FEMPIRE

{ Our Mission }

FEMPIRE--We're real, we're honest, we're funny, and we're crude. This is the online girls' locker room, saying the all the things you can't say when your mom, boyfriend, or boss is around. We're your best girlfriend, your therapist, your stylist, and your priest all in one. Real people and real experts helping you write the instruction manual you never got. FEMPIRE is an online multimedia magazine and meeting of the minds. FEMPIRE's mission is to create a space where like-minded women can find their inspiration, information and entertainment.

{ Our Philosophy }

We believe that every woman can rock life on her own terms. We don't believe in either/or. We dare to be crazy, beautiful, dorky, fabulous, funny, nerdy, sexy, awkward, ridiculous, brilliant, nonsensical, free and amazing, without ever questioning if any of it might be contradictory. So when "they" say: you shouldn't, you can't, you won't. We say: we should, we can, and we will. Just watch us. FEMPIRE. Own Thyself.

{ Our Contributors }

We have the best. Real people sharing their lives. Who better to learn from? We also have a host of professional experts, cuz sometimes we all need a pro. Feel free to comment on their pieces and share your thoughts. Here are this issue's contributors:

Adrienne Moore
Alta Tseng
Amy Westervelt
Andy Goodwin
A.T.Zipoli
Beth H. Allen
Birdie Jaworski
Carolyn Kane
Celeste Hirschman
Danielle Harel
Gwen Bell
Jane Dobson
Jessica Corbin
Lebaron Meyers
Lydia Ellison & Jessica Koosed-Etting
M.Adriel Dwyer
Melissa Reiner
Michelle Gallagher
Shanda Hunt
Vanesa Munoz

{ Friends o' FEMPIRE }

A few amazing peeps, companies and organizations that have helped out and continue to support the cause...thanks a million...truly.

College Dropout
Divine Caroline
Green is the New Pink
SPC
Stitches for Bitches
Tango Diva
The Law Offices of Billy Chan (our counsel)
The Yoga Loft
Track 50
UrbanDaddy
*Zaadz

{ PRIVACY POLICY }

This Site (thefempire.com) is owned and operated by Fempire, LLC.

Personal Information
You may visit and browse the Site without providing any personal information. We collect some personal information from visitors to this Site when necessary to provide requested products or services, and to administer our site to those who register as users.

If you send us an email, we collect your email address. When you register as a user of this site, we may collect your name, mailing address, email address, phone numbers, age, and gender, if you decide to provide that information to us. We may email our newsletter to you or contact you by email occasionally to inform you of changes to the Site, promotions, product announcements from Fempire, announcements from Fempire partners, special offers that might become available, and other information we believe will be of interest to you. You are given the opportunity with each email notification to remove yourself from our email contact list.

We request data such as age, gender, income, and general geographic location to help us better understand the demographics of visitors to our site. This data helps us to design the site to meet the needs of visitors and improve their experience when visiting this site.

We do not sell or disclose personally identifiable information to anyone other than our service providers or, in very rare cases, as required by law.

You may change personal information you have submitted to us through our site registration tool. Simply sign in and edit your profile from your sign-in home page. Certain information cannot be amended.

IP (Internet Protocol) Addresses
An IP address is a number that is automatically assigned to your computer whenever you surf the web. Web servers automatically identify your computer by its IP address. When a visitor requests pages from the Site, our servers log the visitorís IP address. We do not link IP addresses to any personally identifiable information. This means that a userís session will be logged, but the user remains anonymous to us. The site will identify the date, time and IP address from which users access the site when they register as a user and if the user chooses to opt-out of receiving emails or other communications from us.

Use of Cookies
Cookies are information files that a web server places on your computer when you visit a Site. The Site is able to access only the cookies that it sets on your computer. We are able to determine the type of computer operating system, browser, and IP address visitors are using, and we could gather information on the city, country, and time zone. The Site collects this information in the aggregate to improve access to our content based on our visitorsí browsers and operating systems. This helps make our content available to as many visitors as possible. You can disable cookies on your computer by adjusting the settings on your browser, but if you disable cookies you may not be able to access all areas or services at this site.

Log Data
Log data consists of IP addresses and information generated by cookies (see above), and other details about a visit to this Site, such as the time of the visit and the type of web browser used. Log data is collected passively and is not personally identifiable. Log data collected through the Site supply us with aggregate information about the number of visits to different pages on the Site. We use this information only to improve the Site.

Links
For your convenience, we may offer links to other websites. Please note this Privacy Policy applies only to this Site. Any other website may be subject to another privacy policy. We encourage you to review the privacy policy posted at each website you visit before you provide any personal information through that website.

Changes to this Privacy Policy
This Privacy Policy is effective as of January 1, 2006. We reserve the right to change this Privacy Policy at any time in our discretion. If we make any change to this Privacy Policy, we will post the amended version, along with the date of the most recent amendment, on this Site. It is your responsibility to review this Privacy Policy for any amendments.

Notice on Childrenís Online Privacy Protection Act
While we take seriously the privacy of all our visitors, we are especially committed to protecting the privacy of children under the age of 13 years old. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 years of age. We have installed screening mechanisms to prevent children under 13 years of age from visiting any area of the Site that requires the collection of personally identifiable information. A site visitor indicating they are under 13 years old that attempts to submit personally identifiable information will receive an error message stating that he or she must be 13 years of age or older to be a Site member. We believe our policy is in the best interests of children. We hope you understand our position concerning childrenís privacy.

Any personal information that is unknowingly collected from a child under the age of 13 years old will be deleted upon written request from the childís parent or legal guardian. Deletion requests should be sent to info@thefempire.com.

{ TERMS OF USE }

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF USE CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THE FEMPIRE WEBSITE (THE ìSITEî). USE OF THE SITE SIGNIFIES YOUR AGREEMENT TO THESE TERMS OF USE.

Agreement to Terms of Use
By using this Site, you signify that you agree to these Terms of Use. In addition, when using particular services available on this Site, you will be subject to any posted guidelines or rules applicable to such services that may be posted from time to time. We reserve the right, at our discretion, to change, modify, add, or remove portions of these Terms of Use or the Guidelines at any time. Please check these Terms of Use and the Guidelines periodically for changes. Your continued use of this Site after the posting of changes will mean you agree to abide by those changes.

Ownership
This Site is owned and operated by Fempire, LLC. The information, data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages and other information and material (collectively, "Contentî) of this Site is protected by United States copyright and trademark law, international conventions and other applicable laws. This Site is the copyrighted property of Fempire. All trademarks, service marks, and trade names are proprietary to Fempire. Any use of any of the Content other than for private, non-commercial viewing purposes is strictly prohibited. You have no right to use, copy, display, perform, create derivative works from, distribute, have distributed, transmit, or sublicense Content on this Site, except as expressly set forth in these Terms of Use. The sale, auction, lease, loan, gift, trade or barter, or use of any of the Content for any other purpose, in any form, media or technology now known or hereafter developed, including the use of any of the Content on any other Website or networked computer environment, is expressly prohibited. The creation of derivative works based on the Content (whether sold, bartered or given away) is expressly prohibited. Modification of the Content or use of the Content for any other purpose is a violation of the copyright or other proprietary rights of Fempire. As a condition of your use of this Site, you will not use this Site for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms of Use. You may not use this Site in any manner that could damage, disable, overburden, or impair any Site or interfere with any other party's use and enjoyment of any Site. You may not attempt to gain unauthorized access to any Site, other accounts, computer systems or networks connected to any Site, through hacking, password mining or any other means. You may not obtain or attempt to obtain any materials or information through any means not intentionally made available through this Site.

Messages and Forums
You are welcome to post, transmit or submit messages and information (collectively "Messages") to and from your personal web page, bulletin boards, chat rooms, and other public areas within this Site (collectively "Forums"). Fempire accepts no responsibility whatsoever in connection with or arising from such Messages. Fempire does not endorse and has no control over the content of Messages submitted by others to Forums. Messages submitted to Forums are not necessarily reviewed by Fempire prior to posting and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Fempire. Fempire makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the content of the Messages in the Forums or the accuracy and reliability of any Messages and other materials in the Forums. Nonetheless, Fempire reserves the right to prevent you from submitting Materials to Forums and to edit, restrict or remove such Messages for any reason at any time.
Fempire assumes no responsibility for actively monitoring Forums for inappropriate Messages. If at any time Fempire chooses, in its sole discretion, to monitor the Forums, Fempire nonetheless assumes no responsibility for the content of the Messages, no obligation to modify or remove any inappropriate Messages, and no responsibility for the conduct of the user submitting any Message. In submitting Messages to Forums, you agree to strictly limit yourself to discussions about the subject matter for which the Forums are intended. You agree that Fempire accepts no liability whatsoever if it determines to prevent your Messages from being submitted or if it edits, restricts or removes your Messages. You also agree to permit any other user of this Site to access, view, store or reproduce the material for that other user's personal use and not to restrict or inhibit the use of this Site by any other person.
Children under the age of 13 are not authorized to post messages or participate in Forums on this Site.
You agree that any Message whatsoever submitted by you becomes the property of Fempire and may be used, copied, sublicensed, adapted, transmitted, distributed, publicly performed and published, displayed or deleted at Fempireís sole discretion.

Prohibited Activities
You agree that you or your activities on this Site (including without limitation submission of any Messages) will not:
- infringe Fempireís or any third party's copyright, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy (and by submitting Messages, you represent to Fempire that you are the rightful owner of such material or that you have first obtained permission to submit the material from the rightful owner);
- constitute (or encourages conduct that would constitute) a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any local, state, national or international law or may create liability for Fempire or cause Fempire to lose (in whole or in part) the services of our ISPs or other suppliers;
- transmit content Fempire considers to be disruptive, unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, pornographic, sexually explicit, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable;
- impersonate or claim the identity, characteristics or qualifications of any other person or entity; or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity or are false, inaccurate or misleading;
- submit any virus or other harmful component to the Site or otherwise disrupt the normal flow of communication in or operation of the Site in any way; or

Disclaimer of Warranties
THE SITE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMISSIBLE PURSUANT TO APPLICABLE LAW, FEMPIRE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. FEMPIRE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE SITE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT THIS SITE OR THE SERVER THAT MAKES IT AVAILABLE ARE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. FEMPIRE DOES NOT WARRANT OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING THE USE OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE OF THE CONTENT IN THIS SITE IN TERMS OF THEIR CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OWNERSHIP, OR OTHERWISE. YOU (AND NOT FEMPIRE) ASSUME THE ENTIRE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR, OR CORRECTION. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU.

Limitation of Liability
UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, NEGLIGENCE, SHALL FEMPIRE BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES THAT RESULT FROM THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE MATERIALS ON THIS SITE OR ANY OTHER INTERACTIONS WITH FEMPIRE, EVEN IF FEMPIRE OR ANY FEMPIRE AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. APPLICABLE LAW MAY NOT ALLOW THE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION OF LIABILITY OR INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, SO THE ABOVE LIMITATION OR EXCLUSION MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. IN NO EVENT SHALL FEMPIREíS TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU FOR ALL DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THIS AGREEMENT OR YOUR USE OF THIS SITE (WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT, OR OTHERWISE) EXCEED THE AMOUNT PAID BY YOU, IF ANY, FOR ACCESSING THIS SITE DURING THE TWELVE (12) MONTHS PRECEDING YOUR CLAIM) OR ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS, WHICHEVER IS GREATER.

Indemnity
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Fempire and its employees, representatives, agents, attorneys, affiliates, directors, officers, managers, and shareholders (collectively, the ìIndemnified Partiesî) harmless from any damage, lost, or expense (including attorneysí fees and costs) incurred in connection with any third-party claim, demand, or action (ìClaimî) brought or asserted against any of the Indemnified Parties: (i) alleging facts or circumstances that would constitute a breach of any provision of these Terms of Use by you or (ii) arising from or related to your use of the Site. You may not settle any Claim without the consent of Fempire.

Termination
You agree that Fempire, in its sole discretion, may terminate any account (or any part thereof) you may have with us or use of this Site and remove and discard all or any part of your account or any Messages, for any reason whatsoever in Fempireís sole discretion. Fempire may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing access to this Site, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to this Site or any account you may have or portion thereof may be effected without prior notice, and you agree that Fempire shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any such termination.

DMCA Copyright Policy and Copyright Agent
Fempire respects the intellectual property rights of others and expects its users to do the same. Fempire may remove content that in its sole discretion appears to infringe the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, Fempire, in its sole and absolute discretion, may terminate the accounts of users who infringe the intellectual property rights of others. If you believe that a user of the Site has infringed your intellectual property rights, please notify Fempireís copyright agent and provide the following information:
- A physical or electronic signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property right.
- An identification of the intellectual property claimed to have been infringed.
- A detailed description of the material that you claim is infringing, so that we may locate it, including the URL where the infringing material appears.
- Your address, telephone number, and email address.
- A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the allegedly infringing use is not authorized by the intellectual property rights owner, its agent, or the law.
- A statement, made under penalty of perjury, by you that the above information is accurate and that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the intellectual property rights involved.
Fempireís copyright agent is Billy Chan and can be reached at billy@chanlawoffices.com.

Good Samaritan Third-Party Content Policy & Complaint Procedures
It is our policy not to tolerate any acts of intellectual property infringement or violations of U.S. law or to allow for any child pornography or obscene or defamatory material to be posted at this site. We will do our best, in good faith, to remove, disable or restrict access to or the availability of material that, in our subjective view, is infringing, racist, obscene, obscene to minors, child pornography, lewd, lascivious, filthy, excessively violent, harassing, or otherwise objectionable. The provisions of this Section are intended to implement this policy but are not intended to impose a contractual obligation on us to undertake, or refrain from undertaking, any particular course of conduct.

If you believe that someone has posted material which violates this policy (other than in cases of copyright infringement, which is addressed in Section 12), we ask you to promptly notify us by email at the following address: goodsamaritan@thefempire.com with the subject line: Good Samaritan Complaint. You must use this address and subject line if you want to ensure that your complaint is actually received by the appropriate person charged with investigating alleged policy violations.

In order to allow us to respond effectively, please provide us with as much detail as possible, including: (1) the nature of the right infringed or violated (including the registration numbers of any registered trademarks or patents allegedly infringed); (2) all facts which lead you to believe that a right has been violated or infringed; (3) the precise location where the offending material is located; (4) any grounds to believe that the person who posted the material was not authorized to do so or did not have a valid defense (including the defense of fair use); and (5) if know, the identify of the person or persons who posted the infringing or offending material.

By lodging a complaint, you agree that the substance of your complaint shall be deemed to constitute a representation made under penalty of perjury under the laws of the State of California. In addition, you agree, at your own expense, to defend and indemnify us and hold us harmless against all claims which may be asserted against us, and all losses incurred, as a result of your complaint and/or our response to it.
We expect visitors to take responsibility for their own actions and cannot assume liability for any acts of third-parties which take place at this site. By taking advantage of the Good Samaritan procedures set forth in this Section, you waive any and all claims or remedies which you might otherwise be able to assert against us under any theory of law (including, but not limited to, intellectual property laws) that arise out of or relate in any way to the material at this site or our response, or failure to respond, to a complaint.

You agree that we have the right (but not the obligation) to investigate any compliant received. By reserving this right, we do not undertake any responsibility in fact to investigate complaints or to remove, disable or restrict access to or the availability of material. We support free speech on the Internet and therefore will not act on complaints that we believe, in our subjective judgment, to be deficient. If you believe that material remains on this site that violates your rights, your sole remedy shall be against the person responsible for posting or storing it, not against us.

General
The failure of Fempire to exercise or enforce any right or provision of these Terms of Use shall not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. These terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California, without giving effect to any principles of conflicts of law. You agree that any action at law or in equity arising out of or relating to these terms or the Website shall be filed only in the state or federal courts in and for San Francisco, California and you hereby consent and submit to the personal jurisdiction of such courts for the purposes of litigating any such action. If any provision of these terms shall be unlawful, void, or for any reason unenforceable, then that provision shall be deemed severable from these terms and shall not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions. These Terms of Use and related Guidelines may not be transferred or assigned by you but may be assigned by Fempire without restriction. This is the entire agreement between us relating to the subject matter herein and shall not be modified except in writing, signed by both parties, or by a change to these Terms of Use or Guidelines made by Fempire.