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 »
On that beautiful day when the women’s suffrage amendment was finally ratified, Alice Paul boldly declared, “August 26 will be remembered as one of the great days in the history of the women of the world and in the history of this republic.” Unfortunately, time has proven Alice Paul wrong. On August 26, 2015, the …
Why Was Media Coverage of Women’s Equality Day So Absolutely Awful? Read More »
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 …
Michelle Ashford, creator, executive producer and writer of HBO’s series Masters of Sex, is just rocking it with the kinds of stories the show is doing under her guidance. Season 1 gave us not only an introduction to the Bill Masters and Virginia Johnson partnership that revolutionized the way we view sex but also a …
A Nod to Michelle Ashford, Feminist Creator of Masters of Sex Read More »
In case you missed it (and really, who didn’t?), August 26th was Women’s Equality Day. It is a day proclaimed annually by the President of the United States to commemorate the granting of the vote to women throughout the country. After 72 years of struggle, women in the U.S. were granted the right to vote …
1848 was a year of revolution in the Western world. Numerous European countries revolted against royalism and class oppression. The Communist Manifesto was published. Irish immigration to America skyrocketed as The Potato Famine ravaged the beautiful island. And Thaddeus Stevens, the outspoken, uncompromising abolitionist, was elected to Congress. But nothing was a revolutionary as what …
Alice Paul was hardcore. In 1916, she decided that Carrie Chapman Catt, president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association was too moderate. Thus, in an effort to be more radical, she formed the National Women’s Party. Paul believed that suffrage would not be obtained by merely lobbying for it; she knew that it needed …