This is What a Fe(y)minist Looks Like
By Jessica Stites, Ms. Associate Editor
Sure, the famously wooden Al Gore had some good lines last night on 30 Rock (“You know, there’s an old African proverb that I made up”), but our favorite guest star was truly inanimate: a “This is What a Feminist Looks Like” T-shirt by Tina Fey’s eponymous character’s upstairs neighbor Brian. The shirt is used as one more piece of evidence that Brian—a gay cop whom Tina is trying to trick out of his tricked-out condo—is a compassionate, do-good-ing, all-around mensch. Read the rest of this entry »
More Outrage Over Stupak-Pitts
By Carole Joffe, Ms. Washington Correspondent
“Our medical experts have determined that your life was not in danger and you could have carried the pregnancy to term. And, by the way, you owe us $9,000.” Read the rest of this entry »
When Women Play Rough… Watch Out for the Backlash
By Michele Kort, Ms. magazine senior editor
It was the ponytail pull seen ‘round the world.
University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert suddenly became the most famous woman in sports this past week, after a video of her aggressively punching and tripping her opponents, and ultimately throwing another player to the grass by her hair, went viral. Read the rest of this entry »
Press Release: House Passes Historic Health Reform, Women’s Rights Suffers Major Defeat in Passage of Stupak Amendment
The House passed the historic Affordable Health Care Act (HR3962) by a narrow margin (220-215) with major gains for women including eliminating gender rating in insurance prices, banning pre-existing conditions, capping out of pocket expenses, expanding Medicaid to include individuals at 150% of the federal poverty level, improving Medicare by closing the donut hole on prescription drug coverage, no charge for preventive care, and stopping the practice of dropping coverage or capping coverage of sick people. Important provisions that advance the health needs of LGBT people were also included in the Act. Unequal taxation of domestic partner benefits was eliminated. Read the rest of this entry »
The Cup’s Half Full for Middle Eastern Feminists
By Carole Joffe, Ms. Washington Correspondent
Despite shortcomings in its enforcement, CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women)—the United Nations’ international women’s rights treaty—has brought progress to women in the Middle East, according to women leaders from the region at a recent panel celebrating of its 30th anniversary. Read the rest of this entry »
Election Results 2009—Wake Up Call for Social Progressives and Feminists
By Eleanor Smeal, Feminist Majority Foundation President
In both the New Jersey and Virginia gubernatorial races, social issues took a back seat to economic issues. This is understandable considering dismal unemployment figures, the housing crisis, fear of layoffs, and dwindling retirement investments. Bad economic times trump social issues. Read the rest of this entry »
Will We Ignore Brooksley Born AGAIN?
By Katherine Spillar, executive editor, Ms. magazine
Eleven years ago, U.S. economic leaders should have listened to Brooksley Born. Read the rest of this entry »
Abortion in the Crosshairs at Allentown
By Carole Joffe, Ms. Washington Correspondent
Note: this is the second in a series about the climate at abortion clinics in the aftermath of the murder of Dr. George Tiller
“How do you prefer to die, by knife or by bullet?” This was a question posed to a clinic escort by a protestor at the Center on the day of Tiller’s funeral. Around the same time, a Jewish volunteer Read the rest of this entry »
No Dignity For NBC
by Michele Kort, Ms. magazine Senior Editor
Anyone who’s watched the long-running NBC series Law and Order—the original, not the spinoffs—knows that its stories are often “ripped from the headlines.” So it wasn’t all that surprising that the October 23 episode, entitled “Dignity,” was obviously inspired by the murder this past spring of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller in his church. Read the rest of this entry »
A “Woman’s Nation” Should Change Everything, But Will It!
By Carole Joffe, Ms. Washington Correspondent
“Women hold up half the sky” is an old Chinese saying. The contemporary American version is this: Women for the first time in U.S. history constitute half of the nation’s paid labor force. Read the rest of this entry »
Jezebel: 
RH Reality Check: 
Feministe: Is Taxing Plastic Surgery Sexist?
