In comic books, superheroes always have secret identities, and only a handful of people ever get to know the person behind the mask. But readers are insiders, knowing all along that Batman is really Bruce Wayne and Superman is Clark Kent. (Less well-known, except to avid comic readers: Catwoman is Selina Kyle.) In the online […]
Month: August 2011
Missouri Schoolgirl Is Not Alone
Last week we covered the disturbing story of a 12 year-old girl in Missouri who was allegedly forced to write a letter of apology to the classmate she said raped her on school grounds. When he raped her again (and both his own confession and physical evidence corroborated the new allegation), she was suspended. She’s […]
“Rotis not Riots” Offers England Food for Thought
In the vacuum of discussions connecting women to this month’s ferocious riots in England, a group called “Rotis not Riots” launched on Facebook this week “to make sense of this unprecedented violence from a feminist perspective.” The group emerged from a casual conversation between three women dealing with the helplessness they felt in the aftermath […]
Work-Life Balance? Forget It, Says Bloomberg Case Judge
At a time when work, workers and the workplace are “job one” for the struggling U.S. economy, it’s discouraging to find out that the nation just can’t get serious about taking half of its workforce seriously. The female half. I’m referring to Wednesday’s court decision in which U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska dismissed a class-action discrimination […]
First U.S. Perinatal Psychiatry Clinic Opens–But We Need MORE
This week at the University of North Carolina, a new clinic opened to provide mental health treatment for new and expectant mothers. And I don’t know if I should consider it a sign of colossal progress or failure. Let me explain. On Monday, UNC’s Center for Women’s Mood Disorders launched as the first free-standing, inpatient […]
Struggle Hasn’t Changed for ‘The Help’ of Today
When The Help opened this week, hundreds of thousands of theatergoers were swept up by the story of domestic workers struggling for dignity and respect in Civil Rights-era Mississippi. Those viewers might be surprised to learn that across Chicago and America, modern domestic workers are living out that struggle today. The Help tells the story […]
The Verbal Karate of Florynce R. Kennedy, Esq.
Watching the new HBO documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words left us nostalgic for the early days of Ms. and eager to hear about even more of the women who launched the contemporary feminist movement–especially the memorable Flo Kennedy. Just a few moments of footage of Kennedy (who died in 2000 at age 84) at […]
“Porgy And Bess,” Without the Sexism and Racism?
How should artists approach remounting the classics? Should they respect all of the author’s original intentions and stage a version of the show that reflects them perfectly? Or should they attempt to remove the historical residue attached to pieces that, however conscious the authors may have been of trying to do good, inevitably reflects the […]
School District Allegedly Expelled 7th-Grader for Reporting Her Rape
The Republic School District in Springfield, MO, is facing a lawsuit for allegedly ignoring a young victim’s multiple rapes and then expelling her for reporting her attacker. The story is yet another awful example of the victim-blaming culture surrounding rape in schools. Like the recent story of the young cheerleader in Texas–who was kicked off […]
ACLU Sues To Block Kansas Abortion Bill
The American Civil Liberties Union of Kansas filed suit this week in an attempt to block a Kansas law that bans private health insurance plans from covering abortions. According to the Guttmacher Institute, 87 percent of employer-based insurance policies nationwide cover abortions. The Kansas bill forces private insurance companies to remove abortion from the list […]