History never moves at lightning speed, but some days seem even longer than others. The wait today, for the judge’s ruling in the federal trial challenging the constitutionality of Prop 8, was agonizing. We learned yesterday that a decision had been reached and after what seemed like an eternity, shortly before 2 p.m. Pacific time, […]
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.
Sylvia Says What Nicole Hollander Can’t
Do you talk back to TV newscasters? Do you roll your eyes when yet another crazed lunatic blames feminists for the most recent natural disaster? Do you like your politics served up with a side of satire? If so, then you need to have a copy of Nicole Hollander’s new anthology, The Sylvia Chronicles: 30 […]
The L Word is Back–For “Real”?
Showtime’s new series The Real L Word follows the success of the scripted TV series, The L Word, which ran on Showtime from 2004 to 2009 and garnered a passionate following. The reality version is produced by L Word creator Ilene Chaiken, along with Magical Elves, the team that brought us Project Runway and Top […]
Gay Marriage = End of Human Race: Lessons from the Prop 8 Trial
Prohibiting same-sex marriage, it turns out, is not about limiting the rights and freedoms of gay men and lesbians. When proponents of California’s Proposition 8 delivered their closing arguments in U.S. district court yesterday–in a case that aims to overturn the law created by the successful ballot initiative– they gave us a new way of […]
Joan Rivers: Still Opening Doors for Women Comics
Joan Rivers gives new meaning to the expression, “Comedy is tragedy plus time.” In the just-released documentary Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work from directors Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, time is a dominant theme. Cinema verité footage of a year in the life of the groundbreaking comedian, interspersed with archival material, shows Rivers rushing […]
FEMINIST HULK SMASH EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH MS.!
He’s big. He’s green. His favorite activity is smashing patriarchy and all forms of oppression. He’s Feminist Hulk, and since he first burst onto the Twitter scene less than a month ago he’s gathered more than 10,000 followers, who gleefully re-Tweet his 140-character commentaries on gender, feminism and his own personal superhero, feminist theorist Judith […]
A Pre-Father’s Day Welcome to Good Men Project Magazine
Shopping for Father’s Day cards this year, I was struck by the limited range of familiar stereotypes about Dad: fisherman, golfer, grill-master, handyman, beer-guzzler, remote-control hog, king of the castle, and, of course, the sentimental dear old Dad. As far as I could tell from my informal survey of this domain, the only thing that […]
Betty White Gets the Joke
Try telling Betty White that women aren’t funny. She’ll kick your ass. Then she’ll bring in a posse of hilarious women comedians to finish the job, and together they’d put to rest that ridiculous and often-repeated myth about women’s humorlessness. On the May 8th episode of Saturday Night Live, White was in her element, saying […]
Country Star Chely Wright Comes Out
When the story circulated around the Internet that country music singer-songwriter Chely Wright would announce that she’s gay in People magazine on May 7th, some, like the Washington Post online gossip column “The Reliable Source” and commenters on the SF Gate gossip blog The Daily Dish, viewed this revelation as a possible publicity stunt to […]