on her photography site. She hopes to spread her message about technology and encourage people to "wake up and log off."

"We need to keep spreading awareness and encouraging people to set down their electronics, engage in conversation, experience nature and enjoy the life that is right in front of us," she said.

See more of Hale's photo series below and head to Cherished Moments Photography on Facebook for more of her work. 

H/T BabyCenter

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Dominican artist Crystal Rodriguez has made it her personal mission to deconstruct and decolonize her relationship with her hair and body. Now, she wants to share that mission with others through beautiful and empowering works of art.

The 23-year-old from Connecticut began creating illustrations in April, which depicted the ways Latinos, particularly Afro-Latinos and women, have been socialized to view their bodies and hair. She titled the original collection "Pajón Comic" and started sharing it on Instagram.  

"I wanted to highlight the everyday struggle Afrolatinxs go through when developing their self worth," she told The Huffington Post in an email. "This comic is for the Afrolatinxs [who] have kept childhood traumas locked away in our hearts because good children are supposed to be silent and beautiful with our straightened hair, faldas (girdles) y media panties (pantyhose).”

Rodriguez has created two issues of the comics, so far. The first issue focuses primarily on Latinas' relationship with their hair or “pajóns,” a loaded Spanish slang term for afro or very curly hair. Though many Latinas have recently begun to reclaim the word, Rodriguez explained it has generally been used to negatively describe afro-textured hair. She touches upon these themes and more in her comics.

On the cover of the first issue, a young girl with curly hair tells her older, straight-haired cousin that she doesn't like her own "squiggly" hair. The older woman spends the rest of the issue reflecting on the ways in which she and her extended family have perpetuated the idea that straight hair is more desirable than curly hair.

Rodriguez’s second installment of the comic looks at how Latinas, often from a young age, are told they must flatten their natural curves and curls in an effort to conform to Eurocentric beauty standards. Much like in the first installment, the protagonist challenges these beliefs. 

"I wanted to deconstruct and decolonize my relationship to my body for my sake but also for the little ones in my family that are forming their identities and self-esteem based on the adults in their lives," Rodriguez said in regards to the inspiration behind both comics. 

"I hope this comic can help us better understand our intersecting identities, harmful cultural conditioning and how to recognize opportunities to honor our differences, whether it is our racial, gender or sexual identities," Rodriguez told HuffPost. 

She added, "I hope people read the comic and want to shake out their curls and dance bachata half naked in their rooms."

Check out more of Crystal Rodriguez's work on Instagram. 

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As anyone who’s had to write a thesis knows, it’s easy to get a little too attached.

Morris Vanegas, 26, has captured those somewhat complex feelings in a photo series, “A Love Letter To My Thesis,” that does it better than words ever could.

The photos show Vanegas — who just completed a dual master's degree in aerospace engineering and mechanical engineering at MIT — sharing a soda, hanging out at a bar and lying in the grass with the hefty folder, among other bonding activities.

The whole thing actually started out as a joke with his mom, he told The Huffington Post.

“She was always worried I wasn’t going to turn it in on time,” he said. So in response to her nervous text messages, he told her, “I’m really, really busy with the thesis,” and started sending her photos of all the fun things he and the thesis were getting up to.

The photographers were just strangers he asked to snap pictures for him. (Some were more eager to help than others.) 

His thesis, by the way, deals with the way that data changes “when variables are shifted,” he said. For example, how something like a Fitbit can deal with interpreting data consistently when factors -- like where a person puts the device on their arm, or how they position it -- change.

Now that that’s out of the way, Vanegas plans to spend the summer working on getting additional ratings on his pilot’s license (like endorsements for a driver’s license) before starting a PhD in bioengineering at Northeastern.

And don’t worry, moms of the world. He did turn it in on time.

See the full series, with Vanegas' original captions, below: 

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A recent Harvard graduate just gave a poetic speech that every student and teacher needs to hear.

In his poem entitled "Lift Off," Donovan Livingston stepped up to the mic at his Harvard Graduate School of Education convocation on Wednesday to speak about the trials and tribulations black people have endured, especially in the education system.

He began with a nearly two-century-old quote from Horace Mann in which he called education "a great equalizer." At the time, Mann said black people would be lynched for even attempting to read.

"For generations we have known of knowledge’s infinite power," Livingston continued. "Yet somehow, we’ve never questioned the keeper of the keys --
the guardians of information."

Throughout his rousing poem, he spoke of the inequalities in the education system that has either held many black people back or used them as mere tokens.

Livingston, who described his passion as going beyond any curriculum, also spoke about finding his light.

"I am the strange fruit that grew too ripe for the poplar tree," he declared. "I am a DREAM Act, dream deferred incarnate. I am a movement -- an amalgam of memories America would care to forget my past, alone won’t allow me to sit still. So my body, like the mind, cannot be contained."

Livingston went on to implore that his fellow graduates -- and professors -- help free their students rather than to speak "over the rustling of our chains." He used his seventh grade teacher, who helped him find his voice, as an example. The graduate said he sees "the same twinkle that guided Harriet to freedom" in his students' eyes. He then urged educators to look beyond their students' mischief and to instead help them realize their potential:

"Education is no equalizer —
Rather, it is the sleep that precedes the American Dream.
So wake up — wake up! Lift your voices
Until you’ve patched every hole in a child’s broken sky.
Wake up every child so they know of their celestial potential.
I’ve been a black hole in the classroom for far too long;
Absorbing everything, without allowing my light escape.
But those days are done. I belong among the stars.
And so do you. And so do they.
Together, we can inspire galaxies of greatness
For generations to come.
No, sky is not the limit. It is only the beginning.
Lift off."

Livingston, who will be attending the University of North Carolina in the fall for his Ph.D., tweeted the day after he gave his speech  how important it was for him to overcome the roadblocks on his journey to Harvard and share his message. 

Bravo, Donovan! The world needs more educators like you!

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Posing in front of handcrafted stage sets as if starring in a school play, refugee children from Burundi and Syria re-enacted scenes of escape from their home countries while others dressed up for their dream jobs.

The colorful images are part of a three-month photo project by French photographer Patrick Willocq, working on assignment with international charity Save the Children and U.K. education publisher Pearson to highlight the plight of refugee kids. Frustrated that most photos of refugee children in mainstream media depict images of despair and hopelessness, he decided to let the children tell their own stories in their own way. 

"By humanizing personal stories, I thought the world would take notice of the breadth and complexity of children seeking refuge," Willocq said in a statement to The WorldPost. "The idea was to show real children and tell their real stories, by involving the subjects, listening to them, creating a décor together with them, by staging their lives and their desires."

Willocq photographed Burundian children at the Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania and took pictures of Syrian children in refugee communities in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. With the help of local artists and volunteers, he and the youngsters fashioned large decorative sets from leftover materials found in their communities. 

"I wanted the overall artistic feel to be colorful, naïve and surreal to help de-dramatize a bit the stories, so that the audience may look at them without apprehension despite the hardness of the message," he said.

Some 40,000 children live in Tanzania's Nyarugusu camp, according to Save the Children. With over 140,000 inhabitants, it is one of the world's largest and most overcrowded refugee camps, the United Nations refugee agency UNHCR noted earlier this year.

Most of the camp's inhabitants are from Burundi. Tens of thousands of Burundians have fled violence and political instability in their home country since it declared independence from Belgium in 1962. Last year, when Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza announced his intention to run for a third term -- which many citizens say is unconstitutional -- new waves of people streamed out of the country amid a violent crackdown on protesters. 

As of Monday, the number of Burundian refugees had surpassed 260,000 people, according to UNHCR. Most had fled to neighboring Tanzania, Rwanda and Uganda.

Willocq also spent time in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley, near the Syria-Lebanon border, which is home to over 365,000 Syrian refugees, including 190,000 children. More than 1 million Syrian refugees live in Lebanon, comprising one-fifth of the country's population.

The bloody Syrian conflict hit its fifth year in March, and has produced over 4.8 million refugees. Over 6 million more Syrians are internally displaced, and almost 500,000 people have died or been injured as a result of the war.

Over 30 million of the world's refugees are younger than 18, Save The Children says. At least 3 million of them have no access to formal education. Young people who are edged out of educational opportunities are more vulnerable to child labor, forced early marriage, trafficking or even extremism, U.N. education envoy Gordon Brown wrote in a blog post for The WorldPost last year.

My wish for the future is to have a place where I can live peacefully, a place where I can feel established, where I can feel that I'm at home.
Girl living in Nyarugusu refugee camp in Tanzania

Even after fleeing their countries, the children featured in Willocq's photos face dangers, hardships, and exploitation. Children in Lebanon's Anjar refugee camp describe working backbreaking 12-hour days, receiving as little as $3 each day to help support their families.

A 15-year-old girl in Tanzania's Nyarugusu refugee camp is afraid to leave the camp for firewood for fear of being attacked. "My wish for the future is to have a place where I can live peacefully, a place where I can feel established, where I can feel that I'm at home, without all of these other problems," she said. 

Save the Children hopes Willocq's photos will draw attention to its "New Deal For Every Forcibly Replaced Child" program, which pledges to better protect refugee kids and improve their educational opportunities. Representatives from the charity attended the U.N.-sponsored World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul earlier this week to appeal for financial and logistical support.

The high-level summit was organized to discuss improvements to the world's aid system, but its outcome is unclear. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the only leader from a G7 country to attend, and Doctors Without Borders pulled out of the event earlier this month, branding it a "fig-leaf of good intentions." Days before the event, Oxfam expressed fears that the summit would be an "expensive talking shop."

Willocq's photos can be seen below. All names have been changed to the protect the children's identities.

Watch children who participated in Willocq's photo series tell their stories in the video below.

Read more:

Chilling Video Reimagines Refugee Girl Fleeing England As If It Were Syria

An Unprecedented Number Of Unaccompanied Children Are Seeking Asylum In Europe

Syrian Children Go Behind The Lens To Show Life As Refugees

‘Straight Outta Syria’: The Hopeful Rhymes Of 3 Refugee Brothers In Lebanon

Ban Ki-moon Slams Western Leaders For Missing World Humanitarian Summit

Why We Desperately Need to Help Syrian Refugee Children Get to School

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Let it be known that on May 23, 2016, 17-year-old TJ Khayatan pulled a funny, placing his glasses on the floor of the newly remodeled San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA).

It wasn't long before the spectacles garnered some foot traffic, as passersby mistook the ordinary lenses for a piece of modern art. Khayatan tweeted the news of his accidental masterpiece and before long, the story went viral. 

A large corner of the Internet took this misunderstanding as an opportunity to say something along the lines of "LMAOOOOO," while others took the chance to call out the arbitrary and idiotic nature of contemporary art.

But of course, there's another, less cynical, way to understand the glasses mishap.

If zealous tweeters spent less time obsessing over whether something is or is not art, they'd have a moment to look at the thing and maybe enjoy it. As SFMOMA expressed in response to the antic, Khayatan's move isn't all that different from Marcel Duchamp's notorious art prank "The Fountain," a signed urinal placed atop a pedestal, which has gone from intellectual hoax to one of the most iconic and influential artworks of all time.

With his urinal, Duchamp questioned what is allowed inside the sacred space of the museum, and why, ushering an otherwise ordinary object into the mysterious realm of fine art along the way. This sharp gesture occurred nearly 100 years ago in 1917, and yet the question of what constitutes art still itches many of us today. 

Khayatan explained the motivation behind the glasses dropping to Buzzfeed. "Upon first arrival we were quite impressed with the artwork and paintings presented in the huge facility," he explained. "However, some of the ‘art’ wasn’t very surprising to some of us. We stumbled upon a stuffed animal on a gray blanket and questioned if this was really impressive to some of the nearby people." 

The blanket and stuffed animal Khayatan refers to make up Mike Kelley's "Arenas," a series of sculptures first exhibited in 1990. In an interview with Bomb Magazine, the late Kelley described his art making practice, noting that he aims to create "art about the commodity in terms of a classical notion of perfection."

What Kelley goes on to describe, strangely enough, seems to resonate with Khayatan's accidental artwork. "To do that you have to separate the objects from the world, put them on a stage or in a frame, like theatre or a movie," the artist says. "Then the objects never change, they’re fetishized as being perpetually brand new. They’re not allowed to wear out."

With a little more context, what seems like a dirty old blanket and a teddy on top becomes surreal commentary on the objects in our lives so often denied attention and, in a way, dignity and longevity. What happens when we put them on a platform, analyze their size and texture and origins? What if even a pair of glasses can become, suddenly and inexplicably, something strange and new when separated from the world, as Kelley suggests? 

Let's remember: Museums aren't out to trick anyone. They're simply a space where looking, and more importantly, slow, thoughtful seeing, is encouraged. Whether you're gazing at a canvas of colorful abstract shapes or staring at the damn toilet paper dispensers, no one cares. Art isn't about the object itself, it's about how you feel it, question it, see it.

And, to be real, what better symbol than a pair of glasses to communicate that?

Well played, Khayatan, well played. 

h/t Buzzfeed 

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You’ve no doubt seen the KISS logo many, many times during your life. Since it first appeared on a New York City concert poster in the fall of 1973, it has become one of the most famous logos in not only rock history, but brand history, too. 

But have you ever noticed that the two S's in the logo are just the slightest bit different from one another?

"The KISS logo, as it appears today, I did with a Sharpie and a ruler," guitarist and vocalist Paul Stanley, aka Starchild, recently told The Huffington Post over the phone. "If you look at the two S's, they're not perfectly parallel because I did it by eye."

"When we got our record deal," he continued, "the art department asked if we wanted it to be redrafted to be perfect and I said, 'It got us this far, let's leave well enough alone.'"

He added, "Our number one rule has always been no rules." 

See for yourself:

Stanley, who was stuck in traffic during our conversation, spoke with HuffPost to promote the band's latest venture: a worldwide movie theater release of their new concert film, "KISS Rocks Vegas."

The Las Vegas residency allowed the band to go after a new height of "sensory overload," as Stanley put it. The set location meant they didn't have to tear down the pyrotechnics, lasers and other theatrics at the end of every night, right after "the sacrificial guitar is broken."

"It's not much different than when you see one of those ships in a bottle and you go, 'How did they get that ship in a bottle?'" said Stanley, who added, "I would have to say, it's probably one of my favorite shows we've done in the last 40 years in terms of design concept."

The last time KISS appeared on this many movie screens was in the 2008 flick "Role Models," starring Paul Rudd. Although the band didn't show up in the film themselves, the main characters dress up as the band to fight in a memorable live-action role-play (LARP) battle at the climax of the movie.

"Paul Rudd was hysterical," said Stanley of his reaction to the scene. "Anytime that we're referenced in a film only embeds us further in American culture. It was a tremendous compliment."

Since the band has prevailed for over four decades, I certainly wondered if Stanley believed his real self to be the version with makeup (Starchild) or without. 

"The makeup for me is not to create a character or a disguise, it's really to fortify and amplify a part of who I am. There's a comfort in it," Stanley answered.

"You'd have to ask Superman the same question."

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Hip-hop group Zulu P is a passionate collective of musicians who enjoy expressing themselves through music and serve as a reminder that rap has no limits. What makes this Queens-based group stand out in the world of rappers and musicians is not only their unique sound but that its members are differently-abled.

It's a "refreshing and uplifting experience for people" to watch Zulu P perform, according to Sam Hillmer, the program director for Trans-Pecos, the company that represents Zulu P. In the video above, watch T Rock, Sweetness Andriena, and Lil EB discuss their experiences performing as Zulu P and their "emotional" connection to music, which is all about "love and respect of music."

This video was produced by Alex Kushneir and Choyce Miller, and edited by S.L. Huang.

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When a stranger shamed her 3-year-old son for wearing a princess dress, this U.K. mom struck back with a powerful Facebook post

On May 20, Haylee Bazen posted a photo of her son Zackary in a Queen Elsa costume, along with one of the two of them in matching Disney princess shirts.

In the caption, she wrote an open letter addressed "to the lady at the bus stop who felt the need to interrupt my conversation with my son."

"I am NOT sorry you didn't like how he was dressed nor am I sorry that you didn't like our discussion topic of who our favorite Disney Princess is (Snow White obviously)," Bazen wrote.

Discussing Zackary, the mom added, "He can be who he wants to be. Today he was a Disney princess, and YES I did send him to school like that."

"Why???" she continued. "Because that's what he wanted to wear, because he wanted to show his teachers and friends his Elsa dress, because he wanted to sing 'let it go' for show and tell, because he doesn't understand the gender stereotypes YOU think he should conform to, but most importantly because he is awesome!!"

Bazen explained that her son has many different interests. "He plays with cars and dolls, princesses and pirates," she wrote. "He rides his scooter or pushes his pram. He wears zombie face painting or lipstick and if he choose to wear a dress he can!!"

The mom concluded by telling the stranger to keep her "disapproving stares" and "poisonous words" to herself ("unless you want to tell him how great he looks," she added.)

Bazen was inspired to write the post after a stranger approached her at the bus stop and asked if she was "punishing" Zackary by making him wear a Queen Elsa dress, The Daily Mail reports. When the mom responded that his outfit was not a punishment but actually his choice, the woman offered some harsh words.

"She told me that we should be embarrassed and that boys shouldn't wear dresses. But if anything, she's the one who should be embarrassed," Bazen said, adding, "If I saw someone on the street in an outfit I didn't like or thought didn't suit them I wouldn't stop them and shame them. Why ruin someone's day?" 

The mom's Facebook post in response to the incident has generated over 154,000 likes and 15,000 overwhelmingly positive comments. Some parents even shared photos of their own sons in Elsa costumes.

Here's to letting kids be kids!

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