In his State of the Union speech to Congress and the nation Tuesday night—during which Republicans found little to cheer for (and, in some cases, cause to disrupt)—President Biden specifically addressed some of the major issues of concern to feminists. From calling for advancing paid family and medical leave and expanding the Child Tax Credit, to LGBTQ+ rights and abortion—the latter of which is expected to be a major motivating issue for women voters in the 2024 election—he spoke on a number of feminist topics.
Tag: LGBTQIA+
Sundance 2023: In Indigo Girls Documentary, Music, Nostalgia and the Search for Belonging Take Center Stage
One of the best things about director Alexandria Bombach’s documentary about folk rock duo The Indigo Girls, It’s Only Life After All, which premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, is its easygoing intimacy. Singer-songwriters Amy Ray and Emily Saliers’ rapport, with both each other and the director, shines through a series of present-day interviews, concert footage, archival videos and recollections that foreground their music and their partnership over the last 40-plus years.
Sundance 2023: Mother and Daughter Learn to Understand Each Other in Innovative Comedy ‘The Persian Version’
An uplifting and engrossing film that manages to hit just the right notes in both its comedic and dramatic registers, The Persian Version won this year’s Sundance Film Festival Audience Award in the U.S. Dramatic category and garnered writer, director and producer Maryam Keshavarz the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award.
It borrows the conventional immigrant narrative of resilience and molds it into a nuanced reflection on mother-daughter relationships, cultural difference, and the power of choosing your own story.
Sundance 2023: Documentary Exploring Nikki Giovanni’s Life and Work Echoes the Beauty of the Artist’s Mind
Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson’s Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project, winner of this year’s U.S. Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, is a journey through poet Nikki Giovanni’s memories and experiences—a cogent and beautiful assemblage of an artist’s life.
Keeping Score: Women’s Grammy Wins (and Losses); NYC Clinics to Provide Free Abortion Pills; Navajo Nation Elects First Woman Speaker
In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.
This week: The Grammys saw wins (and losses) for women performers and feminist causes; Republicans in Congress call for a nationwide abortion ban; Iowa state rep compares women to cattle; Florida educators reject ban on books in classrooms; NYC city-run clinics to provide free abortion medication; Lisa Marie Presley dies at 54; Biden administration releases plan for renter’s bill of rights; Utah Governor Spencer Cox approves ban on youth gender-affirming care; and more.
Combating K-12 Sexual Harassment and Violence: How Far Have We Come?
Seven years ago, two parents whose child was sexually assaulted on a high school field trip created the nonprofit Stop Sexual Assault in Schools (SSAIS) after demanding accountability from the Seattle school district. In the website’s inaugural blog, Fatima Goss Graves, now president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, wrote: “If we do not bring a serious focus to the problem of sexual harassment and assault in elementary and secondary schools, it will be nearly impossible to make real progress at any other level of education.”
In the last decade, when it comes to stopping sexual harassment and assault in elementary and secondary schools, how far have we come?
February 2023 Reads for the Rest of Us
I’ve written you a column of books that I hope will help you feel your way through the month as you dream of blossoms and sun, springtime and fun. Enjoy these 33 feminist February releases!
War on Women Report: Republicans Propose 150 Anti-Trans Bills; Idaho Republican Says Women Are Like Cows; Trump Glosses Over His Role in the End of Roe
U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
This month: Biden announces new immigration restrictions; Trump glosses over his role in the fall of Roe; Greta Thunberg is detained; Idaho Republican Jack Nelsen wants everyone to know he knows a lot about women; protests erupt nationwide after the disturbing video of police assaulting Tyre Nichols is released; and more.
Anti-Trans Legislation to ‘Protect Children’ Harms LGBTQIA+ Youth—Both Now and in the Future
Already, 150 bills aimed at LGBTQ youth have been filed or introduced in 25 states, from restrictions on drag performances, to bans on pronouns teachers can use in the classroom, to mandates that schools ‘out’ trans students to their families.
As a multiracial queer mom to a nonbinary Jewish child, these issues are both personal and political.
Reads for the Rest of Us: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2023
I have spent the last few months scouring catalogs and websites, receiving hundreds of books and even more emails from authors, publicists and publishers, reading your book Tweets and DMs, all to find out what books are coming out in 2023 that I think you, my exceptional, inquisitive and discerning Ms readers, will want to hear about.
Here’s your TBR (to be read) for the year. Enjoy!