Bloggers, writers, filmmakers, producers. The poet and actress Sarah Jones. Pamela Tanner Boll, director of Who Does She Think She Is? Leslie Harris, director of Just Another Girl On The IRT. Fear Of Flying author Erica Jong. Kitty Kolbert, of Barnard's Athena Leadership Program. And many more. Amazing, accomplished women (including my nemesis, Ann Curry).

There was a bar in the dark, book-lined bedroom and hors d'oeuvres were passed in the elegant, well-lit living room, and then Ms. Steinem spoke. "I'm writing an on the road book, but I feel bad, because I don't know how to drive," she told the room of 30 or so women. "But then I found out that Kerouac didn't either."

Ms. Steinem introduced Jane Campion, whose new film, Bright Star, is a dreamy, touching tale about the poet John Keats, and his relationship with his neighbor, Fanny Brawne. (Excellent performances in those roles by the foxy Ben Whishaw and the luminous Abbie Cornish.) Ms. Campion spoke about the film, and then the topic of filmmaking came up. "I look forward to the day when we stop saying 'woman filmmaker,'" she said. "I mean, you just say 'artist.' And there are so many women novelists…" But she admitted that filmmaking has a glass ceiling, when it comes to women, and Ms. Steinem pointed out that Campion is the only female director to have won the Palm D'or at the Cannes Film Festival — an award that was introduced in 1955. In addition, Campion is one of only three women — out of 396 people — ever nominated for a Best Director Oscar. No woman has ever won.

Melissa Silverstein reminded everyone that 50% of movie tickets are purchased by women, yet women direct 9% of films. She insisted that purchasing a movie ticket is like a vote, and urged those listening to vote for women, and to vote well — opening weekend.

The conversation touched upon how hard it is to get funding, and how, since many film critics are men, films made by women often suffer from harsh reviews after they're made. Campion admitted that her career was given a boost by grants given to female filmmakers by the Australian government.

Ms. Campion closed with this thought: "Women gave birth to everyone on this planet. No one, no one on this planet didn't come through a woman. It makes me furious that people don't seem to care what women think."

Because, really, what can you ask Gloria Steinem? She's lived more than half her life in the public eye. So, Zeilinger can indulge in the experience of meeting her idol — something she admits to Nikki Darling came about as a result of some family connections — without too much worry about how to acquit herself.

But she acquits herself nicely, asking Steinem about why it is that so many people don't like the word feminism.

Ms. Steinem says that people don't understand it, and people are afraid of it. But when you know you are one, when you know you are proud enough of your gender to support yourself and fight for yourself and others, you have to stand up and say it, to encourage others.

Since that is pretty close to what Zeilinger herself has said about it, she gets a little more comfortable.

She asks Steinem to speculate about the future after feminism.

"The future is organic," she says. "Suppose we want more equality in the future, which we want, and less violence and more humor and joy and love and poetry and whatnot. So put it in this present." And she's right. "If we reflect what we hope for in the future in what we do everyday," she continues, "Then we don't exactly know what's going to happen, but we can be more sure that it will look like what we're hoping for."

Zeilinger isn't exactly where to go with that, but she plows forward nonetheless, asking Steinem about men.

"When I'm talking to groups that are all men, we talk about how the masculine role limits them," she says. "They often want to talk about how they missed having real fathers, real loving, present fathers, because of the way that they tried to fit the picture of masculinity."

The patriarchy affects men, too!

Steinem also talks about intersectionality, decried by some feminists of her generation as a distraction from achieving goals here.

"I think the advantages are that we are not nationalistic, we feel loyalty to groups of women in other countries that may be greater than we feel to our own government because their lives have more in common with our lives than Bush, to put it mildly," Ms. Steinem points out. "So, that's an advantage, to be able to organize internationally and to support each other internationally."

Who knew how much Moe Tkacik would have in common with Gloria Steinem?

Finally, Zeilinger asks her if she can give some advice for young feminists, and Steinem naturally obliges.

"If I have any advice, it's just to listen to your own unique self and make sure you have support for it," she says. "Because we are communal creatures, if you're with people who think you're smart, you're smart and if they think you're dumb, you're dumb. At least spend as much time as possible with people who make you feel smart, who make you feel good, who support you in that role, and help you become who you already are." She pauses for a moment. "This culture in general is much too much saying that we have to do what's out there rather than what's in here. It needs to be a balance. It isn't that we're more important than anybody else as an individual, but we're not less important either."

Which is good advice for more than just teenage feminists.

Gloria Steinem: The Iconic Feminist Speaks to Our Generation [Huffington Post]

Related: Speaking of Heroes.... An Interview with FBombs Julie Zeilinger [Nikki Darling]
Looking to the Future, Feminism Has to Focus [Washington Post]
The Feminine Mistake [Washington Post]

Earlier: Teen Feminists Drop "F-Bomb"
F-Bombs: Feminist Teen Blog Starts Strong Despite Adult Sniping
FBomb Creator: "Teen Girls DO Believe In Feminist Issues"
Gloria Steinem Will Make You Cry
What You Get When You Pick On "Old School" Feminists' "Bedside Manner"

Steinem talked with Amy Richards, the author of Opting In: Having a Child Without Losing Yourself, about Sonia Sotomayor, Sarah Palin, affirmative action, the importance of equal parenting, and the future of feminism. The entire discussion is excellent, and well worth listening to, but for those who don't have the time, here are a few highlights.

On being a feminist icon:

I have problems with the icon part, because it raises images of iconoclast right away. And as they said in the suffragist era, a pedestal is as much a prison as any other small space.

On the media treatment of Sonia Sotomayor:

I think the attention to her qualifications, her words, her decisions, that's all been very appropriate. But to the extent that she's been treated very differently from, say, Clarence Thomas, you can see that her opponents are using affirmative action as if affirmative action lowers standards when in actual fact it raises standards, in a way that they did not with Clarence Thomas because they agreed with Clarence Thomas.

On the folly of ignoring America's second class citizens:

If we ever wanted to see what we had been missing all these years in terms of talent, look at the presidential election. Look at Obama, look at Hillary Clinton, look at the quality of those two individuals. And they are just a small view into the talent we've been missing and are just beginning to tap.

On Sarah Palin's recent resignation speech:

I think her statements were so opaque that anybody can read into them what ever they wish, and it remains to be seen. I don't want to see her written about in a sexist way either, and the Women's Media Center, of which I am a part, has on its website complaints about the specific kinds of sexist things that were said about her…What was interesting to me was the degree to which sexism was used against Hillary Clinton and for Sarah Palin, because Hillary Clinton's appearance was used against her. That her legs weren't good, that's why she was wearing pantsuits whereas Sarah Palin was a babe and had great legs. Again, if you look for the wizard of Oz person behind the curtain, it's about what they stand for, and therefore there is a differential way in which sexism is used, but it's important to look at how it is used.

On her decision not to have children:

In my generation it was perceived as a choice: either you gave birth to someone else or you gave birth to yourself.

On her relationship with her father:

I've only in adult life come to realize how important that was, that I actually saw a nurturing male…Even those of us who intellectualize about it and know how important it is that men become equal parents of children, if you've never experienced it, it's hard to have faith in it. In retrospect, I probably should have thanked my father for this, that he showed me that.

On world peace:

Men raising children, as much as women do, is the key to world peace. The cult of masculinity, which is the major cause of violence on earth if the violence is not in self defense, will only humanize and dissipate and come to value life through nurturing and through fatherhood.

And finally, Gloria Steinem on contemporary feminism:

Ultimately we won't need a word like feminism or women's liberation because it will be, and should be, just life. Because there is still a power difference and a visibility difference, we need to have names that make us see things in a new way.

Feminism Across The Generations: A Conversation With Gloria Steinem And Amy Richards [KUOW]

The Good:
I thought that Iman's look was the most stunning thing I'd ever seen...


And then I saw Carmen Dell'Orefice!


Gloria Steinem does classic Eileen Fisher not-overly-preoccupied-with-fashion-but-still-looks-great chic!


Gilles Mendel and Kylie Case both have 'everything in my closet is, incidentally, designer, exorbitant and impossibly chic' down pat.


It's unusual to see honoree Annie Leibovitz so dressed up - and she looks rad!


I'm favorably disposed towards Marisa Arredond (with photographer Ohad Maiman)'s breezy print. Pity about the legs.


What Say You?


Obviously photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' hair is amazing. What do we think of Tatijana Shoan's virtual python?

[Images via Getty]

•  A recent study has found that alcohol has no effect on one's ability to judge age, which is bad news for anyone who wants to claim being drunk as an excuse for sleeping with a minor. Also: alcohol had a "significant impact" on making older faces with a lot of makeup appear more attractive to participants. • A North Carolina State University design team is working on making new, less revealing, and hopefully more comfortable, hospital gowns. • New research suggests that there may be a link between perfectionism and binge eating. • Ever wondered what a pro-abortion diet would look like? World of Wonder has the answer. • Today's New York Times profiles Allannah Thomas, who works with a nonprofit group to help low-income women achieve their full potential through math classes. • Meet Jennifer Fearing, the "rising star" of California's animal rights movement. Despite her fear of birds, Fearing has worked to improve the lives of farm raised chickens across the state. •  Police in Tracy, CA have received dozens of calls from people who simply cannot believe that Melissa Huckaby, as a woman, was capable of raping and murdering someone else's daughter. • Click here to watch a strange and disjointed time-lapse video that explains how babies are really made. • Is Katie Price (more commonly known as Jordan) a feminist icon? We're going with no, but the Times makes an interesting case for the famous glamor model. • More than 20 polo horses died this Sunday in Wellington, Florida. 15 of the horses died instantly, while the rest lingered for almost an hour. Experts are still searching for the cause of death. •

I've been wondering, while searching, why I haven't been getting as much variety as I'd hoped. Using the search engine, I've used the keywords "women" "woman" "female" and "fashion" or "style" or "models" or "actresses." And last night, it FINALLY occurred to me to try "girls." And of course, all these pictures of women came up. Surfer girls, chorus girls, girls in mini skirts. That's how they were captioned back then. It never dawned on me that I was being too modern about it. So. If you want to see "girls" of the 1930s, "girls" of the 1940s, "girls" of the 1950s or "girls" of the 1960s, I encourage you to poke around, and supplement my galleries of women in these decades.

And now: the 1970s.

California Girls. 1970.

The dog and the chick are living the dream.

Weightlifting Girls, 1972.

Former gymnasts and ballet dancers: Can you recall that thick itchy texture of the aptly named, unflattering thing known as the leotard?

Aspen girls, 1971.

Wow. Just wow. There's a whole series of shots on the "Aspen girl" lifestyle, which seems to involve skiing, swimming and booze.

Youths waiting at Battery Park to see Pope John Paul II. New York, 1979.

Only one young lady doesn't mind waiting to see the Pope. The others are all, "Come on, your holiness. It's freakin' raining."

LIFE Cover 4/2/1971 of pregnant teenager reading in front of class.

Don't you love when the years change and the headlines stay the same?

Enthusiastic and resolute women in large parade down Fifth Avenue on the 50th anniversary of the passage of the 19th Amendment, which granted the women the right to vote, as they march for further women's rights. New York, September, 1970.

As the kids say: Awesomesauce.

Six generations of women from an American family. 1972. Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt.

Amazing! So cool how some of them have glasses and all of them have the same wide mouth.

Signs saying "Women Unite" carried by women supporters during "Women's Liberation" demonstration on Fifth Avenue and on Wall Street. New York, 1970.

That is unite, not "untie."

Renate Stecher (R) in action during the women's 100 meter race at the Summer Olympics. Munich, 1972.

Do the American uniforms look like Garanimals?

US track athlete Mabel Fergerson in action at the Summer Olympics. Munich, 1972.

Fantastic shot.

Navajo woman modeling turquoise pins & a squash blossom necklace made by Native Americans. New Mexico, 1972.

Gorgeous. Want!

80 yr. old actress Mrs. Judith Lowry on motorcycle with grandson. 1970.

You don't even have to check Ms. Lowry's IMDb page to know that she is your new favorite person.

Congresswoman Bella S. Abzug attending political rally. 1972.

The word champagne and that hat and that dress = not politics as usual.

A female employee checking the gun that her boss keeps in the building for security purposes. 1972.

Note to self: Don't work here.

Female engineer Janet Petra Bonnema who was banned from a tunnel construction site because of superstitions. 1972.

Those fools! Have you ever heard of such an idiotic thing?

Democratic Reprsenative from California Mrs. Yvonne Brathwaite Burke. 1972

Yvonne Brathwaite Burke was the first African-American woman to represent the West Coast in Congress. She was a member of the California State Assembly from 1967–1973; was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives initially representing portions of Los Angeles from 1973–1979; represented the 4th district of L.A. from 1979–1980, and retired from the Los Angeles County board of supervisors on December 1 of 2008.

LIFE cover 08/21/1970: Mini skirted woman looking at a midi skirt for possible purchase.

This is an amazing photograph and proof that hem length is news-worthy!

Young African American girl blowing on a whistle. 1971.

I had a dress like that. Smocking was big.

Director Matt Cimber (R) directing the making of porn film "The Sexuous Woman." Hollywood,1970.

Sorry, but sex in that car cannot be comfortable.

Comedinne Phyllis Diller listening to the heart of a young woman during a "Stop Smoking Cruise." 1970.

El oh el at her eyebrows and watch!

Bizarrely dressed woman spectator at Watergate hearings. June, 1973.

"Deep throat is people!"

Gloria Steinem kneeling down beside Bella Abzug during the Democratic Convention. 1972.

This one seems like a good Hanukkah gift, no? Don't forget that any of these can be purchased framed!

Naked woman modeling body paint, which consists of a lei around her neck and pieces of fruit on her abdomen. 1970.

Yes, but: Why?

African American woman sitting on a motorcycle w. her child, part of the growing numbers of black motorcycle enthusiasts. 1971.

That kid definitely knows his mom is cooler than all of the other moms.

Employees of Saks Fifth Avenue watching a fashion show promoting midi-length skirts. 1970.

That front row is all disapproving malcontents. Love them.

Actor Rock Hudson sitting on MGM lot w. eight midi-skirted starlets who play opposite him in "Pretty Maids All In a Row." Hollywood, 1970.

Each of these dresses is wonderfully ridiculous in its own special way, and Rock Hudson knows it.

Instant Dress, 1972.

This dress also came in blue, and hopefully with instructions. It was called the "Instant Dress" but appeared to be a nylon sarong.

Instant dress, 1972.

Serving suggestions.

Actor Curt Jurgens w. wife and two female companions lathering up in a bathtub he had built in his den. France, 1972.

I want to go to there.

Candace Bergen, 1970.

This woman should always be surrounded by pastel rainbows.

Jane Fonda, 1971.

Jane Fonda, doing what she does best — bucking the system.

LIFE cover 05/07/1971 Feminist Germaine Greer.

Oh, hey!

Newlyweds kissing in heart-shaped tub on honeymoon at Cove Haven resort in the Poconos. 1971.

That camera on the tripod just left there all alone is Creepcity, USA.

"Lance Link - Secret Chimp" - TV Program. 1970.

Really? Really, America?

Contestant and Life Magazine reporter Judy Fayard on TV game show, "The Dating Game." Hollywood, 1972.

Sending out a big kiss to one of the best shows ever!

Cover of LIFE magazine dated 06/09/1972 w. pic of feminist Congresswoman Bella Abzug.

Again: Don't you love when the years change and the headlines stay the same?

Graduating African Americans wearing African style fashions at Howard University, during commencements. 1970.

Loving those glasses on the far right.

Kids' Wigs - J.C. Penny's Dept. Store. 1970.

Kid wigs! Click to see more styles!

Children at school bus stop. North Carolina, 1971.

Headband? Check. Glasses? Check. Braces? Check. Short-shorts? Check. Floral notebook? Check. Graphic jumpsuit? Check. Awesome sneakers? Check. Too cool for school? CHECK!

Life Magazine Photo Archive [Google]
Earlier: The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1960s
The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1950s
The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1940s
The Way We Were: Life Magazine Photos Of Women In The 1930s

• Unless you are living in a closet, under a rock, fifteen feet below the earth's surface wearing noise-canceling ear muffs, you've heard that Barack Obama was elected President. We still cannot stop smiling.
• Or crying!! These videos of Maya Angelou, Sherri Shepherd, Oprah Winfrey and Gloria Steinem will probably make you tear up.
• Obama's victory is a win for women, and these women, including North Carolinian Governor Beverly Perdue, Ohio Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, and New Hampshire Senator Jean Shaheen won their races.
• But the truly important election is yet to come: the race for first puppy. We're single issue voters on a purely pro-Corgi platform.

• We discussed Obama's status as a biracial icon.
• Oh hey. Remember Sarah Palin? Well the Republicans who anointed her are now slagging her in the press, which is distasteful.
• Unlike her wardrobe, which despite being horrendously overpriced (estimates have it at even more than $150,000, dontcha know), was quite classy!
• But enough about her, let's talk about body image with Kate Winslet and Thin Is The New Pretty scribe Valerie Frankel.
• Seriously, guys. We are wrecked. Bask in the win this weekend and dream of Michelle's inauguration dress. You deserve it!

[Long Beach, California; October 22. Image via Bauer-Griffin]

[Reuters, Politico, Us]

• Deets on the Diane von Furstenberg comic book! "With 'Be the Wonder Woman You Can Be, Featuring the Adventures of Diva, Viva & Fifa,' the new comic book she authored, she doesn’t just turn herself into a bonafide superheroine, but offers inspiring tales about women and the life-empowering choices they face — all with illustrations by artist Konstantin Kakanias." Plus, it's got the stamp of approval from real life WW's Gloria Steinem and Lynda Carter. We're sure the 13-year-old boys are already lined up! [WWD]
• Despite repeated evidence that she should never talk ever, Kate Moss is appearing on a new style TV show. [Fashionista]
• Kate Winslet is not, repeat, not, playing Vivienne Westwood. [People]
• In bad news for the environment and boring news for the rest of us, model Jessica Stam gets her pilot's license. Or talks about getting one. [Fashionista]

• Heidi Klum obviously hates Kenley. "We don’t change their words. What they say is what they say. So she was the way you see her. She was laughing at people at times, she would talk back. And it is a very hard thing for these designers to be on the runway and show themselves to everyone, but this is what you sign up for. You have to take the criticism. And I don’t think she could handle that very well. But she is a good designer." [LA Times]
• Gwyneth Paltrow sells hand-me-downs for charity. We're sure you can read all about it on her dumb blog. [ElleUK]
• Santino Rice has a reality show in the works. We very much doubt it will be "bigger than Project Runway” but whatevs! [Fashion Week Daily]
• This is cool: the Metropolitan Museum's entire costume institute collection is now online. [WWD]
• Banana Republic forces the Paul Taylor Dance Company out of its longtime home. Hey, Paul Taylor, people shouldn't have to walk a full three blocks to buy chinos! Stop being so selfish! [NY Times]
• Denim-distressing is a full-time job. [BoingBoing]
• Mel B's underwear ad. It's her, in underwear. [The Mirror]
• The consensus: Paris Fashion Week was the best of the bunch. But buyers are still cutting way back. [WWD]
• IMG — which handles all the, um, real fashion weeks — is no longer repping LA's. [NY Post]
• England's street-style program, The Clothes Show, bans super-skinny guys in oder to discourage "manorexia." (Interestingly, when my brother was in London, he was asked to appear on this. Presumably before this rule went into effect.) [Daily Mail]
• "A model will now be assessed if he is too thin by looking at his body mass index, with any model below 19 being classed underweight.Those with 26 and 28 inch waists will also be classed as the male equivalent of a female size zero and will not be allowed to take part." Suck it, Charlie Stein! [Telegraph]
• French It girl Lou Doillon is opening a store. She says vaguely, "We’ll have a mix of fashion, literature, modern and old, with more of an English than French influence, and not conventional." [ElleUK]
• Anya Hindmarch has hit Target. [Sonia Rykiel show sucked. "'The invitations promised everyone cab rides home,' said one of the 800 guests. But when it was time to head back to the City of Light, our reveler was shocked to find the meter in her cab 'had been running for an hour . . . All the cabs showed up an hour before guests left and started running their meters,' said our snitch. 'Nobody told us we would be paying for cabs, but we had to cough up over 75 euros to get back to the city. There was no other way to get home.'" [NY Post]
• Reshuffling at obscurely grossly-named Aquascutum. [VogueUK]

According to ABC News, while introducing Governor Palin at a rally in California over the weekend, Mandell said, "I'm a life-long Democrat ... I don't agree with Gov. Palin on several issues…I know Sarah Palin cares about women’s rights, she cares about equality, she cares about equal pay, and as Vice President she will fight for it. She cares about our children and she cares about women's lives. She's an athlete and she knows what Title Nine did for girls like her."

How, pray tell, does Palin "care" about equal pay when her running mate vocally opposed a recent fair pay act? She cares about it by…playing basketball in college? Of course, Mandell is an individual who can endorse whomever she pleases, but the NOW brass are understandably furious that she's used her position to support a ticket that stands against some of NOW's most basic mission statements.

California NOW president Patty Bellasalma issued a statement after Mandell's public support of Palin: "The use of Shelly Mandell’s Los Angeles NOW title was apparently intended to mislead the public, and indeed has resulted in local television outlets and internet reports misstating that LA NOW has 'endorsed' Sarah Palin or that she has a record of supporting women’s rights. This in fact is not the case," Bellsama said. "I can assure you that there is no local or state affiliate of NOW, including LA NOW, which endorses or supports the McCain/Palin ticket. John McCain and Sarah Palin oppose many of the rights and freedoms we have fought for throughout NOW's 42 years, and we will not be pushed back to the days of back-alley abortions, forced pregnancies, and pay discrimination without remedy."

We were curious about this Mandell character and so we checked to see if her previous stances could somehow explain her vocal support for the McCain-Palin ticket. In September, 2003, she went on CNN to decry the gubernatorial candidacy of Arnold Schwarzenegger because of some anti-woman comments Arnold had made. "He's obsessed with body parts. I really don't think that he gets it, that women are human beings that are more than their body parts," Mandell said. But John McCain truly thinks women are more than just body parts, like that time he called his wife a cunt. In addition, Mandell donated $500 to Clinton during the primaries, and has perhaps bought into the idea that all that matters in a candidate is their genitalia.

Even curiouser is this little tidbit from Mandell's past: in the early 80s, Mandell secretly alerted police so that her NOW rival, Ginny Foat, would be arrested. Here's the story. Foat was a rising star at NOW, but she had a sordid past that included her second husband (who beat her) being arrested for multiple murders. This ex-husband, John Sidote, told police that Ginny was his accomplice, and as a result warrants were issued for her arrest.

According to the New York Times:

Despite having spent three months in jail while she unsuccessfully fought extradition to Nevada (Mr. Sidote eventually refused to testify against her there when advised his testimony would not assure him leniency) and without even checking whether the Louisiana warrant for her arrest was still extant, Mrs. Foat could still launch a campaign for the national vice presidency of NOW in 1982. Rather than face the authorities to clear up the matter, she had a paper prepared on battered women to hand out to the press. MRS. FOAT might never have been arrested at all a second time (on the Louisiana charge) had she not been betrayed by a former close friend in NOW, Shelly Mandell, who told Miss Hawkes she agreed with others who thought Mrs. Foat was on ''a power trip.'' It was Shelly Mandell - who insisted she only wanted to appoint Mrs. Foat to a local governmental board - who secretly wrote to Louisiana authorities and alerted them to Mrs. Foat's identity. At the time, Shelly Mandell and her close friend Elaine Lafferty were feuding with Mrs. Foat and her close friend Kay Tsenin. Significantly, Shelly Mandell and Elaine Lafferty were also with Mrs. Foat on the night she broke down sobbing and confided to them about her life with Mr. Sidote.

That's the curiousist of all! Btw, in this situation Gloria Steinem sided with Foat, calling her "a political hostage." When she was stumping for Palin, Mandell said she was "proud to support Sarah Palin, a woman who will fight for women's rights…a woman who will, Lord knows, shake things up." Apparently Mandell supports shaking a lot of things up, including her own completely malleable belief system.

LA NOW Prez On Palin: 'America, This Is What AFeminist Looks Like' [ABC News]
Behind The Scenes At The March for Women's Lives [Salon]
Sororocidal Warfare [NY Times]

The use of the word "feminist" in reference to Palin has gotten so out of hand that even uber-conservative Kathleen Parker of the National Review, a woman who calls the mainstream feminist movement the "hirsute, Birkenstock-wearing sisterhood," admits that "to express reservations about [Palin's] qualifications to be vice president — and possibly president — is to risk being labeled anti-woman." As I've noted before, questioning Sarah Palin's "feminism" is a losing battle, because she probably thinks she is one.

The dictionary definition of feminism is "the doctrine advocating social, political, and all other rights of women equal to those of men," and in her own fractured way, I'm sure Palin believes she upholds this doctrine. And many many people believe that the fight for equality has already been reached, and we're in a "post-feminist" era — to which Gloria Steinem says, "I’ll know that we’re getting someplace when I go into Central Park and see white men wheeling babies of color and getting well paid for it. There is no postfeminism—it’s like saying 'post-democracy'!" Feminism has been declared over by some, its meaning co-opted by pretty much anyone with the proper genetic equipment, regardless of their actions or actual beliefs. The word itself is so maligned and misinterpreted that it's almost ceased to mean anything at all, and many women, particularly women of color, feel abandoned and ignored by the mainstream feminist movement. So perhaps instead of declaring the feminist movement dead, or pretending its goals have been accomplished, maybe it's time for a new word entirely and a more precise definition.

The word would include the notion that being pro-female does not just mean benefiting from the feminist movement, as Sarah Palin undeniably has. As Katha Pollitt notes in the Guardian today, "The glass ceiling is the invisible barrier of gender prejudice that prevents women, as a class, from rising to the level that their qualifications and abilities merit – the level they would reach if they were men…As has been known to happen in less exalted workplaces, Palin got the promotion because the boss just liked her. She will do no more to shatter the glass ceiling for other women as a group than such women usually do." The new word could be for women who actively promote the advancement of the interests of other women, not just the narcissistic advancement of themselves. I don't have any great branding ideas for the new movement's name — "womanist" is already taken and it sounds painfully retro; "community organizer" is also unfortunately taken. What about wombanist? Hmm, that sounds too close to wombat. Cuntrarians? Catchy, but the MSM probably won't print it. If you have any clever names for the new movement, we're all ears.

In Conversation: Gloria Steinem and Suheir Hammad [NYM]
The End Of Meritocracy [Guardian]
Palin Problem [National Review]

Earlier: Sarah Palin's Feminism Is Irrelevant To Her Irresponsible Record
Sarah Palin: Feminist? Victim Of Sexist Smears? Or All Or None Of The Above?

In her speech last night, Palin said, "I signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education even better." Her focus on public education in Wasilla really paid off when she was mayor: during her tenure researchers at Johns Hopkins deemed Wasilla High School "a dropout factory." Apparently 60% or fewer freshman who start off at Wasilla High go on to graduate.

But that's not the only contradiction Palin made last night. The AP has a rundown of the outright lies Palin told last night. Here's my favorite: Palin said, "There is much to like and admire about our opponent. But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state senate." The AP notes that Obama "has worked with Republicans to pass legislation that expanded efforts to intercept illegal shipments of weapons of mass destruction and to help destroy conventional weapons stockpiles. The legislation became law last year…In Illinois, he was the leader on two big, contentious measures in Illinois: studying racial profiling by police and requiring recordings of interrogations in potential death penalty cases. He also successfully co-sponsored major ethics reform legislation."

Gloria Steinem says that even though Palin is the wrong woman with the wrong message, she herself is drunk on "hope-o-hol" and believes people will see through the smokescreen of feminism and the already-tired "hockey mom" rhetoric. And so far, Steinem is right. According to random polling of 800 women on Sunday and Monday, "50 percent of women voters felt McCain picked Palin out of political expediency and not because he believes she has the experience to do the job," the Daily Kos reports. Hope-o-hol for all!!!

Palin: Wrong Woman, Wrong Message [LAT]
Sarah Palin GOP Convention Speech. Transcript. [Chicago Sun-Times]
Study Gives Wasilla High School Failing Grade [KTUU]
Experience Argument Hurting Palin And The Other Dude [Daily Kos]
Hockey Mom [Matt Yglesias]

Earlier: Why Bristol Palin's Pregnancy Should Be Fair Game To Pundits (If Not Democrats)

• Megan got some airtime with feminist grand dame Gloria Steinem and we were all a little awestruck.
• We suspect that Ms. Steinem would not approve of John Edwards' wandering willie.
• You know what else she's probs over? The annoyingly quirky and underwritten Manic Pixie Dream Girls littering movies today.
• However, she might like Mad Men's sassy, gorgeous Joan Holloway.

• What would the gross sexist dudes in the Mad Men office think of Erin Andrews' controversial outfit? Nothing good. Ugh.
• Maury tortured some poor lady with cotton balls. So that happened.
• We hung out with admitted Mathlete Danica McKellar.
• The Prodge Run Olympics challenge was cray cray!!
• And speaking of the Olympics, they began today. So remember these lady Olympians to watch and tube out with some amazing athletes. It's Friday!