“I think the future of black feminism will either help to change the world or how we deal with the end of the world as we know it. And maybe these two things aren’t antithetical.”
Tag: Interview
Black Feminist in Public: Veronica Chambers on the Power and Meaning of Beyoncé
“I think people who dismiss her as somehow being a lightweight or a pretty girl with some lucky breaks—as if you can create at that level without thinking critically!—that is actually just another sign of misogyny and how women are discounted for what they create. When we make exquisite things, people assume there are fairies in the night who do it with magic dust instead of looking at the work and the research and the effort that goes into it.”
Sappho’s Series of Lesbian Poets: Vi Khi Nao’s Body of Language
Vi Khi Nao is a prolific, prize-winning author working in poetry, fiction, film and cross-genre collaboration.We talked about her two “sapphic” books—The Vanishing Point of Desire and Swans in Half-Mourning—and, knowing she’d give me brilliant answers, I also asked her two questions almost impossible to answer.
The Ms. Q&A: #RageBakers Katherine Alford and Kathy Gunst Have the Recipe for Resistance
“We wanted to use our skills—both as food journalists, writers, editors and part of a community of women—to help create a book that provides hope.”
The Ms. Q&A: The Women Behind “Pandora’s Box” Want You to Talk About Menstruation
“Pandora’s Box” is a documentary that takes us from Maasai villages to Mumbai, from London to Manhattan—and in each community, we meet people who were deprived of their dignity, opportunities and their voices because they began to bleed. Three of the women who helped tell the story talked to Ms. at the film’s premiere about what they’ve learned from the movement—and the movie.
The Ms. Q&A: Inside Lynn Melnick’s “Landscape with Sex and Violence”
” I hear a lot about how intense my book is and I’m like, yeah! It’s intense living in rape culture! But I also hear from scores of people about what my book has meant, how it has made people feel companioned, and that fills my heart.”
The Ms. Q&A: How Emiliana Guereca is Marching on in 2020
The 2020 Women’s March in Los Angeles will mark the beginning of an entire year of civic engagement and activism led by Emi Guereca, who organized the 2017 LA Women’s March and each subsequent event and launched the non-profit Women’s March Foundation in 2017 to extend its mission.
Black Feminist in Public: Celebrating Tricia Rose’s Milestone Year
Rose’s classic study, Black Noise: Rap Music and and Black Culture in Contemporary America, turned 25 this year—and was also named one of the top books of the 20th century by Black Issues in Higher Education. To mark the occasion, the American Studies Association featured a panel celebrating Rose and Black Noise featuring hip-hop and black cultural scholars. Rose sat down for an interview with Ms. to talk about hip-hop, feminism and the state of popular culture.
Sustainable Leadership: What Drove Tracy Liu Toward WAYB
Tracy Liu is the Chief Operating Officer of WAYB, a company started by the former CEO of Patagonia that is focused on creating safe, durable and sustainable products for families with young children. Their claim to fame is the Pico car seat, made from aerospace-aluminum—a strong, light and easy on the planet material—and a unique toxin-free technical mesh.
The Ms. Q&A: Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy Wants the World to Let Girls Dream
“You know, people, people often ask me why I choose the subjects that I do—and it’s really based on my barometer of anger. If something makes me very angry, that’s what I really want to focus on.”