I’ve been wrestling with the intersection of gender and the Occupy movement since I saw a picture of topless women dancing in Zuccotti Park during week two of Occupy Wall Street. The prominent display of this photograph on one of the Occupy websites angered me, as did the shallowness of equating activism to the hippie period […]
The Republican primaries are in full swing and the whole world is watching. After all, whoever is elected to retain or take up residence in the White House is an important issue for us non-U.S. folks as well. Looking back to three years ago I don’t think many would have predicted that Herman Cain would […]
Many opponents of the Occupy Wall Street movement who wish to protect the outsized power and wealth of the 1% complain that the protesters in New York and around the globe are against capitalism. Sure, some are. But for the vast majority, nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, most of the Americans — left, right […]
This piece originally appeared on the Good Men Project as part of a special series on the End of Gender. This series includes bloggers from Role/Reboot, Good Men Project, The Huffington Post, Salon, HyperVocal, Ms. Magazine, YourTango, Psychology Today, Princess Free Zone, The Next Great Generation, and Man-Making. The day I met Jean Kilbourne I was in Dallas attending the International Boys’ School Coalition’s annual conference. Ms. Kilbourne […]
Scene 1 Who: One of my best female friends and me– we’ve known each other for since we were kids. Where: A café in central Warsaw. What: I mention the word ‘naked’ in a conversation. A few minutes later, she asks if we could leave and go for a walk. It’s a cold December evening […]
There was a recent incident where some middle class white guy wrote to me, in two successive emails, the following things: “You are sick, stupid and a plague on the world.” “The only thing you could write that would improve the world, is your suicide note.” Here’s what made it worse: it wasn’t a random […]
Charlotte, Samantha, Carrie, or Miranda. It seems many women I know can tell you – without skipping a beat – which Sex and the City persona they most accurately match. Whether they be traditional and romantic, wildly sexual, in a six year long on-again-off-again relationship, or a workaholic with a penchant for unfortunate haircuts, it […]
Yesterday, I was running late for a meeting in downtown Washington DC when I saw a homeless man lying on the street with his hands down his pants, appearing to do things that should be done in private. I found a female police officer and mentioned the man to her, also noting that he needed […]
Marlo Thomas is something of a personal hero to me, but I was admittedly disappointed by her recent article for the official launch of the new HuffPost Women’s Page. I was raised on Free To Be…You And Me (I still occasionally catch myself humming the tune to William Wants a Doll), I have great respect […]
I am many things: a woman, an academic, a feminist, married, raising two girls, and I’m pro-porn. I’m also an expert in queer history, and write about men’s desire and sexual practices. How bizarre? No, actually, how utterly and completely normal. I’ve been following this debate about pornography with relish. It proves a point I […]
There is a seismic shift afoot that affects all aspects of what it means to be a man or a woman. Census data reveal part of the story: Women have been outpacing men in bachelor’s degrees since 1996 and, for the first time, more women now have advanced degrees than men, too. Women now make […]
Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels’ announcement that he would not be seeking the GOP nomination for the 2012 presidential race because his family had exercised their veto power has gained a lot of traction in the news. This discussion also raises a lot of questions about parenting and spousal roles and responsibility. Both Mitch and his […]
