WMC News & Features
Finally, the Magical World of Disney Is About to Include an African American Princess
Granted, it’s a fairy tale—the furthest thing from reality. But a wide audience of little girls is likely to take Tiana, the new Disney character, to heart. The author asks how likely is it that the mainstream company can produce an effective role model for them.
WMC News & Features
June 11, 2009 | Reverend Debra Haffner |
“Common Ground” Is Reducing the Need for Abortion
On Sunday, May 31, Dr. George Tiller was assassinated in his church. In the escalation of words and the threats of violence that followed, the President’s counsel seems both inadequate and naïve.
WMC News & Features
Addressing the Muslim World, President Obama Reached Well Beyond the Arab Dignitaries
The author wonders if his pre-speech visit to a kingdom where women are oppressed weakens his appeal on behalf of women’s rights.
WMC News & Features
A Theatre Season To Savor
As Broadway celebrates with the Tony Awards Sunday night, the nominations recognize some, but hardly all, of women’s great successes in theatre during the last year. The author analyzes why an industry that is bucking the economic downturn continues to shortchange productions by and about women.
WMC News & Features
June 04, 2009 | Sarah Seltzer |
Media
Scarborough Country: Where Anti-Choice Extremism Is Swept Under the Rug
The murder of Dr. George Tiller has been the top news story of the week. But as some have noted, the tragedy has gotten scant notice from one MSNBC personality. The author sees the omission as part of a broader sexist pattern.
WMC News & Features
June 03, 2009 | Alida Brill |
Media
On Dr. Tiller’s Death
When right-wing commentators and talk-show guests characterize such good and compassionate men as criminals and worse, can we be surprised at the outcome? The author argues that, to honor George Tiller, we must insist on a public debate that reflects reality and the rule of law.
WMC News & Features
Congresswoman Barbara Lee--a Rebel Inside the House
Now in her sixth full term in the House of Representatives, the congresswoman holds to her radical roots, explaining in her new book just how mainstream those revolutionary programs have become. Currently chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, she spoke to author Emily Wilson of her need to define herself.
WMC News & Features
May 29, 2009 | Erica González Martínez |
Politics
Fearless Judge, Fearful Conservatives
The nation has barely had a chance to meet the new nominee for the Supreme Court, but some are all too ready to resent a woman of such fortitude. The author argues that sexism is evident in the agenda of many of Judge Sotomayor’s opponents.
WMC News & Features
The Death of Abeer in Iraq: One Former Soldier Is Sentenced—What of Those in Command?
A civilian jury has deliberated long hours over the fate of a former Army private in the March 12, 2006 assault and murder of Abeer al-Janabi and her family. His guilt has been determined in federal court. The author argues that it is up to us as citizens to prevent future crimes and protect our soldiers. This is the second of a two-part report on the Paducah, Kentucky trial.
WMC News & Features
The Death of Abeer in Iraq—What We Know Now
Four U.S. soldiers have been tried and convicted in military court for the March 12, 2006 assault and murder of Abeer al-Janabi and her family. Now, in the federal court trial of the last man accused, former Pvt. 1st Class Steven Green, information has surfaced that explains more fully what happened that day. This is the first of a two-part report on the Paducah, Kentucky trial.
WMC News & Features
As Secretary of State, Clinton Can Exercise a Range of Roles
In her current job, Hillary Clinton has found the freedom to express herself in various modes that work for her and for the Obama Administration. She is winning the appreciation of the public and of political and media observers.
WMC News & Features
Ain’t No Women (Like the Motown Women)
There’s a lot to celebrate about 50 years of Motown music—including the careers of two women whose behind-the-scenes efforts helped create a new genre of music.
WMC News & Features
Obama Needs a Frances Perkins by his Side
President Barack Obama has emphasized that affordable health care for all is crucial for long-term economic prosperity. Frances Perkins made that point in 1933. A new biography brings President Franklin Roosevelt’s labor secretary out of the shadows just in time for us to understand why progressive women matter so much as America struggles with economic crisis, war and recovery from callous, corrupt government.
WMC News & Features
May 07, 2009 | Jodie Evans |
Politics
In the Name of Mothers Around the World
The author, co-founder of the grass-roots peace and justice movement CODEPINK and board member of the Women's Media Center, calls on us to honor Mother’s Day as it was originally intended—by the abolitionist, feminist and pacifist Julia Ward Howe.
WMC News & Features
Marilyn French, 1929 to 2009
A brilliant feminist theorist, her 1977 novel, The Women’s Room, connected with millions of women who had no way before of claiming their anger and discontent. And, as Women’s Media Center President Carol Jenkins tells us, Marilyn French was a tender and caring friend.
WMC News & Features
April 29, 2009 | Peggy Simpson |
Politics
First 100 Days—Feminists Give High Marks to Obama
Women’s rights activists give high marks to President Obama for his fast footwork in reversing many policies of the Reagan and Bush presidencies.
WMC News & Features
Reflections on the Observe and Report Date-Rape Controversy
Just in time for Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention month, a comedy provokes argument—if not box office success.
Rarely does a film incite responses as diametrically opposed as the new "dark...
WMC News & Features
Tracey Ullman Examines the “State of the Union”
Sketch comedian extraordinaire Tracey Ullman found a comfortable niche on Showtime for her satiric probe of America’s psyche. But no viewer gets to remain complacent under her penetrating gaze.
WMC News & Features
In Iceland, Our Long-Sought Victory in Battling Human Trafficking
On April 17, the last day before Iceland’s parliament adjourned to prepare for elections on April 25, members passed a bill criminalizing the act of buying individuals for purposes of prostitution. Patterned on the Swedish law that addresses the demand fueling the commercial sex industry, the action was hailed as an historic moment in the international struggle against human trafficking. Via Equality Now, here is a dispatch describing the campaign from Gudrún Jónsdóttir, spokeswoman for Stigamot, a women's rights organization in Iceland.
WMC News & Features
Democracy and Pandora’s Box: Family Laws in Afghanistan
For women in Afghanistan, the promise of democracy seems not to include equality, nor protection from the potential of domestic violence. Here, the secretary general of Parliamentarians for Global Action explains the politics behind the proposed oppressive law regulating Shia marriages.
WMC News & Features
April 16, 2009 | Courtney Martin |
Violence against women
New Report Indicates that Rape Kit Backlog Likely a National Crisis
A study of crime labs in Los Angeles indicates that many sexual assault victims wait in vain for prosecution of rapists. The lead investigator for Human Rights Watch, Sarah Tofte, now wants to study backlogs at labs in cities across the country.
WMC News & Features
AmazonFAIL: How Online Social Tools Can Wreak Havoc—and Repair It
The author explains what probably happened over the weekend to threaten sales of LGBT and feminist books on Amazon.com—and how social media instantly jumped into the fray.
WMC News & Features
Media Attacks: Getting Even—and Then Some
Stung by Michael Savage’s attack on children with autism and their parents, playwright Carolyn Doyle, in a one-woman performance currently running in San Francisco, uses her craft to show how a family navigates a mysterious world.
WMC News & Features
Quiet Push to Recognize Suffrage Sites
Spearheaded by New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, powerful chair of the House Rules Committee, legislation was signed into law at the end of last month that will help celebrate the not-so-ancient history of how women won the vote in the United States.
WMC News & Features
Intervale Green Apartments: Green, Affordable—and for Low-Income Women
In a Bronx, New York, neighborhood that once epitomized urban decay, the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation has created apartments that conserve energy, cost less to operate than conventional housing, and are beautiful and healthy places to live. It took the vision of a woman who refused to be discouraged.