Is Women’s Empowerment Really the Problem?

Women’s empowerment has become a problem. Again. According to Katrin Bennhold of The New York Times and its global edition, the International Herald Tribune, women’s empowerment may be killing romance. Bennhold writes: Sexual attraction in the 21st century, it seems, still feeds on 20th-century stereotypes. Now, as more women match or overtake men in education [...]

Take Action for Pay Equity: Call In Today!

As the “lame duck session” of Congress got underway yesterday, the impending vote on the Paycheck Fairness Act gives the current sitting senators the opportunity to prove that they are anything but, well, lame ducks. This legislation, formally known as H.R. 12, is designed to strengthen the Equal Pay Act of 1963, closing the loopholes [...]

We Still Believe Anita Hill (and We’re Dumbstruck by Ginni Thomas)

I somehow read The New York Times piece wrong when I first glanced at it yesterday: I thought it said that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife Virginia–she of the new tea party-linked lobbying group Liberty Central Inc.–called Anita Hill to apologize to her. Wow, Mrs. T wanted to offer an olive branch to the [...]

Gay Bashing is About Masculinity

The tragic suicide of Rutgers freshman Tyler Clementi has led to a wave of national hand-wringing anguish about the daily torture and humiliations suffered by young gays and lesbians. An article in The New York Times expanded the conversation to include the stories of several other gay teens who recently committed suicide, such as Seth [...]

Global Roundup: MDG, Women Cabbies, the Roma and More

In the last two weeks, the United Nations hosted the Millennium Development Goals summit, women cab drivers navigated Cairo’s streets, the dispute between France and the European Union over Roma expulsions heated up and women’s rights activists stepped up the legal pressure to decriminalize abortion in Argentina. Global: Last week, the United Nations hosted a [...]

Feds Slap Sheriff Joe Arpaio with Lawsuit

It’s been the summer of Arizona vs. the federal government, with lawsuits flying fast and furiously. The controversial state government now has yet another legal battle on its hands. Today, the U.S. Justice Department filed suit against Arizona’s infamous Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his refusal to cooperate with a federal investigation of possible human rights [...]

Equality, Without Marriage?

While following the ups and down of the Prop 8 trial, I was reminded of an editorial by Bob Morris in The New York Times way back in 2004. “Gay Marriage? How Straight” was a cheeky bit of contrarianism, a gay man’s lament that marriage equality could ruin what he considered the relative freedom of [...]

What’s in a Name? For “Ms.,” a Long History

Ever since Ms. emerged as a marriage-neutral alternative to Miss and Mrs. in the 1970s, linguists have been trying to trace the origins of this new honorific. It turns out that Ms. is not so new after all. The form goes back at least to the 1760s, when it served as an abbreviation for Mistress [...]

When Women Went on Strike: Remembering Equality Day, 1970

Bold moves and high-risk strategies have been a feminist tradition since the days of Alice Paul and Susan B. Anthony. But on March 20, 1970, when Betty Friedan gave her farewell address as outgoing president of NOW and called for a nationwide women’s strike on August 26 (the 50th anniversary of winning the vote), the [...]

Oh, Grow Up Already!

On Sunday, The New York Times Magazine cover story, “What Is It About 20-Somethings,” argued that society is in the thick of a changing timetable for the transition to adulthood. To explain why young folks are stuck in a generational loop of the Peter Pan syndrome—unwilling or unable to grow up, get a job and [...]

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