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New York, 1:44 AM
Tue Nov 24
65 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/09/09
Imagine the courage and determination she must've had to face up to an establishment that so plainly dictated the worth and rightful "place" of women in our society. To go in against the prevalent cultural mileau and make huge, bold strides towards true equality is inspiring beyond words. Her accomplishments should leave all of us not only grateful but breathless. No less than a true hero. #alicesrossi
11/09/09
11/09/09
Thank you, Ms. Rossi, for everything. #alicesrossi
11/09/09
11/09/09
To the outward, glorious Skies;
So th' immortal Spirit may,
When descended to our Clay,
From a rightly govern'd Frame
View the Height, from whence she came;
To her Paradise be caught,
And things unutterable taught.
Give me then, in that Retreat,
Give me, O indulgent Fate!
For all Pleasures left behind,
Contemplations of the Mind.
Let the Fair, the Gay, the Vain
Courtship and Applause obtain;
Let th' Ambitious rule the Earth;
Let the giddy Fool have Mirth;
Give the Epicure his Dish,
Ev'ry one their sev'ral Wish;
Whilst my Transports I employ
On that more extensive Joy,
When all Heaven shall be survey'd
From those Windings and that Shade.
Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea,
from THE PETITION FOR AN ABSOLUTE RETREAT
11/09/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/27/09
10/17/09
I mean honestly, it doesn't take that long to write and issue a PR statement, so this sort of feels like a false dichotomy. Why assume it's one or the other?
#now
10/17/09
10/17/09
10/16/09
I agree that NOW has been most effective as a liberal feminist political player in Washington. Not all of us can lobby congress, whereas plenty of us can speak out against unrealistic beauty ideals. For what it's worth, here's what I think is going on. The feminist movement in the US has frequently been criticized for focusing on symbolic issues like changing names upon marriage, calling adult women "girls," shaving legs (or waxing labia, as the case may be), pop culture representations of women, etc. It has never been true that advocates for women's rights have focused on these questions to the exclusion of advocating for policy changes, but these are the questions that tend to get debated most often. My theory is that these symbolic issues feel like things that we can change more quickly than structural, systemic sexism. It's much easier to fix our vocabulary than our economic structures, and it's a lot less daunting to take on problems that involve individuals behaving badly than to advocate for overhauling the social infrastructure. I think maybe all of us are feeling a little bit of fatigue right now with all of huge issues that need to be addressed. It's no wonder airbrushing makes NOW's VP want to cry. I mean, we've been fighting that battle forever, and if we can't get the basics down, it can make it feel like we aren't equipped to take on the bigger challenges. #now
10/16/09
Non-NOW-related example: The DUI charges against Mel Gibson were dropped recently and his arrest was mentioned in the news again. Usually, news reports refer to Gibson's "antisemitic rant," but in this one report I happened to catch, they said his rant was against "jews and women," which nearly knocked me on my ass because no one ever mentions the 'and women' part. The fact that somebody finally recognized that sexually degrading a police officer for being female isn't any less of a problem than saying Jews run the media was probably the result of a lot of organizing and phone calls and letter-writing. That's the kind of thing I want NOW to make happen. I want sexism to be taken as seriously in the media as racism and antisemitism and homophobia.
I also want pro-women awards ceremonies, like the NAACP Image Awards. Why don't we have something like that? #now
10/16/09
Non-NOW-related example: The DUI charges against Mel Gibson were dropped recently and his arrest was mentioned in the news again. Usually, news reports refer to Gibson's "antisemitic rant," but in this one report I happened to catch, they said his rant was against "jews and women," which nearly knocked me on my ass because no one ever mentions the 'and women' part. The fact that somebody finally recognized that sexually degrading a police officer for being female isn't any less of a problem than saying Jews run the media was probably the result of a lot of organizing and phone calls and letter-writing. That's the kind of thing I want NOW to make happen. I want sexism to be taken as seriously in the media as racism and antisemitism and homophobia.
I also want pro-women awards ceremonies, like the NAACP Image Awards. Why don't we have something like that? #now