It has taken me a year to come to grips with my sadness over the women’s suffrage centennial. Like Ellen Goodman and Lyn Scherr, I expected “confetti and cocktails, triumphant gatherings of women and men. White pantsuits and a red rose. A national shout-out to three generations of [brilliant, visionary, heroic] suffrage leaders.” But the …
Why Was the 19th Amendment Centennial Such a Disappointment? Read More »
Within seconds after she drew her last breadth, the media had a Phyllis Schlafly Festival. Pundits of all political stripes covered almost every aspect of her political legacy, from her Barry Goldwater cheerleading to her anti-feminist and anti-gay activism to her support of Donald Trump. Not surprisingly, most of the articles had wildly different “takes” …
It Took More Than Phyllis Schlafly to Kill the ERA Read More »
I started this election cycle feeling the Bern. Unlike many of Bernie Sanders’ current supporters, I’ve been watching him for years. I’ve enjoyed his passion and willingness to speak his mind, cheered his unabashed socialist tendencies and loved his determination to do what is right. I was so delighted when he announced his candidacy for …
Perhaps it’s silly of me to be upset but I was practically enraged by the “lighthearted” question to the Republican candidates in the last “debate” of what woman they’d like to see on the $10 bill. This question could have been an opportunity for the candidates to prove how much they value American women and …
Another Mother’s Day has passed. We heard that same ole paeans to motherhood from right wingers and the same ole reflections about mothers’ frustrations from progressives. In articles that haven’t changed much since Anne Crittenden penned her classic, The Price of Motherhood fourteen years ago, we saw appalling statistics about mothers, children and poverty. We …
My friend and colleague, Riley Holden recently wrote an article for Feminist Fever about why interviewers should not ask female celebrities if they are feminists. Riley, as usual, made a lot of excellent points. Nevertheless, I still believe that interviewers should ask public figures about feminism – and do it intelligently. As long as we …
Yet another actress has made headlines by denying that she’s a feminist. This time it is Kaley Cuoco-Sweeting, an actress on The Big Bang Theory, who told Redbook that she “was never that feminist girl demanding equality, but maybe that’s because I’ve never really faced inequality.” Leaving aside the truth of that statement (she’s either …
Interviewers Need to Stop Asking “Are You a Feminist?” Read More »
Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings has gotten so many accolades for his stance against domestic violence that you’d think he started the battered women’s movement. The blogsphere is loaded with articles lauding the “man’s man mayor” for his “leadership” on the issue. But does Rawlings deserve it? That’s highly debatable. I am glad that Rawlings is …
How do we judge the success of feminist groups? This is a tough question because we all have our own standards of what we want them to be. For example, take The Women’s Media Center. This is a group founded in 2005 by such feminist stalwarts as Gloria Steinum and Robin Morgan along with Jane …
The Success of Feminist Groups: The Case of the Women’s Media Center Read More »
Right after I breathed a sigh of relief at the defeat of the Romney/Ryan ticket, I feverishly searched for the election results from Massachusetts, Wisconsin and Missouri. I was utterly delighted to see that Elizabeth Warren, Tammy Duckworth and Claire McCaskill won their highly contested Senate races. Several other female candidates won their races as …