More Than A Magazine, A Movement
Iconic feminist sex educator Betty Dodson—the godmother of female masturbation—passed away late last year at the age 91.
When I interviewed many of the women who had known her, and were truly inspired by her over the years, it became apparent to me that she had always been this force of nature, so powerful in her enthusiastic embrace of a woman’s innate right to own her erotic power that she convinced her own mother to pose naked for her at the beginning of her career as an erotic artist.
With “Requiem for a Serial Killer,” does Phyllis Chesler leave us feeling that it was acceptable for Aileen Wuornos to kill those men? Not at all.
What she does is leave us feeling that the whole world needs to know the full realities of all kinds of abuse of children, the way it often leads to prostitution, and the forms of abuse to which some johns subject the women they pay for sex. We need to be determined to make such abuse stop.
Yes, 2020 was a year few of us would want to repeat, but there were miracles and moments that made us and our world better, and will make 2021 a year that we can welcome with open arms.
“We have to find ways to recognize the long history of collective feminist contributions and push back against structures of privilege, hierarchy and singularity, structures that reinforce classism, racism, sexism, transphobia and heterosexism.”
The Trump-inspired Capitol riots were a stunning, disgraceful reminder that far-right violent extremism and white-nationalist terrorism are on the rise.
But while much of the commentary about the insurrection has focused on racism, another crucial part of the story has escaped scrutiny: the fact that the vast majority of those who rioted were not just white people, but white men.
We have 13 days left, and I hope we can survive it.
We can celebrate Warnock and Ossoff’s victories, at the same time that we hold accountable those who want to destroy the equality feminists and women of color have worked towards for centuries.
Prior to the pandemic, we were barely hanging on as we struggled with the strain of a too-busy, too-individualistic lifestyle, as we tried to prove we could take care of ourselves by suffering in our nuclear families alone.
Imagine a world where collective care was a daily practice rather than a reaction to cancer, global pandemics and structural oppression. By engaging in collective care, we may begin to believe that we belong to one another.
The chess world is not quite the women-friendly utopia depicted in “The Queen’s Gambit”—it’s full of sexual harassment and hostility.
I hope that sharing the jarring experience of my travel during COVID-19 will open eyes to the scale of the current situation, the contrast in attitudes between Americans and Canadians—and remind everyone the important power of kindness in these trying times.
Countless stories have applauded nurses, and all frontline workers, as heroes during the pandemic. Yet, actions to protect nurses—so they can safely do their jobs—are lacking by the public and places where nurses work.
“Nurses are not superheroes and cannot actually do it all, nor should they. We have asked, and now we are begging for help from the public and policy makers. We’ve been sounding the alarm and some places are starting to listen. When will everyone else?”
