CNN recently replaced long-time host Larry King with British TV presenter Piers Morgan, and Piers is a real gift to the ladies. He’s a hard-hitting, thought-provoking “journalist” who gets right to the heart of things–like the time he asked former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice if she’s “high maintenance” or “romantic,” and if she “dreams [...]
We’ve all heard the expression: “Kids can be so cruel.” Now we have stats to back it up, at least in terms of their treatment of gender-nonconforming children. A new study shows that the non-conformers face rates of cruel harassment and discrimination far higher than cisgender kids–and that discrimination has palpable effects in adulthood. According [...]
In the wake of Republican victories in the November midterms, abortion rights have taken a pummeling. On the federal level, as mapped out in the latest issue of Ms., the Republican takeover of the House presents a massive threat to reproductive rights. Already, the House has introduced a “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act.” While [...]
When Barack Obama was on the campaign trail, running for Senator of Illinois, he met Dr. Sophia Yen–a pediatrician and women’s health activist–who had one very important question: “Where do you stand on reproductive rights?” To which Obama simply replied, “I trust women. Period.” That one simple phrase ignited a movement to make reproductive rights [...]
This advertisement appeared in the No Comment section of the Nov. 1977 issue of Ms. This one’s dedicated to you, Hugh Hefner–congrats on your latest engagement. Can we interest you in renting a yacht?
On Wednesday evening, in a hospital room filled with strong and powerful women, Gabrielle Giffords opened her eyes for the first time since Jan. 8. It was a bright moment after a dark week of frustration and pain following the shootings in Tucson. In addition to members of Giffords’ family, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi [...]
Surrounded on four walls by paintings, each at least 60′ x 60′, the sensation of floating just beneath the cool aquamarine surface of a backyard pool is acute. Floating with Barbie, that is. Such was the feeling I had Saturday night on entering Koplin Del Rio gallery for the opening of “Drown the Dolls,” an [...]
I will never forget the day my Mom brought me–her 3-year-old, blond haired, blue eyed little girl–to Zellers (the Canadian equivalent of Target) to buy my first Barbie. My Mom was a dance instructor, so I chose work-out Barbie. She seemed most similar to my real-life role model–they both wore spandex and sweat bands. As [...]
Yesterday we introduced a project called “Drown the Dolls,” an art exhibition by Daena Title opening in Culver City, Calif., this weekend. Title’s work presents photographs and paintings of Barbie, that constrictive feminine icon, drowning in a backyard pool. Title’s aim with this project was to free herself, through the symbolic act of drowning Barbie, [...]
What We’re Reading
Vintage No Comment: Young and Innocent, 1977
This ad for New West magazine, a short-lived California version of New York magazine, appeared in the January 1977 No Comment section of Ms. Coincidentally, New York magazine published the first-ever edition of Ms. as a one-page insert in 1972. Do you think the same sort of advertising geniuses are behind this campaign that “pretends” [...]