Activist Grace Lee Boggs is finally getting the national attention she has long deserved, thanks to a new documentary, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, airing tonight on PBS’s POV series (and then streaming on POV’s website from July 1-30). At age 99— her birthday was this past Friday—Boggs is still going strong. […]
Author: Audrey Bilger
Audrey Bilger is the current president of Reed College, and previously served as vice president and dean of Pomona College. She is also a former professor of literature at Claremont McKenna College and faculty director of the Center for Writing and Public Discourse. She also teaches gender studies, and occasionally yoga. Her latest book, which she co-edited with Michele Kort, is Here Come the Brides! Reflections on Lesbian Love and Marriage (Seal Press, 2012). She is also the author of Laughing Feminism, editor of an edition of Jane Collier’s 1753 satire "An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting," and a frequent contributor to Bitch magazine. Her work has been featured in The Paris Review, Rockrgrl, the Huffington Post and the Women's Media Center.
The Case Against 8: Love Conquers All
This time last year, the nation held its breath waiting for the Supreme Court to rule on two major marriage equality cases—and on June 26, 2013, SCOTUS declared both the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 to be unconstitutional. In the months since that decision came down, support for marriage rights for […]
The Marriage Equality Victories of 2013
UPDATE: Today, a federal district judge struck down as unconstitutional Utah’s 2004 ban on same-sex marriage, and the Salt Lake County clerk’s office has started issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples! This year will long be remembered as a watershed for marriage equality in the United States. With big wins at the Supreme Court, and […]
Moms and Mr. Moms: Funny and Smart
Calling all Comedy Central junkies, SNL fans and lovers of The Colbert Report: If you care about the history of comedy, then you need to know about Jackie “Moms” Mabley, and unless you’ve done your humor homework, chances are pretty good that you don’t. Moms Mabley (born Loretta Mary Aiken) was one of the biggest comedy […]
Want to See More Women Writers in The New York Times?
If The New York Times—or any other publication—wants to include more women as writers and sources, here’s simply what it has to do: Pay attention. As the Ms. Blog reported in early August, a recently launched website, Who Writes for the New York Times, keeps track of gender imbalances in a way that could help the Times’ editors […]
A New DIY Movement: #SmartFeministsofTwitter
Best-of lists are always controversy magnets. By definition, they elevate some at the expense of others. Earlier this week, when Fast Company published a list, compiled by Ann Charles, of “25 of the Smartest Women on Twitter” that failed to include a single woman of color, the Twittersphere responded immediately. Within a day, the hashtag […]
We’re Glad That Marriage Equality Makes Alito and Scalia Mad
Today’s Supreme Court marriage decisions are big news for all U.S. citizens who care about equality. Not only do the rulings affirm the democratic principle of equal rights for all, they also signal a victory for the idea of equality within marriage—whether you’re gay or straight. The battle lines in these cases have to do with […]
What Scalia Says About Gay People
As we wait for the Supreme Court decisions on marriage equality to come down in June, commentators have been dissecting the oral arguments and making predictions about the possible outcomes. But there’s one SCOTUS judge who leaves no doubt about how he will rule: Justice Antonin Scalia will undoubtedly vote against gay rights. He disapproves […]
Opponents of Marriage Equality Want to Control Straight Men
“Very few men outlive their fertility.” Who would have expected the argument against same-sex marriage to hinge on male fertility? But such was the case yesterday when attorney Charles Cooper uttered that statement to explain the meaning of “responsible procreation,” the central argument he advanced in favor of prohibiting same-sex marriages in his defense of […]