Aretha and Annie: Sisters Doing It
Listen up and boogie down. The mighty Aretha Franklin and Annie Lennox belting out “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” remind me of the first protest march I organized. It became the theme song for the march, which was huge by Arizona standards, over 12,000 people marching in 1992 to show support for women’s reproductive…
Read MoreHow to Squander Your Leadership Position
As if a year with William Kristol on the op ed page of the New York Times wasn’t bad enough, now they’ve hired conservative pipsqueek Ross Douthat. At least Kristol had some life experience to draw upon.
If the liberal-leaning paper is seeking that elusive “balance” thinking it will attract more readers onto its old media ship that’s listing dangerously in these choppy new media seas, they should think again. First of all, liberal columnists to a fault already explore all sides of any issue they are writing about. They love being provocative and stirring up debate. Second, if the Times’ core readers are to the center-left, well, maybe they ought to concentrate on doing a really great job of appealing to them rather than alienating them.
Read MoreBea Arthur: How One Powered Woman Spoke Up
Actress at age 86.
She was a Tony-winning stage actress when Norman Lear saw her and tapped her for a guest role in his famous “All in the Family” series, where she played Edith Bunker’s mouthy liberal cousin Maude who was
always at odds with Edith’s conservative husband Archie. “Maude” soon became a sitcom of its own, and Arthur’s character continued taking on the significant social and political issues of the day–speaking up about all those subjects we were warned against bringing up in polite company, from sex and infidelity to politics and activism to death and depression.
It was the mid-1970’s at the height of second wave feminism, and if ever there were proof that feminists have a sense of humor, it was in Maude’s way of playing even the most serious of subjects for laughs.
Read MoreHillary Clinton Versus Chris Smith: No Contest
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UH9rC0MaBJc[/youtube]
Read MoreWowed by Women–Powered Bloggers on Earth Day 2009
One of my favorite adages is simply that nothing every just happens; people make it happen. A woman, Rachel Carson, ignited the modern environmental movement with her influential science writing, in particular the blockbuster The Silent Spring. Today on the 40th Earth Day, women bloggers are highlighting their affection for Mother Earth. So I want to highlight some of my favorite women-powered bloggers on Earth Day 2009.
It’s always a good idea to start out by asking a question, and that’s what Feministe has done, opening a forum for their readers to share what each is doing for Earth Day. I confess to rather enjoying Jill’s historical reflection of witches throwing birth control pills out into middle-America, but then old habits die hard, don’t they, lol?
On a slightly more serious note, read Marianne Schnall’s column on how to make Earth Day a family affair. Marianne is a co-founder of EcoMall.com, an amazing website compendium of environmental knowledge, advice, and activism. Marianne’s tips for a family Earth Day today range from taking an early morning walk with your children to help them learn to appreciate the simple beauties of their environment to sharing a family letter writing campaign on an environmental issue that affects your family directly (and what doesn’t?) She’s also the founder of Feminist.com, once again illustrating the connection between Earth Mother and Mother Earth.
Pinching pennies these days? Watch this woman’s video on Top Ten Ways to Save Green for Mama Earth:
Read MoreAfghanistan to Alaska–Who Respects Women Less?
The Twitterati loudly retweeted their rightful shock this past week as women around the internet e-mailed one another to organize protests against Afghan president Karzai’s signing a law a that allows fundamentalist Muslims to enforce Sharia, including requirements that women must submit to sex with their husbands at least every four days, thus effectively legalizing marital rape.
Meanwhile, 300 courageous Afghan women exercised their right to protest this barbaric law by staging a public march to their capital. They were met with over 1,000 counter-protesters, some of whom threw stones, spat, and called them whores, which tells you exactly where their stupidly misogynist heads are.
For those who want a way to voice their opposition immediately, here’s an action you can take to persuade President Obama to act on his statement that this law is intolerable. And here’s how to deliver the same message via text to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
But lest we in the U.S. become too self-righteous, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s nomination of far-right attorney and her longtime Hummer (what else?)-driving political ally Wayne Anthony Ross for attorney general is clear evidence that the same misogynistic strains are yet to be rooted out here.
Read MoreThe Girl’s Guide To The Economy: Elizabeth Warren Explains It All–Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About TARP And Were Very Afraid To Ask
With a big shout-out to Lucinda Marshall at Feminist Peace Network for allowing me to cross post, here are the answers to all your questions about TARP–sort of, as best they can be answered, and so forth. Be sure and read all three of Lucinda’s posts on this topic. (Then please e-mail me, gloria@gloriafeldt.com, and explain it to me.) Herewith, Lucinda, Elizabeth Warren, and Jon Stewart:
In Parts 11 and 12 of The Girls Guide To The Economy we have highlighted the work of Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel over the TARP. Below are Parts 1 and 2 of her interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show on Wednesday. Kudos to Stewart for having her on because clearly she is not getting the airtime she should be getting which will become totally clear to you when you view these videos. It is critical that what she is saying be heard. Listen, cross-post, send to your mother, your boss, your worst enemy and everyone else–let’s insist that the Obama administration and the media pay attention to Elizabeth Warren.
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Elizabeth Warren Pt. 1 | ||||
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Justice Ginsburg’s Right About Roe, Wrong About Solution
Several people have e-mailed me today to ask what I thought about Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s comments about the Roe v Wade decision in today’s New York Times.
“The court bit off more than it could chew,” Justice Ginsburg said in remarks after a speech at Princeton in October. It would have been enough, she said, to strike down the extremely restrictive Texas law at issue in Roe and leave further questions for later cases.
“The legislatures all over the United States were moving on this question,” she added. “The law was in a state of flux.”
Roe shut those developments down and created a backlash that lasts to this day.
“The Supreme Court’s decision was a perfect rallying point for people who disagreed with the notion that it should be a woman’s choice,” Justice Ginsburg said. “They could, instead of fighting in the trenches legislature by legislature, go after this decision by unelected judges.”
It’s also old news that Ginsburg believes, as many others have said over the years that the Court’s decision in Roe leapfrogged over public opinion that was heading in the prochoice direction anyway, so they should have just waited for the legislative process to work.
Read MoreThe Yanks Are Coming–Back–Now What?
The road to the international agreements forged in Cairo and Beijing was long and fraught with cultural potholes, but nothing like the challenges that our own government placed in the path of women’s reproductive self-determination. Now, there’s been a 180 degree turn back to the future, and the world is relieved. But other countries have moved forward, so what’s the next step for the U.S.?
Linda Hirshman, author of Get to Work and columnist for Slate’s new XX among many other accomplishments, and I wrote this commentary. After we were rejected by the New York Times and the Washington Post (what else is new?), we decided it was too important an issue not to see the light of day. So we’re publishing it on RHREalityCheck, Huffington Post, and here on good ol’ Heartfeldt.
At the very moment the Obama administration’s decision to seek a U.S. seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council grabbed headlines, the United States quietly took the reins on the most important human rights issue for humanity’s future: sexual and reproductive rights. On March 31, State Department Acting Assistant Secretary for Population, Refugees, and Migration, Margaret Pollack, told delegates to the United Nations Commission on Population and Development, meeting in New York, that America was back.
Marking a 180 degree turnaround from Bush administration policies that fought international efforts to enable people to control their own reproductive fate, the U.S. will once again defend the “human rights and fundamental freedoms of women” and support “universal access to sexual and reproductive health.” Abstinence-only sex education, the bête noir of health providers attempting to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, was Kung-Fu kicked aside. Human rights apply to all regardless of sexual orientation. The U.S. commits to ratify CEDAW, the women’s rights treaty already signed by 185 nations, and even endorses “equal partnerships and sharing of responsibilities in all areas of family life, including in sexual and reproductive life.”
The global sigh of relief was palpable. For with all its money and diplomatic resources, the U.S. is the 10,000 gorilla in international reproductive policy. Now the question is, while this is certainly change we can believe in, is it all the change we need?
Read MoreWhat's the Cure for Inertia, Stagnation and Utter Depression? Throw Out Fifty Things!
Just this morning I was talking with my friend Karen Scates about how hard it is to get rid of the “stuff” that accumulates over the years. She’s been trying to clean out her closets but keeps finding mementoes she can’t part with. I’m in “deaccessioning” mode, wanting to simplify my life by having fewer possessions. Like yesterday, I was so glad that my husband got rid of our safety deposit box at the bank along with its few remaining contents. Two less things for my kids to deal with when we kick off, I’m thinking. This reminded me I’d asked my friend, author and executive coach Gail Blanke, to allow me to cross post her recent HuffPo article. It’s from her new book Throw Out Fifty Things – Clear the Cutter, Find Your Life; www.throwoutfiftythings.com, because I want to share it with everyone. Check it out! (Thanks, Gail!)
Okay, we’re living in really tough times. Jobless rates are soaring, home values are plummeting, 401K’s are dwindling and bad people are running off with good people’s money. And nothing is the way it was – or likely to be again.
Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to know who we are, or rather who we could become. Sometimes it takes a crisis for us to know what we’re made of, what we stand for, how good we are. And sometimes it takes a crisis for us to let go of the past – so we can grab hold of the future.
Darwin was right. It’s not the strongest of the species that survives – or even the smartest. It’s the one that can adapt to change – whether you’re a country, a company, an institution – or an individual. And if we want to survive, never mind thrive, if we want to rescue ourselves from almost certain extinction, we’ve got to let go of anything and everything that would suck us back into the slime.
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