Women's Issues

[MaryPage]

Women's Issues If Art imitates Life, what does Literature show about the place of women in our society? From the Red Tent to the new movie Anna Karenina,  to Malala Yousafzai in the news, has the state of women changed? What IS the state of women today, in your opinion? Let's talk about how women are portrayed in the press, and in literature, and how accurate it is.   How does advertising reflect, if it does, how women are portrayed?  (Remember heels and pearls to sell refrigerators?) How does it seem to you that women are portrayed today? Let's talk! National Women's History Project

I hope you understand that the physical, print edition of NEWSWEEK is no longer published.
They are totally electronic now.  And I thought I would be disappointed, but that is not the case.
I LOVE the electronic edition.  Such FUN to get so many, many more pictures and some VIDEOS!  Every week!
So Google Newsweek and follow the instructions there, or nab their phone number there and call them.  They can set you up.
You will LOVE it!
And no, I do not own stock in them.  I do not own even one cent of them.  I do not have any relatives or friends who work for them.  I swear.

[mabel1015j]

Yes, i had a subscription to Newsweek and am very unhappy w/ the online-only version. I kept the hard copies in the bathroom and read them at my leisure.  It's not the same w/ an ipad!!!  I like this week's cover better then last week's! Dennis Rodman!!! I couldn't believe that! I haven't read the issue yet, so i don't know what their focus is. I also have not read this current issue on women either. I've been too busy getting ready to have company each of the next three weekends.

Happy Easter, or Spring, or whatever applies to you.

Jean

[MaryPage]

The new electronic Newsweeks stay in an archive on your machine and you can go back and read any issue you wish, indefinitely.  This week's issue, which is all about women, is a marvelous compilation of what is going on with women all over this world.  Well worth reading as soon as you find time.

[Steph]

Actually I was thinking of our legislature passing the law in the first place.. This is a state that probably would not consider it.

[mabel1015j]

I agree w/ that assessment Steph.

[Steph]

Hmm, I just don't want a subscription to Newsweek. Will have to check, but probably you cant buy one issue.

[MaryPage]

I think you can.  Can buy just one issue.

[Steph]

Will try for that issue, but fact is, with the moving, I just flat out have so little time. If I can get just one, I will simply let it sit on my IPAD until life calms down a bit.

[MaryPage]

Darling Steph, BELIEVE me when I say I understand.  Oh, Wow, do I understand!
I have such a long, long list of things to do, and so little time.
Yesterday's Sunday Washington Post had an article in the OUTLOOK section titled: "My Twin Was Raped.  It Almost Killed Me."  And the article cites that one woman in five (1 in 5) here in these United States will be raped.  Ghastly!  
And it states that world-wide, one in three (1 in 3) will be raped or physically or sexually abused by men.
Maybe I am out of touch, but it does seem to me I hear more men proclaiming women don't get raped unless they ask for it, and, listen and read as hard as I can, very few women fighting back with the Truth.
Get out your bull horns, Women!  Yell and yell and yell and yell until they are finally forced to retreat from their misogynist pulpits and allow you to be heard!

[BarbStAubrey]

You can't use a blow horn because you want to keep face to keep your job - you do not want either the sympathy that puts you in a different position among friends and family nor do you want others to know period because most than keep their distance - most unconsciously do not want to face what could happen  to them so they distance themselves to protect not their body but their psyche and so anyone that blows a horn has to be prepared for a very lonely existence.

Sure there are a few who blow their horn and look who they are and who they are surrounded with - angry vocal women on a mission - the everyday woman needs her job needs her friends needs the support of family for more than what still amounts to Hester's scarlet letter.

Then God forbid you are under 16 and were raped or even molested by someone in the family - others take over and the child is re-traumatized all over as all decisions are made regardless what she wants - what difference is that compared to the rape when all decisions were made regardless what she wants or even understood just as she will not understand why she is punished and has to leave the house and if a mother wants to be with her they both have to leave the house and so the family has another war that becomes a financial war plus brothers and sisters and other family members taking sides and blaming her for the split and difficulty in the family and if her rapist is punished that is the end of any family financial security - and so all that is heaped on the head of the girl and in many countries all of that is what happens even if she is raped by a stranger.

So lets get real and figure out real answers to what is reality - who even risks sharing the story of what happens without risking having fingers pointed and enduring the greater risk which occurs unless you are famous that is the distance that comes from fear becoming the cause of loosing professional and even social friends.

Fear is trauma that can be reacted to by flight, fight and freeze - with little support fight is very seldom a reality for most women and as such that inner unconscious shield of protection could be at the bottom of why the glass ceiling -

[Steph]

I have never understood the"Blame the Victim" school, but we seem to have a lot of male politicians, so know some very peculiar answers.. Not get pregnant... bah humbug... asking for it, which was very popular when I was young.. Rape is a hard hard subject, but I would truly hope that if I were, I would be brave enough to speak out.

[MaryPage]

http://contentviewer.adobe.com/s/Newsweek/c5cabc60bd7a45d4a6b493fc0ba1ffcf/com.newsweek.20130329/00_cover_13.html

[BarbStAubrey]

Wonderful cover thanks for sharing it MaryPage however without a name registered with Newsweek that is all we can see is the cover.

[MaryPage]

This is my favorite of all of the wonderful articles in that edition of NEWSWEEK.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2013/04/01/molly-melching-s-quest-to-end-female-genital-cutting.html

[mabel1015j]

In my History News Newsletter today there was an interview with a producer of  Makers: Women who Made America, about our contemporary women's movement. This is a comment i sent to the site about all of you. Can you find yourself in it? We're each there in one of more of the examples. If you'd like to read the interview, it's here:  http://hnn.us/articles/making-historical-documentary-makers


my response:


"Women who sustained the movement

Makers was a wonderful documentary of the contemporary women's movement. I wish someone would go down a layer and write a book about not just the queen bees of that movement, but the hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of the women drones who have sustained the movement in many, many ways. 

I use drone in a most positive sense. If the Newsweek, LHJ strikes and other high profile events had been the only ones that happened in the country, they would have been a small triumph for the movement. Those examples can be expanded to untold numbers of examples of women and men who expanded the movement into all corners of the country by becoming community activists for women's equality and other concerns of women and girls.

There are the women who have spent their whole lives in vocations  or avocations working for the progress of women in all areas of society. There are the women's groups throughout the country who sued their employers for equal pay and equal opportunity.  There are the women who started NOW chapters in their communities and have kept them operating for five or six decades or who started consciousness-raising groups to give women a sense of I-am-not-alone-in-my-thinking, or it's-not-just-me.

There are women and men who were attorneys and judges and police officers who made the justice systems more supportive of women, especially abused and raped women, and there were the people in communities who started women's shelters to give women and children a safe place to escape to. 

There are women who started women's studies and women's history courses so there were forums for discussion once consciousness-raising groups became passe and so we wouldn't forget our past. There were organizations of volunteers who preserved women's history artifacts and birthplaces and important sites in women's history.  

There are traditional organizations like the YWCA and LWV and AAUW and the Girl Scouts who have had women's and girl's concerns at the top of their agendas for decades.

There are all the local women and organizations who lobbied and petitioned and spoke and marched for the ERA and continue to do so today and the men and women who literally put their bodies between the clients of reproductive health clinics and the anti-abortion demonstrators who are there to harass them, to say nothing of the people who work at the clinics.

There are the women whose jobs are to ensure that women get equity in the workforce like the hundred's  of Federal Women's Program Mangers p in the federal government. Their jobs  also include training the total work force in prevention of sexual harassment and assisting women who have been the victims of sexual harassment, who train supervisors iin opening their minds to placing women in non-traditional jobs and assist women with the difficulties that come with being the women in those jobs. There are the Directors of Divsions on Women, or whatever the local and state agencies are called, who lobbied and educated to make sure that government funds and grants are available for programs assisting women and girls. There are the women elected officials who are also supportive in that legislation.

There are the individuals and organizations that enlighten girls and young women in assertive communications and leadership skills and public speaking skills and self-empowerment skills. There are thousands of women and men who act as mentors to young women in corporations and in small businesses so breaking the glass ceiling becomes more likely for them.

This is only a short list, I'm  sure you can add a myriad of other examples to the list. You may question "Where would one start to do research on these 'drones'?" I have in my circle of friends and acquaintances someone that fits into each of the examples I have given, and I'm sure I am not unique, they are everywhere throughout the country. Please won't someone write that book?" 

Jean

[MaryPage]

Oh Jean, that is WONDERFUL!  And yes, it has been, for me, 33½ years ago, in Manassas, Virginia;  but I did put my body between women seeking help from a clinic and those who would deny them that precious right.

[MaryPage]

My stacks of unread magazines are piling up, so I am trying to catch up in my spare moments rather then read the book I really want to get back to.

So bear with me that I am so far behind, but at lunchtime today I read an article in the March 11, 2013 The NEW YORKER.  Pope on front in bathing suit and in hammock strung between 2 palm trees at seaside.

The MOST wonderful article about how much we women owe to Ruth Bader Ginsberg.  I had no idea!  No idea!  She did the most amazing work for us BEFORE she became a supreme court justice.  Basically, we owe almost EVERYthing to her!  Who knew?  I sure didn't, and I pride myself in keeping up.

If you get a chance, do read this article.  It is called HEAVYWEIGHT and is by Jeffrey Toobin.

[Steph]

Ruth Bader Ginzburg has always been a heroine of mine.She is brave, smart and keeps marching ahead.. Will read the article.

[mabel1015j]

Me too!

[MaryPage]

Goody!  I love this sharing!

[Steph]

Whew. got through the house inspection yesterday. My townhouse is 9 years old and in Florida, that is close to the 10 year old rule, which makes it harder to insure. All is well, and the closing is either the 29 or 30th.. Hooray

[MaryPage]

Did you read the article about what is happening underneath Florida that was in the March 18 The New Yorker?  A lot of different dog breeds in winter clothing on the front.  By David Owen about the sinkholes and the future of Florida.  I read the whole thing and would SO be out of there yesterday, were I there at all, which thankfully I am not.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/03/18/130318fa_fact_owen

[Scottieluvr]

I spent many years braless, but gravity has taken over and in my old age, I am back to finding comfortable bras.. No underwires.. lbut I confess that I adored high heels ( being short) and lamented after I broken my ankle and could no longer tolerate them..

I am still reading through all these posts...catching up if you will. But Steph's comment about enjoying heels due to her height forced me to jump in and add to her appreciation.

Being 5'3", I too wore 3 inch heels and enjoyed them. However, my ulterior motive put me eye-to-eye with many of my male coworkers and superiors.

[Scottieluvr]

Marjafay "Am a little lopsided, but who cares."

Exactly my sentiments. If we happen to be lopsided on opposite sides (I'm missing left) we could walk together and even it out.

I'll have to get newsweek.

Mabil: exactly!  All these laws have the same descrimatory base. And they can be passed like weeds: get rid of one and three pop up.

Since I have both, I could walk between you and support you both.  That sentence has dual meaning... ((((((hugs)))) for you both on that hard won victory.

[JoanK]

PAMELA: it's nice to read the old posts if you enjoy them, but don't wear yourself out! It's also just fine to jump in in the middle. we repeat ourselves all the time, so it doesn't matter if you do.

Looking forward to that walk!

[MaryPage]

Ha! Ha!  I never, ever thought of that angle of being able to look them in the eye.  Good on you!

I was 5 foot 3½ inches like forever.  Now I am 5'2".  Ain't it awful!

But I really wish I had never worn the heels.  I think we women suffer all kinds of problems later due to them.  They throw our bodies out of kilter and do us a great deal of harm.

Vanity!  (Oh, and I wore the heels with glee right up until 1987, when an orthopedic surgeon made me stop!)

[Steph]

Now I get to enjoy my granddaughter who inherited her Nanas passion for heels.. So she sends me pictures when she gets new ones. referring to "killer heels" and  I get to enjoy them and my feet don't hurt at the end of the day..

[Scottieluvr]

Ha! Ha!  I never, ever thought of that angle of being able to look them in the eye.  Good on you!

I was 5 foot 3½ inches like forever.  Now I am 5'2".  Ain't it awful!

But I really wish I had never worn the heels.  I think we women suffer all kinds of problems later due to them.  They throw our bodies out of kilter and do us a great deal of harm.

Vanity!  (Oh, and I wore the heels with glee right up until 1987, when an orthopedic surgeon made me stop!)

Heels shorten the Achilles tendon  , need to verify if its that muscle. My doctor warned me of this issue and suggested I rotate flats and heels throughout the week, which I did.  That was a time when doctors were gods in my eyes...

[Scottieluvr]

PAMELA: it's nice to read the old posts if you enjoy them, but don't wear yourself out! It's also just fine to jump in in the middle. we repeat ourselves all the time, so it doesn't matter if you do.

  It was a wonderful leisure reading moment. 

[mabel1015j]

This is a great month for important women's birthdays; these are just 3 days worth:

April 3, 1934 - Jane Goodall, primatologist and conservationist, world's foremost authority on chimpanzees
April 4, 1928 - Maya Angelou, author, poet, civil rights activist, actress, read poem she composed at President Clinton's inauguration (1993)
April 5, 1901 (1968) - Hattie Alexander, pediatrician and microbiologist, identified and studied antibiotic resistance caused by random genetic mutations in DNA, first woman elected president of the American Pediatric Society (1964)
April 5, 1908 (1989) - Bette Davis, movie star, began with "Of Human Bondage" (1934) and "Dark Victory" (1939) and ended with "What Ever Happened to Baby Jane" (1962), won Academy Awards for "Dangerous" (1935) and "Jezebel" (1938)
April 5, 1938 (1981) - Lourdes Casal, poet and critic, born in Cuba, American citizen in 1962, organizer and activist, earned a Ph.D. for social work (1975), tried to build bridges for Cubans and other Americans
April 5, 1949 (1986) - Judith Resnik, engineer, astronaut, one of six qualified women chosen as mission specialists in 1984, second American woman in space, perished in the Challenger explosion

[MaryPage]

WATCH CHARLIE ROSE ON PBS TONIGHT:

A discussion about the Women in the World Summit with Tina Brown, Editor-in-Chief of Newsweek and The Daily Beast; Zainab Salbi, Founder and CEO of Women for Women International and Shoma Chaudhury, managing editor of Tehelka.

[Steph]

Jane Goodal, another heroine of mine. Oh to have the courage to leave it all and move to study an animal in its native habitat.. wow..

[JoanK]

Goodal is a heroine of mine, too! Sorry I didn't see the post in time to watch Charlie Rose.

[MaryPage]

You can go to Charlie's website and ask them to sign you up for email notices as to what each show, Monday through Friday, is to be.  I love his show, but I came to hate waiting up to watch it only to find it was a topic I have no interest in.  So I signed up, and am ever so pleased.  I get a simple email every day telling me precisely what that night's show will be.  That way I don't miss Judi Dench and Paul Krugman and other people I simply love to hear.  Try it!  You can always unsubscribe if you don't like it.  I have had his service for years now.

[Steph]

Busy weekend with another son and wife here to help.. My garage is all packed up.. Hooray...

[mabel1015j]

We "women of a certain age"  have all seen pictures of Jackie Kennedy in her wedding dress, but didn't know that it was designed and made by an African-American woman from Alabama who designed and made dresses for the Auchincloss family for a decade. I just read Mrs Lincoln's Dressmaker, the story of Elizabeth Keckley's life almost exactly 100 yrs before Ann Lowe and i recommend it.

I also read today this story about Nellie Taft's decades long campaign to get the Japanese cherry trees to line the basin in D.C., and the unnamed women who saved them when the Jefferson Memorial was being built and Lady Bird Johnson's expanding them. If you've ever appreciated their beauty, you'll enjoy reading how they are a result of women's energies.

http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?p=11922


http://saintssistersandsluts.com/nellie-taft-eliza-scidmore-and-japanese-cherry-trees/

[Scottieluvr]

[…]
http://blogs.archives.gov/prologue/?p=11922
http://saintssistersandsluts.com/nellie-taft-eliza-scidmore-and-japanese-cherry-trees/

Thank you for the share. These historical stories were fascinating. Washington DC was my childhood stomping ground; enjoyed mostly through Girl Scout (Brownie) troop trips and school fields trips. My daughter’s 8th Grade Graduation trip was to Washington DC, in which she enjoyed immensely.

[MaryPage]

Did you ever go to Camp May Flather down in Virginia with a group from D.C. Girl Scouts?  I ask because I did, in the summer of 1942, and just wondered if you might have been there at the same time.

[Scottieluvr]

Did you ever go to Camp May Flather down in Virginia with a group from D.C. Girl Scouts?  I ask because I did, in the summer of 1942, and just wondered if you might have been there at the same time.

No, never went there with the troop. And my mother was born in 1943, dad in 1937, and I was born 1962.    However I have paternal family in Buckingham Co., Dillwyn, VA. Several maternal cousins live in the Leesburg area. I use to spend summer breaks with my paternal grandparents on their shared pig/tobacco farm. I fondly remember my red stained shirts and shorts… 

[JoanK]

I used to commute to work past the cherry trees, ealy in the morning, before the tourists got there. We would usually stop and spend some time with them. Love them.

Cherry blossoms fall.
The wild duck
Parts the petals with her breast.