I helped make this nifty little video for Women's eNews, where development intern Angela and I got to meander around downtown Manhattan and ask strangers about women's history. It yielded some interesting results. Enjoy! (I'm on the right...)



If you're around the NYC area, definitely try to make it to the launch of Opening the Way on October 23rd. Not just saying this because I work for Women's eNews... but I really was in awe at the abundance of women's history packed into this tiny area. I guarantee anyone who takes time to read this blog will enjoy it :)

Here's me making up for the lack of updates with LOTS of links to lovely feminist news, and with a picture of cute animals XD



A legislation has been introduced to END funding for abstinence-only education. Cue the Hallelujah chorus. In a press release, Congresswoman Lee stated: "The issues of unplanned pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections among our young people have reached a critical level. The best and most responsible way to protect them is through comprehensive sex education." Amen, sistah.

Interesting: "How 19th Century Prostitutes Were Among the Freest, Wealthiest, Most Educated Women of Their Time."

From Jezebel: "In what is perhaps a strange homage to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Cosmopolitan has come up with '50 Great Things To Do With Your Breasts,' and guess what? Most of them revolve around dudes." Would you expect anything less from Cosmo?

A new poll shows that Latino voters are reluctant to embrace the GOP, despite the GOP's efforts to lure them in.

Lance Bass and my gay husband, Neil Patrick Harris, are speaking out against bullying of queer-identified youth, prompted by the recent suicide of Tyler Clementi. Lance even admits that he used to bully LGBTQ youth himself. But Queerty points out that we also need to hear from celebrities who "built their image on being bullies," e.g. 50 Cent, whose recent anti-gay pro-suicide Tweet got him in some deep shit.

Quite possibly the best submission to PostSecret I've ever seen.

Two (male) senators are halting the construction of the National Women's History Museum: "Their reasoning for blocking the National Women's History Museum, which would showcase the original, signed 19th amendment along tens of thousands of other artifacts central to women's history in the U.S., is that taxpayers might be asked to subsidize the museum in the future and that the museum would focus on abortion rights without 'without featuring any of the many contributions of the pro-life movement in America.'" GAH!

Dolce & Gabanna photoshopped Madonna within inches of her life in her newest spread for them.

A new series from Women's eNews, "Poverty - Tales from the Recession's Front Lines," explores the burdens placed on women during the recession. Also available in Spanish.

Don't have too much time to blog, but I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a
For those of you who don't know, August 26th was picked by U.S. Congress as Women's Equality Day because it was the day the 19th amendment was passed, giving women (though women of color were widely left out) the right to vote. Today marks 90 years.

If you're a reader of this blog, most likely you know the seemingly endless list of reasons as to why feminism is still necessary... the simple reason being, "WE STILL AIN'T EQUAL!" And let me try to make up for a fraction of the exclusion faced by most women by the mainstream feminist movement of the first and second "waves" by saying that equality is not fully achieved until it is achieved for ALL women: women of color, women with disabilities, immigrant women (including undocumented), LBTQ women, etc etc etc.

I realize many modern feminists have issues with the suffrage movement because women of color were largely left out, but instead of dismissing this day altogether, let's shape and reclaim Women's Equality Day to be a day of positivity in which we honor the sacrifices our foremothers* made, while looking ahead to the future and thinking about what we can improve.

What's everyone doing to celebrate Equality Day? I'll be here.

*My computer is telling me this word is misspelled, but "forefathers" is correct. Nice.

When I graduate in May, I'm going to miss college moments like this. For Women's History month, there is a "Women and Social Movements" display in the library. Several glass cases hold photos and information on all different groups of women: feminists, queer women, Latina women, sex workers, and many many more. It is a beautiful representation of women's history. Here's a photo of the cases put together by two clubs I'm in: the Feminist Collective (right) and Take Back the Night (left):


(Thanks to Kay for the photo!)

February 17th marked the beginning of the 40 Days of Life campaign, which is basically an excuse for anti-choicers to harass people outside clinics even more than usual for 40 whole days. If you need to access a Planned Parenthood or a similar clinic, be aware that the crazies will probably be on your ass.

BUT... oh, how I love reproductive rights activists. There is an excellent response campaign (hat tip to Feministe, who posted about this) called 4000 Years for Choice. This is especially great to check out in honor of Women's History Month. One need only take a look at their timeline to see that women have been finding ways to control their reproduction for thousands of years.

And guess what? 4000 trumps 40.

By: Bre - from the series of guest posts written by Dr. Baldwin's students at Michigan State University.

So with February being Black History Month I decided to actually do what they wanted us in elementary school to do. I started to research and read about different women’s lives and their achievements towards equality. I read quite a few and was quite amazed at the difficulties that these women had to overcome for our modern world to be become more equal. For example, Daisy Bates guided and advised the Little Rock Nine. The nine children that voluntarily forced a white school to integrate and allow black children in. During this time she was arrested and voluntarily went to jail for a violation of a city ordinance just for helping and protecting the children. Also she and her husband started and wrote a newspaper that voiced civil rights, before the Civil Rights Movement was even a movement. She later went on to improve the life of her community until she died in 1999. But what makes her truly stand alone is that she was the only female civil rights leader to speak at the March on Washington in 1963.

Mary McLeod Bethune also lived to improve her community. She founded a school for African American children, now known as the Bethune-Cookman College, in 1904. At the time she was only one of a few women who were the president of a college. The school she founded surpassed the standards of traditional black schools and rivaled those of white schools. She was also president of the National Association of Colored Women. And among her list of credentials she was also a member of Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet” whose purpose was to raise concerns about the black community.

One more woman I want to mention, that I believe should be a role model to everyone is Dr. Maya Angelou. She experienced many hardships growing up as many people of her race and of her gender also did. She spoke about many of these in her book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” which memoirs her childhood. She worked closely on the civil rights campaigns of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. And was even a world wide activist with her early career in West Africa. Dr. Maya Angelou was even appointed to many capacities by many presidents and read an original poem at President Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.

Currently, some wonderful folks over at the Women's History Museum are working hard to get a bill passed to establish a museum of women's history (ahem... herstory) near the National Mall in Washington D.C. The act has just been passed in the House, and now it's time to get it passed in the Senate!

Be sure to contact your senators and urge them to pass this bill, so that we can "recognize women's successes, build on their accomplishments and empower future generations."

As a Jewish feminist, I was delighted to hear about the first black woman rabbi, Alysa Stanton, who is set to be ordained on June 6th. She is 45 years-old, and at age 38, she began her rabbinical studies, though she was concerned she was too old and too poor to do so. Still, she believed she was destined. After she is ordained, she will become the rabbi at the Congregation Bayt Shalom in Greenville, N.C., on August 1st. Concerns over her race or gender never arose at Bayt Shalom, but she has undoubtedly experienced hardships elsewhere. From Huffington:

...Stanton didn't always feel accepted by Jewish congregations or some friends when she converted during her 20s.

"A lot of my African-American friends thought I'd sold out, the Jewish community wasn't as accepting then and some Christian friends thought I had grown horns," said Stanton, who had been a Christian.

I think there is somewhat of a tension between the African-American community and the Jewish community, since those in mainstream Judaism are overwhelmingly white. Hopefully through events such as these, those gaps can be slowly bridged.

It's a bit shocking that it took so long to put a black female in this position. Then again, the amount of black Jews in general is extremely sparse. But overall, I like to think of Judaism, at least the reform branch and sometimes even the conservative, as one of the more progressive religions. At my reform temple, they have introduced gender-neutral prayer books which don't refer to God as either "he" or "she," and we have quite a few openly gay congregation members. I don't consider myself very religious, but I have no problem holding onto some of my Jewish roots, because although I might not believe in the Jewish concept of "God," I can definitely respect a lot of aspects of Judaism.

I really wish I could write a more adequate post, but the eyes are heavy after working some more on my monster research paper on the pro-life movement. But here are a few short stories to tide you folks over.

• Leaders in Sierra Leone recently signed an agreement stating that girls under the age of 18 will not be forced to undergo female genital mutilation. Upon hitting puberty, most girls in Sierra Leone are "initiated" into a secret women's society through the use of FGM.


• This is an interesting one: Sarah Palin's choice for attorney general once wrote an opinion piece defending a KKK statue on a college campus.


• The New York Times is calling for the impeachment of the moron who wrote the memo on torture. You know... the one that compared food deprivation to Weight Watchers.


• The last place you would ever expect to find feminism: South Park...?


• A key feminist activist, Elizabeth Chittick, passed away last week at age 100.


• A new poll shows that New Yorkers are open to the idea of same-sex marriage being legalized in their state.


• Follow me on Twitter! (Okay, this has nothing to do with anything else, but I thought it was good opportunity).

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy...

International Women's Day!

Learn more at the official website. Hopefully you're celebrating in a much better way than the Vatican is.

In honor of Women's History Month (woooo!) Glamour put together a photo shoot in which young female celebrities posed as famous historical women.

As a feminist photographer, I have always strongly believed that photography can act as a form of activism; a way to bring about change, to inform, and to inspire. Recently, I received an e-mail from Catherine Shteynberg, program assistant at the Smithsonian Photography Initiative, informing me of an upcoming exhibit: "click! Photography Changes Everything." This will be an online exhibit of photos and stories that focus on celebrating International Women's Day on March 8th.

Catherine explained, "From how photographs of women played a part in the Women's Rights Movement worldwide to how photography celebrates, captures, or challenges what it means to be a woman, click! wants photographs and stories on everything that has and does shape the female experience."

So, I'm encouraging all of you to consider submitting your photos and stories to help build this wonderful exhibit. You can also be a part of the online exhibit on the Smithsonian Commons that will feature portraits of accomplished women starting March 9th.

I think art is a wonderful way to remedy the under representation of women that plagues U.S. history. Please consider being a part of it.

In northeast Alabama, hidden amongst the Bible Belt and unbeknown to the neighbors, is a "lesbian paradise." These woman-only communities began in the 1970s, when feminists longed for a utopia where they could live comfortably amongst friends, without the pressure of a male presence.

Since then, many of those communities have been shut down or attacked, but some still exist. Alapine, the community that is spotlighted by the New York Times, is one of the largest. The community allows elderly lesbian women, all of them former feminist activists of the Second Wave, to live in peace and nature in the final years of their lives. Many of the women have been drawn to such a community as a result of experiencing discrimination and hated:

The women agreed to be interviewed on the condition that the exact location of their homes not be revealed because they fear harassment from outsiders. Many in the network of womyn’s lands have avoided publicity, living a sheltered existence for decades, advertising available homes and properties through word of mouth or in small newsletters and lesbian magazines.

But the women at Alapine were willing to be interviewed because of their concern that their female-centered community would disappear if they did not reach out to younger women.

Winnie Adams, 66, who describes herself as a “radical feminist separatist lesbian,” sold her house in Florida in 1999 to move to Alapine. Earlier in her life, she had been married and had two daughters (neither of whom would be permitted to live with her now because they are not lesbians). She worked as a management information systems consultant for government agencies, she said, but when she came out as a lesbian was driven from her job by stress and discrimination.

Ms. Adams’s partner, Barbara Moore, 63, was in the Army in the 1960s, when what she described as a “witch hunt” for gay men and lesbians in the military forced her out.

Only lesbians are allowed in the community; no bisexuals, heterosexual allies, or transgendered women, and men are only allowed to visit. Even when one woman's 6-month old grandson visited, a letter had to be sent out to all residents, warning, "There is a man on the land."

I completely understand the appeal of such a place. It is much easier to live amongst people who share their ideals, and it must be an enormous relief to, for once, not have to worry about being victims of hatred, discrimination, or violence. These women clearly worked hard for decades to push the feminist agenda, and it's completely understandable that they want to spend the last years of their lives settled down in a comfortable and peaceful community.

On the other hand, this separatist attitude worries me - and the Times article even mentioned that modern feminists are less inclined to agree with separatism. I don't see much of a problem with women spending their final years in a matriarchal community - I just hope that this doesn't trickle down to younger feminists, until, in the most extreme case, the world turns into isolated communities of different demographics, and integration is a thing of the past. Of course, I don't think these women aspire to such a world, but that's why separatism can be dangerous. To be isolated in a community with your peers, never to worry about discrimination or hatred, is extremely tempting. Integration and diversity are what require work. But it's what we need to aspire to - not separatism. Our goal is to spread feminist ideas, not confine them.

Thoughts?

Here's yet another installment of "A Little Herstory," in hopes that as modern feminists we won't forget where feminism came from, and how many women suffered to make our lives better.

The Comstock Law was enacted in 1873, and made it illegal to send "obscene, lewd, and/or lascivious" materials through the mail, particularly materials that provided education on birth control, abortions, or STDs. Read an excerpt from the Comstock Law to see how utterly ridiculous it was. When you think of "obscene," do you think of pamphlets on reproductive health? Neither do I.

In 1915, Margaret Sanger, who founded Planned Parenthood, wrote a response to the Comstock Law, entitled "Comstockery in America." In 1932, Sanger arranged for a shipment of diaphragms to be mailed from Japan to a doctor in New York City. When U.S. customs confiscated the packages, Sanger helped file a lawsuit. In 1936, a federal appeals court ruled that the federal government could not interfere with doctors providing contraception to their patients.

Here's what I'm thinking.

As wonderful as modern feminists are, we often forget to study and appreciate our roots. There were so many amazing women of the 1st and 2nd waves who laid the foundation for activism today. We owe them so much. Once in awhile, I want to post some feminist herstory literature. I highly advise reading them; the women of the past can be an extraordinary inspiration to us.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Rat was a leading leftist newspaper in New York City. However, the paper was plagued with inherent sexism and oppressive hierarchies, and this led a group of women who worked at Rat to take over the paper and convert it into a feminist newspaper. In the first issue, Robin Morgan contributed her ground-breaking radical feminist piece "Goodbye to All That," in which she harshly criticized sexism and oppression.

Thirty-eight years later, Robin Morgan wrote "Goodbye to All That No. 2," which scolded all the appalling sexism and racism surrounding the 2008 election.

Her pieces are well worth reading. She says everything that every feminist wants to say, but can't find the exact right words to say it.