Generated by All in One SEO Pro v5.0.0.1, this is an llms.txt file, used by LLMs to index the site.

# On The Issues Magazine

A Magazine of Feminist, Progressive Thinking

## Sitemaps

- [XML Sitemap](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/sitemap.xml): Contains all public & indexable URLs for this website.

## Posts

- [Blog](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/blog/) - Blog
- [BRILLIANCE OUTSIDE THE BOX - SHULAMITH FIRESTONE REMEMBERED](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/brilliance-outside-the-box-shulamith-firestone-remembered/) - by Barbara Fischkin, Senior Editor It was a memorial service - and a call to action. Shulamith Firestone, the brilliant, troubled feminist author, artist and activist who died in late August, was remembered at a sad but energized Manhattan memorial service Sunday night at St. Mark's Church in the Bowery. "The only box Shulie ever
- [What Happened: "I will not be lectured about sexism and misogyny by this man"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/what-happened-i-will-not-be-lectured-about-sexism-and-misogyny-by-this-man/) - by The Editors Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard made international headlines (and garnered much admiration) last week when video of her smackdown of Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition in Parliament, went viral. Center-right Liberal Party leader Abbot had put forward a motion for parliamentary Speaker Peter Slipper to step down on the basis of
- [OPINION: Will Your Vote Even Get Counted?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/opinion-will-your-vote-even-get-counted/) - by Sheila Parks In next week's presidential elections women could, in effect, lose ownership of their bodies if the Romney-Ryan ticket, with its hard right stance wins. Even if Romney loses it will be a sad day for women in some quarters if candidates such as Akin and Mourdock, with their frightening, absurdist and fundamentalist
- [OPINION: Your Vote Got Counted. Here's Why](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/opinion-your-vote-got-counted-heres-why/) - by Sheila Parks Yes, my side won. So, the argument could be made that I was wrong when it comes to election fraud. The real story is more complicated. I believe that my side, your side, the women's side, won in part because voting rights activists were vigilant. They kept Americans watching, to make sure
- [Is World War Needed to Protect Our Children?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/chesler-phyllis/is-world-war-needed-to-protect-our-children/) - by Phyllis Chesler Every time a news story breaks about a woman imprisoned as a sex slave (for example the Cleveland Three) people are, appropriately, shocked and horrified. What is even more shocking is the fact that such crimes are committed every single day in every country on earth. Children and adult women are routinely sold,
- [Mukthar Mai: The Opera](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/chesler-phyllis/mukthar-mai-the-opera/) - by Phyllis Chesler In the course of human events, certain actions and special individuals have been known to inspire operas. Like life, most operas also end in death ”but the dying go down singing ”and beautifully. Women, especially, die on the operatic stage. Their names are legion: Bellini's pagan priestess Norma, Donizetti's Queens Anna Boleyn
- [PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE AND THE TWENTY YEAR GENDER GAP: CAROLE SIMPSON ON 1992](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/presidential-debate-and-the-twenty-year-gender-gap-carole-simpson-on-1992/) - by Barbara Fischkin, Senior Editor It was 1992 and the presidential race between incumbent George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Ross Perot was in full steam. Five days before the second debate, ABC's Carole Simpson was named the first woman-and first African American-moderator. It was also the first time a television debate would include a
- [TWO PROMINENT FEMINISTS ON SHULAMITH FIRESTONE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/two-prominent-feminists-on-shulamith-firestone/) - by Chris Lombardi SUSAN BROWNMILLER, author of Against of Our Will: Men, Women and Rape Quote: "She was the first radical theorist. Her stuff on human reproduction -- no one was saying it back then." History: In 1968 Brownmiller joined New York Radical Women organized by Firestone and others the previous fall. A few years later the
- [Rebirth of an Activist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/rebirth-of-an-activist/) - by Pamela Leigh Although I was relatively engaged with feminist issues in the late 1960s and early 1970s, these matters later took a back seat to career and marriage and for too many years languished. These feminist passions were reignited one night this past March after viewing the nightly news. One of the lead stories
- [Where Are The Women?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/where-are-the-women/) - by Merle Hoffman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief After debating every major "right-to-life" leader in this country- including Jerry Falwell - I didn't need to watch the debate tonight to know that no matter who the pundits say won, it is women who are losing. In the meager segment set aside to discuss health care in tonight's
- [FILM: Andrea Arnold Darkens Wuthering Heights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/film-andrea-arnold-darkens-wuthering-heights/) - by Alyssa Pelish, Associate Editor The Heathcliff brought home one night in Andrea Arnold's Wuthering Heights adaptation is a slight and wary boy (played by newcomer Solomon Glave). Through his eyes, unaccustomed to the landscape, we experience the overwhelming rush of the wind and the pelting rain, the hostile murmuring of the farmhouse, and the gurgling of
- [Landlord Says No to Shulamith Firestone Memorial Apartment](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/landlord-says-no-to-shulamith-firestone-memorial-apartment/) - by Alyssa Pelish, Associate Editor The sad news of Shulamith Firestone's death in August has, it turns out, given new life to the radical feminist's legacy. Although academics have been teaching her groundbreaking book, The Dialectic of Sex, for years, many more readers have became aware of it since her death. Recently, about 100 mourners, including
- [Commentary: "Without education, what is the meaning of Pakistan?"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/commentary-without-education-what-is-the-meaning-of-pakistan/) - by Robina Niaz OCTOBER 11, 2012 On this UN-declared International Day of the Girl, it breaks my heart to think that a 14-year old brave, beautiful Pakistani girl, Malala Yousufzai, is lying in a hospital fighting for her life. My heart goes out to Malala and her family, and I am praying that she recovers
- [Malala's Legacy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/malalas-legacy/) - by The Editors OCT 15, 2012 We've just learned of efforts by the Hoshyar Foundation* to build a school for girls in Pakistan, in recognition of Malala Yousafzai. The foundation, which is "a secular, non-profit, U.S.-based organization whose purpose is to raise and distribute funds in support of human empowerment through female education," describes its latest initiative as follows:
- [No, Joe Walsh: Women Do Not Have Nine Lives](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/no-joe-walsh-women-do-not-have-nine-lives/) - by Merle Hoffman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief OCT 12, 2012 Congressman Joe Walsh says abortions never save women's lives. He's wrong. Here's one story out of many: This happened in 1989. Very publicly. Nancy Klein, a pregnant Long Island woman rendered comatose by a car accident, was finally given an abortion, woke up, and once again was
- [From Locker Room to Board Room: Women Inaugurate Queens College Athletics Hall of Fame](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/from-locker-room-to-board-room-women-inaugurate-queens-college-athletics-hall-of-fame/) - by Fiona Carmody, Special to On the Issues Queens, New York, "From locker room to boardroom is a very real concept," says legendary Queens College women's basketball coach Lucille Kyvallos, who at 80 is now retired. "Those young women who participate in athletics, I think, have a better chance of doing things, doing better, in
- [Taking Custody: Owning the Role of Artist AND Mother](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/taking-custody-owning-the-role-of-artist-and-mother/) - by Alyssa Pelish, Associate Editor In her essay in The Atlantic last June (you know, that little piece called "Why Women Still Can't Have It All?) Anne-Marie Slaughter explains why, at speaking engagements, she insists that the person introducing her mention that she has two sons. "It seems odd to me to list degrees, awards, positions, and interests,"
- [A Crowdfunding Primer: Feminist Media Producers Engage A Community of Backers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/a-crowdfunding-primer-feminist-media-producers-engage-a-community-of-backers/) - by Ariel Dougherty "This is what feminism looks like," shout young women in a contemporary street demonstration in the "She's Beautiful When She's Angry" video clip on the Kickstarter crowdfunding website. Film directors/producers Mary Dore and Nancy Kennedy are in the middle of a campaign, which started October 24th and ends November 28th, to raise $75,000 towards
- [Military Women Thankful as SWAN Combats Sexual Abuse](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/military-women-thankful-as-swan-combats-sexual-abuse/) - by Jamie J. Hagen The world may be concentrating on General Petraeus' dalliance. But the real story of sexual misbehavior in the military is far broader, and far more serious and damaging to so many of our women and men who serve. SWAN, the Service Women's Action Network, is one organization that knows the real
- [How My Friend From Kabul Escaped an Honor Killing and Saved Her Life, So Far](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/how-my-friend-from-kabul-escaped-an-honor-killing-and-saved-her-life-so-far/) - by Mahnaz Rezaie I am from Afghanistan. I am now an undergraduate student on scholarship at an American college. I was on campus last Sunday when I read, and agonized over, an article on the front page of The New York Times about the attempted "honor killing" an Afghan teenager. This young woman was from the provinces
- [Stand up and Bark: Military Leadership and Women's Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2013-winter/stand-up-and-bark-military-leadership-and-womens-rights/) - by Jamie Hagen The U.S. Military's January 24th lifting of the ban on women soldiers serving in combat is a bittersweet victory for the rights of women. On the sweet side, it offers long-overdue recognition for women who have served in combat zones in Iraq and Afghanistan for many years, and allows them to be
- [WOMEN OF THE WALL: THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/chesler-phyllis/women-of-the-wall-the-struggle-continues/) - by Phyllis Chesler Nearly 25 years ago, I was blessed with the privilege of being part of the first-ever woman's prayer service at the Western Wall (the Kotel). We prayed out loud, with a Torah; many women were religiously learned, some were rabbis, many wore their prayer shawls. This was the first time in history
- [FROM BATAAN TO BENGHAZI: WOMEN IN WAR](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/from-bataan-to-benghazi-women-in-war/) - by Elayne Clift Since the days of the goddess Athena, armed and shouting war cries, there have been female warriors. Still, war is viewed as a masculine domain. Traditional images of women during wartime have focused on what author Frank Moore dubbed "Angels of Mercy," like the nurses and caretakers in the U.S. Civil War.
- [Sharansky's Non-Solution For Women Worshippers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/chesler-phyllis/sharanskys-non-solution-for-women-worshippers/) - by Phyllis Chesler I do not understand what motivates sensible, even heroic, people to claim what is clearly a defeat as a victory. I am talking about the Women of the Wall struggle for equality for women at Jerusalem's Western Wall (Kotel) which has recently spawned global headlines. Now, everyone agrees, Natan Sharansky has presumably found
- [Hey Ladies: Let's Talk About Being A Male Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/hey-ladies-lets-talk-about-being-a-male-feminist/) - by Ariel Chesler Andy Hinds recently wrote about being a feminist and the father of two daughters, and his continued objectification of women he encounters in daily life. Hinds honesty about how his own behavior bothers him was generally greeted with disgust and derision. As Hinds later admitted on his blog, Beta Dad, the intended humor of his piece
- [Social Justice Conference Uses Police and Threat of Arrest to Suppress Anti-Porn Views](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/taylor-sunsara/social-justice-conference-uses-police-and-threat-of-arrest-to-suppress-anti-porn-views/) - by Sunsara Taylor On April 12, 2013, eight members of End Pornography and Patriarchy: The Enslavement and Degradation of Women (StopPatriarchy.org) were evicted, under threat of arrest, from the annual conference "From Abortion Rights to Social Justice, Building the Movement for Reproductive Freedom," sponsored by Hampshire College's program for Civil Liberties and Public Policy (CLPP). Our "crime"?
- [Abortion Rights Are At a Crossroads: It is Time for Massive Uncompromising Struggle](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/taylor-sunsara/abortion-rights-are-at-a-crossroads-it-is-time-for-massive-uncompromising-struggle/) - by Sunsara Taylor and David Gunn, Jr. Across the country, people are waking up to the state of emergency facing the right to abortion. As legislators in Texas push hard to close down 37 of 42 abortion clinics statewide, new laws in North Carolina would close four of their five remaining clinics. Meanwhile, Ohio's recently
- [Abortion Rights Freedom Ride Set to Visit Key Battlegrounds](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/greenberg-mary-lou/abortion-rights-freedom-ride-set-to-visit-key-battlegrounds/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg On Tuesday, July 23rd, rallies on both coasts will kick off the month-long Abortion Rights Freedom Ride, launching the beginning of a greatly-needed national movement to change the present trajectory and dynamic in the political battle around abortion, raising the call for Abortion on Demand and Without Apology. The rallies will
- [In the Shadow of the Prayer Tower: Forty Years of Pro-Choice Activism in a Red State](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/santee-barbara/in-the-shadow-of-the-prayer-tower-forty-years-of-pro-choice-activism-in-a-red-state/) - by Barbara Santee At a time when women's reproductive freedom is under constant attack, it is critical that younger women especially realize the importance of becoming involved in this struggle for the most basic of all human rights. As a contribution to this, I want to share a speech I gave in May of this
- [Everyday Bravery: Reflections While Going to the 2013 March on Washington](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/stein-linda/everyday-bravery-reflections-while-going-to-the-2013-march-on-washington/) - by Linda Stein I boarded the bus for the 2013 March on Washington with bravery very much on my mind. My exhibitions and lectures address courage in standing up to bullies, authenticity in fiercely living out one's gender, strength and compassion in protecting others. My thoughts focused on the many who had faced down threats and abuse to get
- [Why Women Still Do Not Vote for Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/why-women-still-do-not-vote-for-women/) - by Phyllis Chesler Cross-posted at Phyllis Chesler's website. Democratic women rejected the only woman candidate, Christine Quinn, who ran for Mayor of NYC. According to the New York Times, women voted for Bill De Blasio instead, "by more than two to one." Democratic women also deserted Hillary Clinton when she was running for the Presidency.
- [Dr. Willie Parker from Mississippi's Last Abortion Clinic Discusses Link Between Abortion and Poverty](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/dr-willie-parker-from-mississippis-last-abortion-clinic-discusses-link-between-abortion-and-poverty/) - by Sunsara Taylor From November 26th, the Jackson Women's Health Organization (JWHO), the last abortion clinic left in Mississippi, will be besieged by Operation Save America/Operation Rescue, a Christian fascist organization that has been associated with clinic violence and terror for decades. Local activists have called for a week of action defending this clinic, and
- [Merle Hoffman: Passionate, Generous and Visionary](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/chesler-phyllis/merle-hoffman-passionate-generous-and-visionary/) - by Phyllis Chesler The acclaimed Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture at Duke University celebrated its 25th Anniversary recently with a discussion in NYC, The Archival is Political: Preserving Women's History at the SallieBingham Center. In 2011, the Center's directorship was endowed by and named in honor of journalist, activist and women's health care pioneer
- [The Abortion Wars: 21 Years Ago But Still Relevant](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/the-abortion-wars-21-years-ago-but-still-relevant/) - by Barbara Santee Note by the author: I wrote this article in 1992, but believe it is as relevant today as it was 21 years ago. In 1992, there were 11 providers in Oklahoma. Now there are three. Reproductive Services is no longer open on Saturdays so the demonstrators show up on Friday mornings. And
- [Doris Lessing: R.I.P](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/doris-lessing-r-i-p/) - by Phyllis Chesler I began my first book, Women and Madness (1972), with a quote from Doris Lessing's The Four-Gated City: "They all looked half drugged or half asleep, dull, as if the creatures had been hypnotized or poisoned, it was painful, to walk among her own kind, looking at them as they were, seeing
- [Acid Attacks: U.S. Women Can Face Global Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hoffman-merle/acid-attacks-u-s-women-can-face-global-violence/) - by Merle Hoffman When the documentary "Saving Face" was awarded an Oscar this year, it was the first time many had heard about one of the most grotesque forms of violence against women: acid attacks on the victim's face and upper body. While the film focused on such attacks in Pakistan, this week a victim
- [At AIDS Conference, Women Finally in the Spotlight](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/at-aids-conference-women-finally-in-the-spotlight-2/) - by The Editors July 26, 2012 This week, Washington is host to the 19th International AIDS Conference. It differed from its predecessors in some important respects. This is the first time in over 10 years that it has taken place in the United States (after the lifting of the Bush-era travel ban on HIV-positive individuals).
- [Anti-Abortion "Wailing Wall" Gets it Wrong. Very Wrong.](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hoffman-merle/anti-abortion-wailing-wall-gets-it-wrong-very-wrong/) - by Merle Hoffman July 25, 2012 Comparing fetuses to Jews in the gas chambers and or black American slaves is an old trope of the anti-choice movement. Indeed, I have been called Hitler by the late Rev. Jerry Falwell on national television and current anti-choice protestors in front of Choices Women's Medical Center are generous
- [Health Reform, Supreme Court & What I Learned From My Mother](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/mason-janet/health-reform-supreme-court-what-i-learned-from-my-mother/) - by Janet Mason June 25, 2012 As the Affordable Care Act worked its way through the courts in the past three years, I began to reflect on how it might have affected my own life and that of my mother, who died of cancer in 1994. The Supreme Court is reportedly due to issue its
- [In Egypt's Crisis, Standing Up Against Sexual Abuse](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/lombardi-chris/in-egypts-crisis-standing-up-against-sexual-abuse/) - by Chris Lombardi This weekend, Egyptian voters went to the polls despite what many were calling a 'constitutional coup.' On June 14, the Supreme Constitutional Court ordered the Parliament dissolved, three days before the scheduled presidential runoff between Mohammed Shafiq, an associate of deposed leader Hosni Mubarak, and Ahmed Morsi of the "Muslim Brotherhood" already
- [Nun-The-Less: Pope Tells Nuns to Stop Thinking](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oshea-kathleen-a/nun-the-less-pope-tells-nuns-to-stop-thinking/) - by Kathleen A. O'Shea In the latest show of force, the Vatican is attempting to control and punish nuns and all women who think for themselves -- the most radical wave of feminism ever to wash over the Rock of Peter. As a former nun who loved being a nun, I concur with president of
- [Sending Our Service Women to Back Alleys](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/lombardi-chris/sending-our-service-women-to-back-alleys/) - by Chris Lombardi General Gale Pollock, former Army Surgeon General, was blunt: "When a servicewoman becomes pregnant due to an act of violence, she should not have to scrounge to meet her medical needs." She was decrying the current policy that prevents military facilities from performing abortions unless the woman's life is in danger, even
- [Crucial as Bread: Rhonda Copelon's Pioneering Work](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/susskind-yifat/crucial-as-bread-rhonda-copelons-pioneering-work/) - by Yifat Susskind It's been two years since the passing of Rhonda Copelon, a women's human rights advocate and lawyer. While we feel her absence, women worldwide also feel the presence of her vital work. She changed the face of international law, molding it into a tool that could better protect women. Her work was
- [Whose Delivery Is It Anyway?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hot-topics/whose-delivery-is-it-anyway/) - by Ariel Chesler I had the privilege and honor of being with my wife in the delivery room for the birth of both of our daughters. I shared in the emotions, both high and low, during her labor, and experienced the fear and joy of welcoming new life. As painful as it might have been
- [Down With NBA Racism! Sexism, ”Who Cares?"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/chesler-phyllis/down-with-nba-racism-sexism-who-cares/) - by Dr. Phyllis Chesler Racism is real and it is ugly but so is sexism. Who has been fined and "clipped" for calling women "hoes," "sluts," "bitches," "ball busters?" How many RAP artists and Hollywood people have been challenged, publicly exposed, fined, and fired from their own companies for buying the sexual services of a
- [I Was Warned About Stop Patriarchy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/i-was-warned-about-stop-patriarchy/) - by Mary Lou Singleton I'll never forget the excitement I felt the day I came home and found a note from my husband saying, "Joan from Stop Patriarchy called." Before this, I had no idea that a group called Stop Patriarchy existed, but I did know immediately that I wanted to talk to these people. Earlier
- [IS A BAD DAD BETTER THAN NO DAD?<br>The myth of the male role model<br><em>by Olga Silverstein</em>](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/love/is-a-bad-dad-better-than-no-dadthe-myth-of-the-male-role-modelby-olga-silverstein/) - ALARM BELLS ARE SOUNDING THROUGHOUT THE nation over the phenomenon of the absentee father. And with good reason - though not the reasons usually given by newspaper writers, their psychologist and sociologist sources, or "family values" preachers. The single most terrible thing about female-headed households is their poverty. It used to be that the absence
- [A Conversation with Earth First! Activist Judi Bari](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/earth/a-conversation-with-earth-first-activist-judi-bari/) - by Christine Keyser The spirit of Mother Jones lives on today in the backwoods of Northern California. The North Coast's most eloquent anti-chainsaw organizer, Earth First's! Judi Bari, is back at work defending the ancient forests from corporate slaughter after surviving a crippling car bomb in Oakland last May and the FBI's subsequent attempt to
- [Male Virgins, Blood Covenants & Family Values](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1995spring/male-virgins-blood-covenants-family-values/) - by John Stoltenberg Heresy raises hell -- like when Copernicus said, "The sun does not revolve around the earth." So imagine the heat when feminists declare, "Men are not superior to women." The babel has begun and even God Him/Herself is up for grabs. Join OTI as we "Eve"-drop on a conference of fired-up fundamentalist
- [This is What Winning Looks Like](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/culture/this-is-what-winning-looks-like/) - by Meg Heery August 6, 2012 Where to begin This weekend was so jammed with unbelievable moments for women Olympians that its tough to take it all in. Beginning and ending with contests that created a 72-hour explosion of civic pride all across the UK, women from a dozen nations crushed a slew of world
- [Pioneers? Yes. Is It Enough? No.](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/pioneers-yes-is-it-enough-no/) - By Meg Heery August 5, 2012 Last week, the world glimpsed women from Brunei, Qatar and Saudi Arabia as they walked in the opening ceremony (several paces behind their male counterparts). Finally, every participating country allowed female athletes to represent. Their performances have received less fanfare. Admitted through an International Olympic Committee rule that accepts
- [I Like 'Em Big, I Like 'Em Proud.](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/i-like-em-big-i-like-em-proud/) - By Meg Heery August 4, 2012 Thankfully, it looks like Olympics fans are finally embracing big, and embracing it where it's most visible: women's weightlifting. The sport has trended sharply upward this Olympics, and not entirely because of Samuel L. Jackson's tweets. The event's raw athleticism and mystique has generated stories celebrating the sport, and
- [They're Olympic Champions, Not Prey](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/theyre-olympic-champions-not-prey/) - By Meg Heery August 3, 2012 Thursday, August 2nd, was a huge day for American women in the prime-time Olympic sports. Rebecca Soni set a new world record and snagged gold in the women's 200m breaststroke. Elizabeth Beisel and Missy Franklin scorched the field leading up to the 200m backstroke final, leading their respective semifinal
- [Olympic Fencing: A Mighty Duel, A Sound Strategy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/olympic-fencing-a-mighty-duel-a-sound-strategy/) - August 2, 2012 If you watched Olympic fencing this week, did you ever wonder what all that screaming was about As it turns out, vocalizing plays an important and time-honored role in the sport. And on Wednesday, the final rounds of the London Olympics womens individual sabre competition gave us a convincing tale of the
- [Meet Your New Olympic Heroes](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/meet-your-new-olympic-heroes/) - By Meg Heery August 1, 2012 To borrow a line from Tina Turner, we really do need another hero. Smiling, youthful faces from high-profile sports are nice, but it would be nicer to see some faces with a few lines and rich, complex lives behind them. So here are six and only two are from
- [Women and London 2012: Historic? Maddening? Both?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/women-and-london-2012-historic-maddening-both/) - July 30, 2012 By Meg Heery London 2012 made good on its hype as the Year of the Woman on Sunday. Kim Rhode made Olympic history when she won the gold medal in skeet shooting, becoming the first American to win medals (five now) in five consecutive Games. A woman brought the Peoples Republic of Korea its
- [London 2012, Day 2: Women Win, Not Unicorns](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/london-2012-day-2-women-win-not-unicorns/) - July 29, 2012 (In daily postings, On the Issues Magazine looks at the 2012 Summer Olympics through a feminist lens.) What was that A unicorn No, just a female athlete. Early yesterday morning, I watched Dana Vollmer set a new Olympic record in the qualifying heats of the 100-meter butterfly. Then I watched as NBCs
- [Women in London 2012: Who to Watch](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/women-in-london-2012-who-to-watch/) - July 28, 2012 By Meg Heery (Every day of the 2012 London Olympics, look to this space at On the Issues Magazine for updates about the Games through a feminist lens. Keeping us up to date is journalist Meg Ryan Heery, whose magazine credentials range from the art magazine DOT to Women's Health and Details,
- [Finding Legs and Body: Running the Marathon](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/finding-legs-and-body-running-the-marathon/) - By Meg Heery July 16, 2012 When I was a kid, running was something boys did, usually scrambling through backyards and down alleyways in pursuit of something pointless, like a beat-up coffee can or other makeshift "home base." Such was the semi-idyllic, semi-urban life of the Western PA steel town where I grew up, like
- [Ending the Male Patina in Biology](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/ending-the-male-patina-in-biology/) - By Mahin Hassibi For the past century and a half, every new discovery of biology has left intact, and even crystallized, the myth of women’s inferiority. Now, galloping developments in biotechnology may alter this age-old script. Still, the possibilities for manipulation of genes and genetic engineering are taking place with little or no public attention
- [Sex Work and Prostitution -- Beholders See Different Issues In Past Stories](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008summer/sex-work-and-prostitution-beholders-see-different-issues-in-past-stories/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Women and sex -- for pleasure, for money, as an oppression, as a profession -- is a theme found throughout the print life (1983-1999) of On The Issues Magazine. The magazine’s pages featured sharply-contrasting views on prostitution/sex work that reflected and contributed to the ongoing debate within the feminist movement (see articles
- [What is Terror for Women: A Hot Topic In Our Archives](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/what-is-terror-for-women-a-hot-topic-in-our-archives/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Much of women's lives has to do with terror - living with it, facing it, and most importantly, overcoming it. The terror of anticipated and actual abuse, both bloody acts and devastating words; terror of bombs and guns in wars of various kinds, in Kosovo, the Congo, the Middle East today,
- [Related Articles: New Year Revolutions Women Need](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/related-articles-new-year-revolutions-women-need/) - by MaryLou Greenberg The print editions of On the Issues Magazine (1983-1999) carried many articles, editorials and interviews with vision and hopeful projections about women’s lives, even when they also addressed difficult realities. We’ve highlighted a few below, available for free in our Archives. A special focus on The Future of Love in Summer in 1995 featured Ronnie Sandroff’s The
- [Filming Against Odds: Undocumented Youth “Come Out" With Their Dreams](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/filming-against-odds-undocumented-youth-come-out-with-their-dreams/) - by Anne Galisky My first feature-length documentary film, “Papers: Stories of Undocumented Youth,” was produced by a scrappy crew, undocumented and documented, old and young, straight and queer, people of many races, ethnicities and religions who came together to make a film and ward off our own despair. There was an urgency to our endeavor.
- [Dr. Sally Ride's Legacy: The Frontier of Identity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/dr-sally-rides-legacy-the-frontier-of-identity/) - July 27, 2012 by Carolyn Gage The Internet is abuzz with the posthumous outing of astronaut Sally Ride. Everyone seems to have an opinion: Some folks wish that Dr. Ride, as an iconic astronaut, had been out publicly as a powerful role model in the LGBT community. Indeed, there is a posthumous campaign on Facebook
- [Me, Babe and Prying Open the Lesbian Closets of Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/me-babe-and-prying-open-the-lesbian-closets-of-women/) - by Carolyn Gage June 28, 2012 As a playwright attempting to reclaim the lesbian lives of historic women athletes like Babe Didrikson Zaharias, I run into a peculiar brand of homophobia. Writing about women athletes is a joy. Women athletes defy expectations and societal norms. They run their own races. They inspire and they revolutionize.
- [Judging Our Future: Supreme Women Move Up](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/judging-our-future-supreme-women-move-up/) - By Sonia Fuentes In my lifetime, this country has seen dramatic changes with regard to women on the U.S. Supreme Court bench. In a speech I gave 40 years ago on the participation of American women in professional and political life, I said, No woman sits on the [U.S.] Supreme Court bench. Seven years after
- [Socially Prominent Sears Broke Victorian Records](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/socially-prominent-sears-broke-victorian-records/) - By Peggy Miller Francke May 10, 2012 The multi-talented sports champion Eleonora Sears died four years before Title IX became law in 1972, but no one better embodied and advanced the idea of this empowering legislation than the woman who earned the nickname of the "Universal Female Athlete." Born in 1881, Eleonora "Eleo" Sears burst
- [Out of the Loop and Out of Print](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1998summer/out-of-the-loop-and-out-of-print/) - by Kate Millett Another season at the farm, not that bad, but not that good either: the tedium of a small community, shearing trees, so exhausted afterward that I did nothing but read. A season without writing or silk screening or drawing. Back to the Bowery and another emptiness. I cannot spend the whole day
- [Women And The War On Terror: An Unintended Consequence?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/women-and-the-war-on-terror-an-unintended-consequence/) - by Sallie Bingham The statistics about violence against women in the United States have a deadly sameness that can numb minds and hearts: 95 thousand rapes a year and untold numbers of sexual abuse, often unreported. Both continue at record rates for a so-called “developed” country in spite attempts that began with the women’s movement
- [To Be Male or To Be Female That Is the Question:<br>Gender, Sex and Politics in Shakespeare](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1998summer/to-be-male-or-to-be-female-that-is-the-questiongender-sex-and-politics-in-shakespeare/) - by Marilyn Stasio When Sarah Bernhardt played Hamlet in 1899, two French critics disagreed so violently about her performance that they marched over to the Seine and onto the Isle de la Grande Jatte, where they fought a duel in which Bernhardt's champion was seriously wounded. All Paris and, indeed, most of the literary world,
- ["Passing": Life in Black and White](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/passinglife-in-black-and-white/) - by Toi Derricotte I'm sure most people don't go around all the time thinking about what race they are. When you look like what you are, the external world mirrors back to you an identity consistent with your idea of yourself. However, for someone like me, who does not look like what I am, the
- [Buried Alive: Afghan Women Under the Taliban](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/buried-aliveafghan-women-under-the-taliban/) - by Jan Goodwin February 27, 1998 --Thirty-thousand men and boys poured into the dilapidated Olympic sports stadium in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan. Street hawkers peddled nuts, biscuits and tea to the waiting crowd. The scheduled entertainment? They were there to see a young woman, Sohaila, receive 100 lashes, and to watch two thieves have their
- [Fountain of Youth](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1998fall/fountain-of-youth/) - Film Review by Molly Haskell Of course, exceptionally good-looking and/or successful men, the Alpha males of the tribe, have always enjoyed a wide latitude in mating privileges and trophy wives.Every once in a while women flock to a movie, and Hollywood, "shocked" to discover there's a female audience out there, resolves to make more movies
- [Fear & Loathing Deconstructed: An Essay on Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/fear-loathing-deconstructed/) - by Naomi Wolf Revolution From Within,* Steinem's first full-length work, analyzes how huge transformations - what Grace Paley calls "enormous changes at the last minute" - begin in that most still and lonely of cells, the intimate self. Self esteem - or, as she puts it elsewhere and better, "self-authority" - is the prerequisite for
- [Fighting the Black Anti-Abortion Campaign: Trusting Black Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/fighting-the-black-anti-abortion-campaign-trusting-black-women/) - by Loretta J. Ross Sixty-five billboards were quickly erected in predominantly African American neighborhoods in Atlanta on February 5, 2010. Each showed a sorrowful picture of a black male child proclaiming, "Black Children are an Endangered Species." Georgia Right to Life and the newly-formed Radiance Foundation spent $20,000 to sponsor the billboards that included the
- [Re-enslaving African American Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/re-enslaving-african-american-women/) - By Loretta Ross I have spoken on many campuses in the wake of the "Genocide Awareness Project," which displays posters at colleges to create controversy among young people about Black abortion. Students are understandably confused when presented with seemingly fact-based information that claims that Black women are the scourge of the African American community. I
- [Desperately Seeking Madonna The Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1993spring/desperately-seeking-madonna-the-feminist/) - by bell hooks Just as it was once fashionable among "cool" feminists to love Madonna, it is now permissible to acknowledge that she is tres passe. Or as someone exclaimed the other day when I was talking about Madonna: "I mean, who cares?" The truth is a lot of us still care about Madonna. Too
- [The Second Coming of Joan Of Arc](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1995spring/the-second-coming-of-joan-of-arc/) - by Carolyn Gage "I hear a lot of talk about women forgiving men. I don't believe it. I have experienced almost every form of cruelty men can inflict on women, and I am here to tell you that no woman can forgive it or ignore it, and furthermore, no woman should ever try." My voices
- [When "Pro-Life" Means Death](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/when-pro-life-means-death/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg As I held in my hand the sharp slivers of glass that were now the only remains of the shattered windows, my eye was drawn to a metal object in the debris. It was a nail, a small, sharp spike two inches long. I shuddered. Hundreds of these projectiles intended to
- [In the U.S., AIDS Spreads Rapid-Fire And Crosses the Gender Divide](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/in-the-u-s-aids-spreads-rapid-fire-and-crosses-the-gender-divide/) - by Molly M. Ginty A73-year-old grandmother in Kansas City, Kansas. A 16-year-old Bronx girl living in a foster home. A mother in Virginia, infected at 19 by a rapist and fighting years later to protect her daughter from her devastating disease. Now that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) that leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome disease
- [Featured Video: "Car Repair is Women's Work"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/featured-video-car-repair-is-womens-work/) - Car mechanic and mother Audra Fordin dons her work gloves to do a grease job on an automobile in her shop in Queens, New York. She's so comfortable under the hood that she's embarked on a mission to teach other women the basics of auto repair in monthly classes called, "What Women Auto-Know," donating proceeds
- [LOVE AND DEATH ON 86](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/love-and-death-on-86/) - by Merle Hoffman I am overhearing a phone conversation - the tone of the speaker is intimate - concerned - loving parental... long complicated words are being spelled out - RETINITIS - CHEMOTHERAPY - LYMPHADEN0PATHY - repeated again and again. The voice on the other side of the phone was BOBBY'S - and he had
- [Why Sex Segregation Is Bad for Society](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/why-sex-segregation-is-bad-for-society/) - by Alex Channon Sex segregation in sports is so widely accepted that it is hardly ever discussed. But this outdated and harmful notion merely reinforces a sexual hierarchy in society, and the assumptions behind it need some serious re-examination. Participation in sports among women and girls is recognized by sports scholars -- feminist and others
- [What Is Terror To Women?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/what-is-terror-to-women/) - by Susan Faludi Back in 1986, when the media was busy scaring unwed career women with tales of a looming “man shortage,” Newsweek famously declared that a 40-year-old single woman was “more likely to be killed by a terrorist” than marry. One didn’t need a degree in actuarial science to know the claim was ludicrous, but it
- [Video: An Iconic Dancer On Her](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/video-an-iconic-dancer-on-her/) - By Ann Farmer WATCH THE VIDEO: Yvonne Rainer: Back to the Future A founding member of the avant-garde Judson Dance Theater, Yvonne Rainer played a key role ushering in the post-modern dance movement that originated in New York City in the 1960s. Her consequential No Manifesto (below) -- which eschewed spectacle, virtuosity and other dance
- [What's "Level" and Fair for Trans, Intersex and Disabled Athletes?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/whats-level-and-fair-for-trans-intersex-and-disabled-athletes/) - By Avory Faucette May 21, 2012 As the Summer 2012 Olympics in London gear up, the media will be presenting a number of inspirational stories about athletes who have overcome odds, worked hard and sacrificed tremendously to achieve their dreams. These stories speak to an ethos that has long been embedded in the collective imagination:
- ["No Easy Decision": MTV Takes on Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/no-easy-decision-mtv-takes-on-abortion/) - By Sarah Flint Erdreich Abortion has long been the third rail of American pop culture. Maude may have chosen to have an abortion in 1972, but in the decades since, few female characters on mainstream television shows have made the same choice. (Interestingly, this is an area where soap operas have been much more progressive
- [Bad Thoughts](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/bad-thoughts/) - By The Editors Over the years, HIV-AIDS has been demonized and stigmatized, especially by religious reactionaries. Family “values” conservatives oppose condom use, even though it could save women’s lives, and the persistent use of HIV-AIDS in anti-gay propaganda makes women completely invisible. The theme of a “homosexual plague” has always skimmed over gay women, who
- [From Our Files: Gender Always On The Agenda](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/from-our-files-gender-always-on-the-agenda/) - By The Editors The question of gender has been an ongoing theme in On the Issues Magazine – Gender roles, gender identity and self-identity, societal and personal gender expectations. In an article published 11 years ago, The Tyranny of the Esthetic: Surgery's Most Intimate Violation (Summer 1998), Martha Coventry describes her devastating personal experience in
- [Race, Feminism, Our Future](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/race-feminism-our-future/) - From the Editors What do postfeminism and postracialism have to do with liberation and freedom? The answer is clear: nothing -- not a single thing. Postfeminism or postracialism contribute nothing to dismantling the patriarchal systems that spread across cultures and races. Or to inhibit gender violence, deliver healthcare, provide economic relief or increase abortion accessibility.
- [TALKING FEMINIST: Letty Cottin Pogrebin Interviews Renee David About French Feminism and Jewish Identity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/talking-feministletty-cottin-pogrebin-interviews-renee-davidabout-french-feminism-and-jewish-identity/) - Renee David is a successful journalist who forthrightly calls herself a feminist. She's a political radical, a Jewish woman who struggles with equal fervor against anti-Semitism in French secular culture and sexism in French- Jewish life. I discover all this during our conversation in an outdoor cafe in Paris and after 10 minutes, I feel
- [RELATED STORIES From Our Files](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/related-stories-from-our-files/) - In previous issues, both online and in print,On The Issues Magazine has interviewed and written about many women whose passionate commitment to freedom and justice has motivated them to risk personal safety and even their very lives. They are from many countries and different backgrounds, and their examples continue to challenge others to live lives
- [At AIDS Conference, Women Finally in the Spotlight](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/at-aids-conference-women-finally-in-the-spotlight/) - by The Editors July 26, 2012 This week, Washington is host to the 19th International AIDS Conference. It differed from its predecessors in some important respects. This is the first time in over 10 years that it has taken place in the United States (after the lifting of the Bush-era travel ban on HIV-positive individuals).
- [Water Born: Swimming Along in Competition and Life](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/water-born-swimming-along-in-competition-and-life/) - By Gwen Deely May 24, 2012 My life aquatic was in full swing before I was born. Evidently I was busy doing laps and polishing my freestyle in the womb because doctors had to pluck me out with a forceps two weeks after my due date. My parents gave me swim lessons at the tender
- [IRANIAN WOMEN MARK 30 YEARS OF STRUGGLE TO RECLAIM OUR LIVES](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/iranian-women-mark-30-years-of-struggle-to-reclaim-our-lives/) - Submitted to and Rejected by: The Los Angeles Times By Carol Downer International Women’s Day on March 8 has special meaning for me – this year, more than ever. I will be participating in a demonstration in Los Angeles on March 7 and sharing, long distance, in the power of another one in Sweden the
- [A Blast From The Past Can Secure Abortion Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010spring/a-blast-from-the-past-can-secure-abortion-rights/) - By Carol Downer To secure the availability of abortion, we who are "pro-choice" need to take the lessons from the "second wave" movement in the 1960s and 1970s and create a mass movement as strong or stronger. As it stands now, women seeking abortion care must walk through crowds of protestors; abortion providers fear for
- [Misogyny Makes Money: Review of "The Social Network"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/misogyny-makes-money-review-of-the-social-network/) - By Ariel Dougherty Fitting for these times Is The Social Network a movie with social good In the opening sequence over beer, Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) insults, degrades and belittles his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara). She, with gumption, dumps him and splits the bar, and almost all of the movie. Everything else
- [Stop the Con and Take ERA All The Way](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/stop-the-con-and-take-era-all-the-way/) - By Cindy Cooper The biggest feminist con ever might be the failure to inscribe equal rights into the United States Constitution. Now, the effort to revive the ERA is on the boards again. On December 10, 2010 -- to not a droplet of media coverage -- U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) introduced a new Equal
- [Dear Antis: Voters Say No to Your Abortion Bans](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/dear-antis-voters-say-no-to-your-abortion-bans/) - By Cindy Cooper The count is four to zero. Four times voters have been asked to consider anti-abortion ballot measures that would ban abortion in their states, and four out of four times the anti-abortion measures lost. The most recent anti-abortion ballot measure to go down in flames was a "personhood" amendment in Colorado in
- [Art Exhibit: Judy Chicago](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/art-exhibit-judy-chicago/) - On The Issues Magazine provides an Online forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses to major themes of our day. This edition of On the Issues Magazine presents a mini-retrospective of the gutsy and groundbreaking art of feminist icon Judy Chicago. Click
- [A Woman, Without A Fish, On A Bicycle](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/a-woman-without-a-fish-on-a-bicycle/) - By Cindy Cooper May 5, 2012 In 1892, suffragist and temperance leader Frances Elizabeth Willard had a truly wild idea: she would learn to ride a bicycle. Willard made this brave decision, in her words, "at the ripe age of fifty three." She later explained it was "an act of grace," emerging from the "pure
- [Youth Videos Push Back Gender Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/youth-videos-push-back-gender-violence/) - by rebecca s. a. connie and Tara Malik When TOMS Attack is the name of a short video created by Global Girls in Chicago to describe the problem of sexual harassment and assault by mature men who prey on young girls. The males are the “TOMS” of the title, which stands for “Thirsty Old Men”
- [Female Avatars Hail ‘Second Life’](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/female-avatars-hail-second-life/) - by Sharon Collingwood In November of 2008 a conference was held at Ohio State University. Over 50 academics from Europe, North America and Australia met to discuss women's activism and community development in the virtual world Second Life. None of the attendees needed airplane tickets; no hotel rooms were reserved. This conference was carried out
- [A Tribute to Barbara Seaman: Triggering a revolution in women’s health care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/a-tribute-to-barbara-seamantriggering-a-revolution-in-womens-health-care/) - Barbara Seaman was an author who persistently challenged the "givens" of the medical establishment. In the 1970s, she became a pioneer in a bustling new feminist health movement that focused on patient knowledge and decision-making. The New York Times wrote that she had "triggered a revolution, fostering a willingness among women to take issues of health into
- [Food for The Soul: Poetry That Pierces Injustice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/food-for-the-soul-poetry-that-pierces-injustice/) - by Sarah Browning Like many white, middle-class poets coming of age in the early-to-mid-1980s, I was told by my poetry teacher not to write political poems: "The poet must love language above all else." He liked my poems about families, about fathers' ambivalent feelings about fatherhood. When later that semester I heard him read a
- [Musings on Minstrelsy: "Ironic" Racism in America](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/belle-lula/musings-on-minstrelsy-ironic-racism-in-america/) - by Lula Belle July 24, 2012This past spring, something happened where I live, something perhaps unexpected in my adopted hometown of liberal-minded Charlottesville, Virginia.Billed as a "Poetry Review of R. Kelly," it featured about 12 white men and women, standing on stage and reciting some of the rapper's lyrics in a deadpan "white person" voice.
- [Shulamith Firestone and Me](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/shulamith-firestone-and-me/) - by Jennifer Baumgardner Almost 15 years ago, I picked up my ringing phone and the voice on the other end identified herself as Shulamith Firestone. I almost dropped the receiver. Second wave feminism had many iterations and reverberations. As readers of On The Issues Magazine no doubt know, some women, like Betty Friedan and Helen
- [Feminist Hyman Rights vs. the Conning of Patriotism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/feminist-hyman-rights-vs-the-conning-of-patriotism/) - By Kathleen Barry Although more women are joining the military than ever before and some are seeing combat, women's primary role, as far as the military is concerned, is patriotic. Not just any kind of patriotism is expected of women; they are expected to eagerly send their sons and husbands and lovers and partners and
- [Report From the Right-to-Life Convention, Part 2: Young Women and Men Unite!](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/baird-bill/report-from-the-right-to-life-convention-part-2-young-women-and-men-unite/) - by Bill Baird (In yesterday's installment, pro-choice pioneer Bill Baird reported from the stages of the Right to Life Convention. Now, meet the young troops RTLC is training — and why pro-choice men and women must join together to fight back. - Ed.) July 18, 2012 Compared to other Right-To-Life Conventions I've attended over the
- [Why Right-to-Lifers Hate Birth Control and Love Mitt Romney, Part 1](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/baird-bill/why-right-to-lifers-hate-birth-control-and-love-mitt-romney-part-1/) - by Bill Baird July 17, 2012 My wife Joni and I were the only ones protesting in front of the National Right to Life Committee's annual convention this year, from June 29-July 1 in Washington, D.C. I'd just turned 80, and this year's event was the 37th time I had been there to greet them.
- [BOOK REVIEW: AIDS, Women, Africa](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/book-review-aids-women-africa-2/) - Reviewed by Eleanor J. Bader Nicole Itano’s No Place Left to Bury the Dead zeroes in on three communities in Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa and scrutinizes the dynamics that make females vulnerable to the AIDS virus. Her findings are gripping. A professional journalist, Itano spent years with the women she profiles and confesses that
- [MILK and Recruiting for Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/milk-and-recruiting-for-rights/) - by Eleanor J. Bader We asked leading thinkers to describe New Revolutions We Need for a feminist and progressive future. Here's one response. During the last half century, Americans have seen numerous small-but-potent revolutions on home soil. Government sanctioned segregation has ended; Barack Obama is president; abortion is legal; and gay and lesbian lawmakers serve
- [Beyond Olympics: Why I Pledge to Attend Women's Sports](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/arreola-veronica-i/beyond-olympics-why-i-pledge-to-attend-womens-sports/) - You cannot open a paper or magazine (or their digital counterparts) lately and not read a story about an Olympian, especially if it is a woman. During the build up to the Olympics is where being a physically strong woman earns you a photo shoot. However, what happens after the flame is extinguished My gut
- [The Poet's Eye: Spring '11](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/the-poets-eye-spring-11/) - In our Spring '11 edition, THE POET'S EYE features RED 1800s by Denise Bergman, Hurry, it's coming by Marge Piercy, and A Call To Arms and Breast Cancer by Frances Payne Adler; from Poetry Co-Editor Judith Arcana. RED 18005 by Denise Bergman She callsacross the tenement valleyto her friends pullinglaundry off the cross-cut lineA block
- ["Nontraditional": A Video Makes a Car Job Seem Auto-Matic](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/nontraditional-a-video-makes-a-car-job-seem-auto-matic-2/) - by the Editors It's generally called "nontraditional" employment women working in jobs that are mostly held by men. While becoming an auto mechanic may be a nontraditional career path for most women, in another sense, it was a totally traditional choice for Audra Fordin. She stepped into the boots of her auto-mechanic father, grandfather and
- [The Artist Perspective: Winter '10](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/the-artist-perspective-winter-10/) - On The Issues Magazine provides an Online forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses to major themes of our day. This edition of On the Issues Magazine presents a mini-retrospective of the art of Miriam Schapiro. Click on play to
- [The Poet's Eye: Summer '11](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/the-poets-eye-summer-11/) - As the U.S. approaches a decade of war, what are feminist writers and artists thinking? On The Issues Magazine Summer 2011 probes peace activism and war reality.In our Summer '11 edition, THE POET'S EYE features "NO" by Lisa Suhair Majaj, "Horse and Fire Dream" by Kathy Engel, "piestewa, lori" by Meg Hamill and "All That
- [The Poetry Eye: Fall '11](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/the-poetry-eye-fall-11/) - Speaking out, raising banners, uploading ideas - new & old activists are stepping up. On The Issues Magazine Fall 2011 explores progressive & feminist inspiration.Featuring the poetry of E. F. Schraeder, Lynnel Jones, Sondra Zeidenstein,Toi Derricotte and Ursula K. Le Guin; Curated by Poetry Co-editor Judith Arcana. igive by E. F. Shraeder absentee activism shroudsindifference
- [The Poet's Eye: Summer '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/the-poets-eye-summer-09/) - In our Summer '09 edition, THE POET'S EYE features Julie Enszer, Judith Barrington and Toi Derricotte;from Poetry Co-Editor Judith Arcana. ABSOLUTELY NO CAR REPAIRS IN THE PARKING LOT by Julie Enszer, OTI Summer 2009 Three people are working on old, American cars.One man with a white van—his mobile mechanic’s shop—has pulled the engine out of
- [No! Now is the Time to Do Battle](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/no-now-is-the-time-to-do-battle/) - By Mina Assidi Singer Gissoo Shakeri and poet Mina Assidi, both of whose works are banned in the Islamic Republic of Iran, created what has become the signature song of the Campaign for Abolition of All Misogynist Gender-Based Legislation and Islamic Punitive Laws in Iran (www.karzar-zanan.com). In 2006 the Campaign sponsored a march through five
- [The Poet's Eye: Spring '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/the-poets-eye-spring-09/) - From Poetry Co-Editor Clare CossWhat if your mother by Judith ArcanaBirth Control by Judith ArcanaResponsibility by Grace PaleyGentleness Stirred by Nimah Nawwab In our Spring ’09 edition, On The Issues Magazine writers and artists discuss feminist and progressive values that transcend politics -- our Lines In The Sand. What if your mother by Judith Arcana
- [The Poet's Eye: Spring '08](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/the-poets-eye-spring-08/) - Poems by Gale Jackson Conversations with love: 25 and her sister's dead. it's a full moon and who would know a young girls pain like her own sister after the family has gathered to mourn to eat to drink to laugh again she returns to the stoop alone the stoop where she left them all
- [Media Literacy: Piercing Content and Who Controls It](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010spring/media-literacy-piercing-content-and-who-controls-it/) - by Jennifer L. Pozner Media literacy is our strongest tool against propaganda and manipulation in today’s media-saturated environment. As someone who analyzes the media regularly, I created a 13-letter mnemonic of the words “M.E.D.I.A. L.I.T.E.R.A.C.Y.” It’s my guide to understanding the goals of corporate media, breaking down its biases and arming ourselves as consumers. M.E.D.I.A.
- [The Art Perspective: Spring '10](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010spring/the-art-perspective-spring-10/) - In our Spring '10 edition, On The Issues Magazine contributors look at ways to enhance and augment our understanding of feminist and progressive values.On The Issues Magazine provides an Online forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses to major themes
- [The Art Perspective: May '08](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/the-art-perspective-may-08/) - OTI Online provides a new forum for artists to present contemporary art in relation to the topic for that issue. Our online forum allows new possibilities for showing art, including moving images, as well as stills This art section will explore a different artist for each online issue. I welcome feedback from online viewers with
- [The Art Perspective: Karen Shaw](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/the-art-perspective-karen-shaw/) - The Art Perspective provides a visual and audio forum for artists to exhibit their art and present exciting responses to major themes of our day. This edition on Girls, Women & Sports highlights the work of Karen Shaw, a New York-based artist exploring her feminist reactions to what she sees as the male-dominated world of
- [The Art Perspective: Fall '08](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/the-art-perspective-fall-08/) - OTI Online provides a forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses relating to major themes of our day. I welcome feedback from online viewers with emails to LindaStein@ontheissuesmagazine.com.
- [The Poet's Eye: Winter '11](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/the-poets-eye-winter-11/) - In our Winter '11 edition, THE POET'S EYE features ANNA’S ESTATE by Grace Cavalieri, Walking the edge of the windowpane by Elizabeth Potter, and What We Deserve by Sonya Renee Taylor; from Poetry Co-Editor Sarah Browning. Anna's Estate: by Grace CavalieriAt the ½ star hotelthe lower lip is painted bigger, to matchher dreams of being
- [The Artist Perspective: Fall '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009fall/the-artist-perspective-fall-09/) - In this edition of On the Issues Magazine on race, feminism and a new progressive movement, The Art Perspective features the work of Faith Ringgold, an artist with a vast and impressive body of work. Ringgold, born in 1930 in Harlem, began her artistic career in the early 1960s as a painter. She is widely
- [The Poet's Eye: Winter '10](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/the-poets-eye-winter-10/) - In our Winter '10 edition, THE POET'S EYE features Heather Davis, Susan Eisenberg and Renny Golden;from Poetry Co-Editor Judith Arcana. From Armenia By Heather Davis Across the table, her face is a small animalbunched as if to spring,eyes wide only when she speaks of homein the mountains of Erevan.If it weren't for the children,she would
- [The Artist Perspective: Ursula O’Farrell](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/the-artist-perspective-ursula-ofarrell/) - The Art Perspective provides a visual and audio forum for artists to exhibit their art and present exciting responses to major themes of our day. This edition of On The Issues Magazine on Abortion highlights the work of Ursula O'Farrell, whose paintings focus on the inner struggle to reaching women's empowerment. Click on “Play" to
- [The Poet's Eye - Spring '10](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010spring/the-poets-eye-spring-10/) - In our Spring '10 edition, THE POET'S EYE features Margaret Randall, Meena Alexander and Suheir Hammad;from Poetry Co-Editor Clare Coss. Ever Ready to Fly By Margaret Randall In years to come I’d learn the world could change,follow a route of broken bodiesand searing hope,seek those ridges of place and timewhere travelers swallow fearto carve impossible
- [The Art Perspective - Summer '08](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008summer/the-art-perspective-summer-08/) - By Linda Stein OTI Online provides a forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses relating to major themes of our day. I welcome feedback from online viewers with emails to LindaStein@ontheissuesmagazine.com.
- [The Art Perspective - Winter '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/the-art-perspective-winter-09/) - On The Issues Magazine provides an Online forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses relating to major themes of our day. In this edition of On the Issues Magazine, we feature the art of New York artist, Joyce Kozloff. In
- [Fiction: A Basket of Biscuits](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/fiction-a-basket-of-biscuits/) - by Michael angel Johnson Now I would recognize the warning signs, but then, I was only ten. When I cried out in fear in the dead of the night, grandma always came to me with amazing speed. Did she never sleep? Were we so in tune with each other that she knew before me that
- [The Poet's Eye: Fall '08](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/the-poets-eye-fall-08/) - Poems by Kirsten Rian and Juditha Dowd Reading Poems By Girl Mothers in Sierra Leone - by Kirsten Rian It is blessedly hot,and I have never knownsuch sweat. I've lostmy sense of smell,a physiological survival response,I've decided, to the thick,all-covering fabricof urine, exhaust, dust,and bug spray. I alternate bright orange Fantaand muddy, bitter Nescafébetween handfuls
- [Wanted: A Revolution in Critical Thinking](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/wanted-a-revolution-in-critical-thinking/) - by Susan Jacoby We asked leading thinkers to describe New Revolutions We Need for a feminist and progressive future. Here's one response. Of all the revolutions we need, as a society, the most crucial—and the foundation of all other social change—is a renewal, on a vast scale, of respect for critical, tough-minded, evidence-based thinking. We
- [The Artist Perspective: Guerrilla Girls](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/the-artist-perspective-guerrilla-girls/) - The Art Perspective provides a visual and audio forum for artists to exhibit their art and present exciting responses to major themes of our day. This edition, Activism, highlights the work of The Guerrilla Girls, who have combined their talents for art and activism, adding humor and in-your-face gutsiness, to counter the sexism in today's
- [Our Genders, Our Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/our-genders-our-rights/) - From the Editors This edition of On The Issues Magazine – Our Genders, Our Rights – discusses a topic that is both utterly fundamental and wildly revolutionary: gender norms and gender identity. This subject has many contours and nuances, and we have tried to explore several. It’s no secret that gender norms in many societies
- [Three Habits of the Heart and Mind To Spark Cultural Awakening](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010spring/three-habits-of-the-heart-and-mind-to-spark-cultural-awakening/) - by Arlene Goldbard Citizenship. What with the errors and omissions of cartoon democracy and fervid anti-immigrant agitation, the word has become rather vexed. But it still rings a large and slightly cracked bell. I want to deploy its resonant peal in the service of a much deeper and more important type of belonging: cultural citizenship.
- [The Poet's Eye - Summer '10](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/the-poets-eye-summer-10/) - Ex-husband by Penelope Scambly Schott I hadn’t understood my breathuntil that long ago Friday night you tried to choke me, until tremulous lungs, wanting the whole sky,burned in my chest. Whatever you’ve strangled past shapinginto words will still be true. You are not the first in the line of drunken menwhose silence smolders in their
- [Artist Perspective - Summer '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/artist-perspective-summer-09/) - In this exhibition of On the Issues Magazine on gender and the fluidity of sexuality, the OTI Art Perspective features the art of Tammy Rae Carland. Carland is a West Coast artist who primarily works with photography, experimental video and small run publications. In this series, "On Becoming; Billy and Katie, 1964," Carland recreates herself
- [The Poet's Eye - Winter '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/the-poets-eye-winter-09/) - Poems by Diane Lockward, Lois Rosen, Marge Piercy and Annie FinchFrom Poetry Co-Editor Judith Arcana The Missing Wife - By Diane Lockward What We Do After A Night Of WhoringWife and dog missing.Reward for the dog.—bumper sticker on a pickup truck The wife and the dog planned their escapemonths in advance, laid up biscuits and
- [The Artist Perspective: Spring '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/the-artist-perspective-spring-09/) - Edited by Linda SteinArt by Judith K. Brodsky On The Issues Magazine provides an Online forum for artists to exhibit their art, including moving images and audio, as well as stills. This art section presents exciting responses relating to major themes of our day. In this edition of On the Issues Magazine, we feature the
- [Ethics for Republicans](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/ethics-for-republicans/) - By Marge Piercy An embryo is precious;a woman is a vessel. A fertilized egg is a person;a woman is indentured to it. An embryo is sacred until birth.After that, he/she is on their own. Abortion is murder. Rape,incest are means to an end: that precious fertilized egghoused in an expendable body. Let us make babies
- [The Poet's Eye: Summer '08](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008summer/the-poets-eye-summer-08/) - Poems by Minnie Bruce Pratt and Erin Whitfield Selling Women - By Minnie Bruce PrattOn the cell phone to a friend, she says she was half- naked, standing there crying in her bra and panties. He banged on the door for eight minutes. Eight! She called the police, then stared stark at the green phone
- [The Poet's Eye - Spring '12](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/the-poets-eye-spring-12/) - Featuring the poetry of Kathleen Aguero, Judith Barrington, Carolyn Martin, and Penelope Scambly Schott; Curated by Poetry Co-editor Judith Arcana. Diana Playing Soccer with Her Nymphs on Cambridge Common by Kathleen Aguero Our Lady of the Wild Things is pent up in the goal.Unadorned, hair bound in braids,her nymphs protect her honor. She's too aloofto
- [The Poet's Eye - Fall '09](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009fall/the-poets-eye-fall-09/) - In our Fall '09 edition, THE POET'S EYE features Marian Cannon Dornell and Cheryl Clarke;from Poetry Co-Editor Clare Coss. Naomi's Harvest By Marian Cannon Dornell It’s spring in Fort Hunter. The sun smearsmagenta, orange, purple over the islandsin the Susquehanna behind this slave- a plainstocky woman with black, black skin.She’s dressed in striped wool that
- [Related Articles, January 2013](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/greenberg-mary-lou/related-articles-january-2013/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg The tragedy of Savita Halappanaver who died on Oct. 28, 2012 after being denied an abortion in a hospital in Ireland reminds us that all women suffer from circumstances that cross national boundaries, from social and religious conventions, outmoded ideas and societal norms, united by "just" being female. From its 1983
- [Suggested Reading](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-feminist-press/suggested-reading/) - by Anna Platt and the Feminist Press Complaints and Disorders (Second Edition) by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre EnglishOrder at Feminist Press From prescribing the "rest cure" to diagnosing hysteria, the medical profession has consistently treated women as weak and pathological. Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English's concise history of the sexual politics of medical practices shows
- [The Poet's Eye](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/eisenberg-susan/the-poets-eye/) - (untitled) By Rosellen BrownThree months into Nothing To Do,I asked if he wanted my mail route: Youdrive, I said, I'll clean some houses,shake the mothballs off my waitress gear – easierto slip me in some little space, a mousethrough a hole in the wall, than you.I was being cheerful,I wanted to save his battered face,but
- [The Poet's Eye: Back and Forth](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/arcana-judith/the-poets-eye-back-and-forth/) - By: Judith Arcana Looking for meaning, I found, first, that roe isa small species of deer inhabiting parts of Europe and Asia.But that wasn't it, so I looked further and found the massof eggs contained in the ovarian membrane of a fish;that looked good right up to the last word: fish.There was hard roe, a
- [The Art Perspective: Transition Art](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/stein-linda/the-art-perspective-transition-art/) - by Linda Stein I’m caught in an artistic state of transition. I didn’t plan it. It came slowly, over a period of 6-8 months, maybe more. I wasn’t aware of it happening. It took me by surprise. Now, it’s become clearer to me: I have, indeed, been in a gestating/ incubating phase. Let me try
- [It's Up to Us to Defend Abortion Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/its-up-to-us-to-defend-abortion-rights/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg The action starts at 7 a.m. every Saturday when volunteers start arriving, women and men, some who get up at 5 a.m. and travel far on the subway to be there, donning white lab coats and positioning themselves on the sidewalk. They come to help escort women patients through the gauntlet
- [First Irish Abortion Clinic Opens Amid Controversy, Threats And Confusion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/first-irish-abortion-clinic-opens-amid-controversy-threats-and-confusion/) - by Caelainn Hogan: On The Issues Special Correspondent Belfast, Northern Ireland - On October 18, 2012, the first clinic to offer legal medical abortions, albeit within the tight legal restrictions, finally opened in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Marie Stopes International, Belfast's new private clinic, is located on Great Victoria Street, just across from Belfast's main bus
- [I Remember Her Hand...](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hoffman-merle/i-remember-her-hand/) - I want to share with all of you the pleasure of being the recipient of the 2015 “Bella” Award given to me earlier this month by the Bella Abzug Leadership Institute (BALI). Not only was I honored to be presented this award by Liz Abzug, Bella's daughter and founder of BALI, but to be in
- [Forty Years After Roe v Wade, Getting An Abortion Is Still A Major Challenge](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/forty-years-after-roe-v-wade-getting-an-abortion-is-still-a-major-challenge/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Ramona, 32, mother of a four-year-old daughter, is dropped off at the Summit Women's Center in Bridgeport Connecticut at 8 a.m. on a frigid December Saturday. As she gets out of the car to walk the thirty feet to the clinic, she notices a dozen people holding weathered pictures of mangled
- ["She Had a Heartbeat Too" The Tragic Death of Savita Halappanavar in an Irish Hospital](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/she-had-a-heartbeat-too-the-tragic-death-of-savita-halappanavar-in-an-irish-hospital/) - by Ann Rossiter On the Issues Special Correspondent – Dublin, Ireland A 17-weeks pregnant woman with severe back pain is admitted to a hospital in the west of Ireland. After an examination, she is told that her cervix is fully dilated; her amniotic fluid leaking. Her immature fetus will not survive. This is made clear
- [The Rise and Fall and Possible Rise of Women's Pro Soccer](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/the-rise-and-fall-and-possible-rise-of-womens-pro-soccer/) - by Tim Grainey The United States women’s national soccer team played to a television audience of 40 million in 1999, still the largest U.S. audience ever to watch a soccer game -- men’s or women’s. The U.S. women defeated China in the Women’s World Cup on penalty kicks after a scoreless 120 minutes. The team
- [A Sacrificial Light: Self-Immolation in Tajrish Square, Tehran](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/a-sacrificial-light-self-immolation-in-tajrish-square-tehran/) - by Martha Shelley "MY SISTER ENDED HER LIFE AS AN ACT OF PROTEST against the way the Islamic Republic is treating Iranian women, especially the educated ones." Parvin Darabi talks softly, as though the Persian tongue has sanded over the rough edges of English. But her voice wells up with passion when she speaks of conditions
- [Women's Lives Under Padding](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/womens-lives-under-padding/) - by Merle Hoffman learned about paddings accidentally many years ago. It was in a time before my consciousness was raised. I was 18, incurably romantic, and had taken a bunch of red roses with me to the Grand Plaza de Toros in Madrid—in anticipation of playing out a scene from an Ernest Hemingway novel—the Young
- [OTI Dialogue: Congressman John Lewis and Andrea Dworkin Towards a Revolution in Values](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/oti-dialogue-congressman-john-lewis-and-andrea-dworkin-towards-a-revolution-in-values/) - by Merle Hoffman The Congressman arrived flushed with triumph. He had just been part of the victorious vote on the law to ban assault rifles. It was an auspicious beginning, for ON THE ISSUES publisher Merle Hoffman had invited John Lewis (D-GA) and feminist activist, author, and novelist Andrea Dworkin to talk about violence in
- [Happiness and the Feminist Mind](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/happiness-and-the-feminist-mind/) - by Merle Hoffman Americans are a nation of people who feel supremely entitled to happiness. After all, in the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson virtually orders us to pursue it. Calling the Declaration "an expression of the American Mind," Jefferson proclaimed for future generations that the pursuit of happiness, along with life and
- ["Thelma and Louise Live."](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/thelma-and-louise-live/) - by Merle Hoffman It is the two outlaw women giving the ultimate "fuck you" to the patriarchy I never really wear the things: Political buttons, T-shirts with messages, designer labeled bags. I don't like to advertise my politics or buying habits by turning myself into a walking message for someone else's consumption — except when
- [Designing Sex Playing God, Have Doctors Gone Too Far?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/designing-sex-playing-god-have-doctors-gone-too-far/) - by Mahin Hassibi, M.D. My name is Michael Ross. I'm a condemned man on Connecticut's death row," began the unsolicited manuscript entitled "Reflections from Death Row" in On The Issues' mail. "I'm the worst of the worst, a serial killer and sexual sadist," it continued, "who is responsible for the rape and murder of eight women
- [A Feminist Looks at Masculine Rage and the Haditha Massacre](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/a-feminist-looks-at-masculine-rage-and-the-haditha-massacre/) - by Kathleen Barry Staff Sergeant Frank Wuterich will be in military court this summer of 2011 for a massacre that killed 24 in Haditha, Iraq in November of 2005. Six years after the massacre that killed more than two dozen civilians, he is scheduled to be tried by a military jury made up of combat
- [Pimping: The World's Oldest Profession](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/pimping-the-worlds-oldest-profession/) - by Kathleen Barry Across nation-states, pimping, "living off the earnings of a prostitute," is illegal. But pro-prostitution movements in the West now propose to decriminalize pimping so that pimps can be treated as lovers or husbands, not enslavers of prostitute women. But it is a fact of prostitution that once a woman "tricks" for a
- [Girls and Women are Slamming The Poetry Scene](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/girls-and-women-are-slamming-the-poetry-scene/) - By Lauren Zuniga Every year at the National Poetry Slam poets from all over the country gather to tell their stories. A poetry slam is a competition invented in the late eighties by a Chicago construction worker named Marc Smith. Poets generally have three minutes to present an original poem and are given scores by
- [The Next Seven Generations: Reclaiming Healthy Sexuality for Native Youth](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/the-next-seven-generations-reclaiming-healthy-sexuality-for-native-youth/) - by Jessica Yee I am proud to be Native. I am also proud to be a woman. I am proud to know that I have so much to honor in my ancestors teachings that show me how to live as a young, strong, proud, Native woman in this world. It is something that excites me
- [Health Care ‘Reform’ Is Not Enough](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/health-care-reform-is-not-enough/) - by Susan Yanow At a conference on women's health care needs in fall 2008, a woman whom Ill identify as Marcia said: "Massachusetts requires me to buy health insurance. I had an ovarian cyst and some other health issues last year and the high co-pays for doctors visits, surgery, and medications left me so deep in
- [World AIDS Day: Women HIV Activists Make Sex Ed A Reality](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/world-aids-day-women-hiv-activists-make-sex-ed-a-reality/) - by Alison Yager December 1, 2011 In August 2011, New York City announced that all public middle and high schools must provide sex education to their students. HIV Law Project, where I work, is one of the many agencies that have worked toward this goal for years. Our decision to prioritize this issue was driven
- [Unlocking the Quiet Courage of Afghans](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/unlocking-the-quiet-courage-of-afghans/) - by Dr. Sakena Yacoobi When I saw the Afghans in refugee camps in Pakistan in 1992, I couldn’t believe what was happening. I left Afghanistan in 1970 to pursue my education in the United States, but I was amazed by what I saw in the camps upon return. These were not the Afghans that I
- [Trapped In The Story: Local Journalists Face Sexual Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/trapped-in-the-story-local-journalists-face-sexual-violence-2/) - by Lauren Wolfe July 6, 2011 "I've never told anyone this before," the email said. It was one of several that landed on my desk at the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) after the news broke that CBS correspondent Lara Logan was sexually assaulted in Egypt in February. The letters were from foreign correspondents --
- [Gender Pay Gap Underestimates Economic Inequality](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/gender-pay-gap-underestimates-economic-inequality/) - by Joan Williams The gender pay gap is standard measure of women's economic inequality. At the dawn of second-wave feminism, it was 59 cents: women earned 59 cents for every dollar men earned. Today it's up to 77 cents, according to the National Committee on Pay Equity. That's progress, right Here's even more rosy news:
- [Thinking About Hollywood: Breaking the Entertainment Barrier](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/thinking-about-hollywood-breaking-the-entertainment-barrier/) - by Jaye Austin Williams In a 2007 interview, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Tony Kushner was asked, "Can theater or film make a difference? You wrote the script for Spielberg’s film "Munich,” which turned out to be quite controversial for 'humanizing,' as it were, Palestinians. Can film have an impact?" Kushner replied, "[I]t can. But the people who make
- [Affinity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/affinity/) - By Jaye Austin Williams It was a peculiar Christmas the year my Aunt Mickey told me of my unsavory beginnings. My birth father was a Black pimp in Pittsburgh; my birth mother, a Chinese hooker in his employ. Seven years before learning of my … lineage, I lived in a residential hotel in New York
- [New Waves for Abortion Access in European Decision](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/new-waves-for-abortion-access-in-european-decision/) - by Diana Whitten Women on Waves, an organization that uses a ship to help women in countries where abortion is illegal, recently secured a major victory from the European Court of Human Rights. The court ruled in early February 2009 that Portugal violated Women on Waves’ freedom of expression when it ordered two warships to blockade the
- [Telemedicine's Abortion Pill Dispatches Relief for Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/telemedicines-abortion-pill-dispatches-relief-for-women/) - by Diana Whitten Last June women throughout Quito, Ecuador looked up at the iconic statue of the Virgin Mary at El Panecillo, visible from every corner of the valley, to see a stark banner hanging from her skirts. It said: Safe Abortion followed by a cell phone number. The hotline was organized by local young
- [Letter to a Young Activist: Left to Learn from the ‘60s](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/letter-to-a-young-activist-left-to-learn-from-the-60s-2/) - by Laura Whitehorn If you saw the film The Weather Underground, you saw about three minutes of me. The film, through interviews, narration and clips, describes the genesis and decline of the radical activist group by that name from 1969 to the mid-'70s. I gave some reflections from my participation in it. Learning about the sixties
- [San Francisco Could End Terror, Witch-hunting and Criminalization for Prostitutes with Prop K](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/san-francisco-could-end-terror-witch-hunting-and-criminalization-for-prostitutes-with-prop-k/) - by Rachel West On election day many hope for a transformation away from the politics of war, greed and repression. Many San Franciscans also hope for a transformation for sex workers and our families, away from violence and criminalization. Proposition K on the San Francisco ballot calls for the decriminalization of consenting sex, and for
- [Peace is a Human Right: Give Us Women Who Get It](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/peace-is-a-human-right-give-us-women-who-get-it/) - by Cora Weiss In my years of peace and gender activism, I developed a stock of one-liners about the role of women. Often I was heard to say, "Women, women everywhere and not enough in power." Or, "Women count if you count the women." Or, holding up a news item – almost any one will
- [Our Architecture Ourselves](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/our-architecture-ourselves/) - by Leslie Kanes Weisman Women's actions through the years demonstrate that they understand how the appropriation of space is a political act. Access to space is fundamentally related to social status and power. Changing the allocation of space can change society. For example, on New Year's Eve of 1971, at a time when radical activism was
- [A Counselor's View: Embracing a Holistic Perspective of Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/a-counselors-view-embracing-a-holistic-perspective-of-abortion/) - By Linda Weber January 26, 2012 Imagine the whole universe -- the vast expanse of reality in which all things move from the formless to form and back again in a dance of infinite creation. All relationships manifest in this context. None exists without it. All perceptions reflect this. Not one exists outside of it.
- [“I Don’t Want to Write the Book” - AIDS and Listening to Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/i-dont-want-to-write-the-book-aids-and-listening-to-women/) - By Sharon Walton Idistinctly remember the first time that I heard the word “AIDS.” It was 1985. I was on Castro Street and I heard two gay men talking. One of them said to the other, “You know what AIDS means? America In Deep Shit.” I had been reading about this new disease in San Francisco,
- [Protecting the Human Family](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/protecting-the-human-family/) - By Sally Roesch Wagner What Is Terror To Women? by Susan Faludi Back in 1986, when the media was busy scaring unwed career women with tales of a looming “man shortage,” Newsweek famously declared that a 40-year-old single woman was “more likely to be killed by a terrorist” than marry. One didn’t need a degree in actuarial science
- [African Woman With Aids Rebuffed For Life-Saving Care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/african-woman-with-aids-rebuffed-for-life-saving-care/) - By Lisa Vives While "medical tourism" is filling hospital beds in developing countries with patients priced out of the care at home, western countries are coldly dumping poor people -disconnecting them from life support in some cases - back in their Third World countries to struggle for medicines in short supply or simply to die
- [Crossing The Gender Rack](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/crossing-the-gender-rack/) - by Joel VigGender in the theatre has always been open to change. From Shakespeare's plays, where women’s roles were performed exclusively by men, to more modern examples such as Mary Martin playing the title role in the musical Peter Pan or Harvey Fierstein playing Edna Turnblad in the musical Hairspray, cross gender roles have been a common phenomenon.
- [Taking a Stand on Hospitals, and Meaning It](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/taking-a-stand-on-hospitals-and-meaning-it/) - by Lois Uttley Twelve years ago, Jane Van de Bogart took a stand: Kingston Hospital in rural Ulster County, NY, could not be allowed to eliminate community access to key reproductive health services in order to merge with a nearby Catholic hospital. How far was she willing to go to show she really meant it?
- [Opening New Horizons on Faith-Based Sex Education](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/opening-new-horizons-on-faith-based-sex-education/) - By Rev. Rebecca Turner Since the 1960s, a sex education war has waged in school districts and state legislatures around the country. Schools seeking to be responsible in helping students learn how to protect themselves from unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections established medically accurate sex education programs. But almost immediately, they experienced a backlash
- [Formation of Gender Identity in the Church](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/formation-of-gender-identity-in-the-church/) - By Rev. Rebecca Turner Growing up in a small Missouri town Southern Baptist church in the 1960s, I recall very little being said about sex, sexuality, and gender. We didn't have sex education of any kind in my church. But I do remember that every pastor was a man. Every deacon was a man. Every
- [Nine Titles Thinking About Title IX by Rachel Toor](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/nine-titles-thinking-about-title-ix-by-rachel-toor/) - by Rachel Toor Because I never played sports, because I went with my feminist mother to 1970s rallies and women’s groups, because I attended a fancy-pants college on financial aid and wanted to believe that the world was fair and meritocratic, and because I was naïve and narcissistic, I hadn't thought about how or if Title
- [Sexual Rights: Advocating for Vibrant Reframing](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/sexual-rights-advocating-for-vibrant-reframing/) - by Juhu Thukral As social justice advocates, we are often searching for ways to connect and strengthen our movements, and to bring various stakeholders closer together. Gender-based violence, sex workers rights, LGBTQ (lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender-and-queer) rights, sexuality education and reproductive rights are all issues that share a single core element – they are related to sexuality and
- [Feminist Divisions Cause Real-World Repercussions](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/feminist-divisions-cause-real-world-repercussions/) - by Juhu Thukral The idea of sex workers fighting for their human rights is a foreign concept to most people, even those who identify politically as progressives or feminists. Sex workers have lived on the margins of society through most of human history, and despite the prevalence of this work all over the world, sex
- [Double Standards in Economic and Political Clout](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/double-standards-in-economic-and-political-clout/) - by Juhu Thukral When a young creative on this past season of the show Mad Men was fired for posting a sexually explicit drawing of the firm's office manager, many in the audience cheered. That he was fired by a young woman taking control of her career only made the moment sweeter. Moments later, this woman rode
- [Challenging People to Think: Activism for Atheism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/challenging-people-to-think-activism-for-atheism/) - by Sunsara Taylor People generally think of activism as something you do. But activism aimed at changing how people think is equally important. There is, after all, a profound connection between what people think, as well as how people think, and what they are willing – or not willing – to do. In particular, the belief in god and the
- [The Terror and Error of Sarah Palin](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/the-terror-and-error-of-sarah-palin/) - By Kathryn Joyce, Esther Kaplan, Sunsara Taylor, Cindy Cooper As I stood listening to Sarah Palin speak inside a stadium of 6,000 or so in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 20, the theme of What is Terror for Women in this edition of On The Issues Magazine, came to mind. In this setting, the most frightening thing was
- [The First -- and the Next -- Time I Stood Up for Abortion Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/the-first-and-the-next-time-i-stood-up-for-abortion-rights/) - By Sunsara Taylor January 18, 2012 The first time I stood up for abortion rights was back in 1994 in the middle of a freezing cold North Dakota winter. As I stood in the sub-freezing wind outside of that clinic, being screamed at by a hysterical mob of religious zealots, I was terrified. I had
- [Reproductive Rights: Sinking or Swimming?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/reproductive-rights-sinking-or-swimming/) - By Charlotte Taft April 3, 2012 As I write this, I'm not sure whether reproductive rights activists are in a boat that is sinking, or on the brink of the next chapter of transformation for women and the planet. I'm voting for transformation. But my feet are getting wet. And I am asking some not-very-useful
- [Violence Against Women Surges When War Is "Done"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/violence-against-women-surges-when-war-is-done/) - by Yifat Susskind Rosemary Gonzalez was murdered in 2009, the victim of a war that ended in 1996. One day, 17-year-old Rosemary said good-bye to her mother Betty, walked out of their small house on the outskirts of Guatemala City and was never seen alive again. Rosemary and Betty lived together in the poor neighborhood
- [Listen to Iraqi Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/listen-to-iraqi-women/) - By Yifat Susskind Human rights, feminism, literature and science are all aspects of our common human heritage. Women in the Middle East have a centuries-long history of political struggle, popular organizing, jurisprudence and scholarship aimed at securing rights within their societies. Those rights have been virtually eradicated by the reactionary forces that the U.S. has brought
- [The Cruel Lie: Bombing To Liberate Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-cruel-lie-bombing-to-liberate-women/) - by Debra Sweet Ten years ago, when the Taliban had mostly wrested control of Afghanistan from former fundamentalist warlord allies of the United States, the U.S. government turned a cold and deaf ear to testimony about the suffering of Afghan women. Then, suddenly, after her husband announced a "war on terror" to last "generations," Laura Bush told
- [Challenging Militarism and Ending Violence Against Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/challenging-militarism-and-ending-violence-against-women/) - By Keely Swan September 8, 2011 The Center for Women's Global Leadership's 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence is an international campaign that began in 1991. Participants of the Center's first Women's Global Leadership Institute chose the dates November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and December 10, International Human Rights Day,
- [San Francisco Health Care Clinic Makes Sex Workers At Home](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/san-francisco-health-care-clinic-makes-sex-workers-at-home/) - By Carol Stuart The St.James Infirmary is one of the first of its kind -- an occupational health clinic for sex industry workers. What makes the St. James Infirmary different is that it is entirely peer based. When we began the St. James Infirmary ten years ago, we had no idea if our social experiment would work.
- [Pushing Back Attacks on Artistic Freedom](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/pushing-back-attacks-on-artistic-freedom/) - By Linda Stein September 15, 2011 Conservative Republicans flexed considerable muscle earlier this year and threw a knockout punch against freedom in the arts. Led by House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Catholic League and other groups, conservatives succeeded in getting the Smithsonians National Portrait Gallery to remove a four-minute 1987 video,
- [Art and Politics, Interpretation by Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/art-and-politics-interpretation-by-women/) - By Linda Stein In this edition of On The Issues Magazine on What is Terror To Women, the artwork of Martha Rosler is featured, as well as selections from several other artists -- Siona Benjamin, Anne Sager and Carol Hunt -- whose work relates to the theme. These works represent a commitment by On The Issues Magazine to
- [Wonder Woman: A Comic Book Character Shows the Way](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/wonder-woman-a-comic-book-character-shows-the-way/) - by Linda Stein How does Wonder Woman do it? She is able to stop the bad guys—even convince them to reform—without ever killing. Her gender-bending strength and power is matched only by her compassion, as she fights for freedom and “thwarts the evil machinations of these destroyers of civilization.” What can we learn from her?
- [Female Violence in Search of Justice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/female-violence-in-search-of-justice/) - by Linda Stein March 9, 2011 Remember Lorena Bobbitt? I asked my partner that question and her response was a devious smile. Why her tinge of pleasure? The 1993 Bobbitt case brought public attention to the issues of marital rape and domestic violence. Within days after cutting off her batterer-husband's penis (subsequently reattached), feminist groups
- [Professionals and Activists: Nursing Students for Choices](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/professionals-and-activists-nursing-students-for-choices/) - By Erika M. Staub RN, PHN and Jacqui R. Quetal RN, FNP February 28, 2012 Nurses are trusted professionals, and the importance of being good listeners, great teachers and educated providers is stressed from the start. Because of the key role that nurses play in patient care, it's no wonder that the idea of organizing
- [Becoming Glory: Kicking Goals to Transcend the Night, A Memoir](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/becoming-glory-kicking-goals-to-transcend-the-night-a-memoir/) - by Christine Stark I could say soccer saved me, but it wouldn’t be true. I saved myself, as a girl, on my own, by becoming good at soccer. When I was a kid I used images to teach myself so that I would live. When I was five I saw a picture of a small
- [Stopping The Terror, A Day to End Violence Against Prostitutes](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/stopping-the-terror-a-day-to-end-violence-against-prostitutes/) - By Annie Sprinkle In 2003 Green River Killer Gary Ridgeway confessed to having strangled ninety women to death and having sex with their dead bodies. He stated, I picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never
- [High Rates of HIV and STIs Show the U.S. Is Flouting Teens' Human Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/high-rates-of-hiv-and-stis-show-the-u-s-is-flouting-teens-human-rights/) - By Cynthia Soohoo and Katrina Anderson More than half of all new HIV infections in the U.S. occur before the age of 25, and one in four teenagers has at least one sexually-transmitted infection (STI). One contributor to these startlingly high rates is the U.S. reliance on abstinence-only-until-marriage education. On May 22, 2008, the United
- [The Water We Swim In, Rescuing Ourselves](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/the-water-we-swim-in-rescuing-ourselves/) - By Ellen Snortland Women are terrorism experts. Females all over the world, in developed and developing countries, deal with the possible threat of male-on-female violence daily it is the most common, insidious and often unexamined form of terrorism there is. And yet, how many of us know how to defend ourselves with the only thing
- [Erotic Laborers Find Outlet in $pread](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/erotic-laborers-find-outlet-in-pread/) - By Nicole Witte Solomon In 2004, Rachel Aimee, Rebecca Lynn and Raven Strega hit upon a radical notion. The media sensationalizes sex work -- services such as prostitution, stripping, porn acting and modelling, phone sex, massage or other forms of erotic labor, whether legal or criminalized. But, in the process, it erases the experience of
- [Tapping Our Creative Selves for Social Change](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/tapping-our-creative-selves-for-social-change/) - by Jessica T. Solomon What if the people responsible for protecting our nation, writing our laws or discovering new medicines were encouraged to be artists, too? I function under the notion that we are all capable of using creative means to solve problems and unlock potential. If "Revolution" were a movie, let the way we
- [An Abortion Miracle? Let’s Try the First Amendment](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/an-abortion-miracle-lets-try-the-first-amendment/) - by Priscilla Smith While watching the totally hip video of the Orthodox Reggae beat rapper Matisyahu's song Miracle, I began to dream about miracles in what some refer to as the "abortion wars" in the United States. What if we could have a reasoned discussion about what information a woman needs before making a decision about
- [To Stop Gender Violence, Start Changing the Tune](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/to-stop-gender-violence-start-changing-the-tune/) - by Andrea Smith In a society that, in large measure, condones gender violence, the problem cannot be solved by locking up a few men. It is a problem that requires a political organizing solution, one that focuses on transforming society so that it no longer condones violence. But this has not been the focus of
- [Southern Reproductive Justice and Trans Alliance](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/southern-reproductive-justice-and-trans-alliance/) - by Sir Jesse of Decatur Transmen and XX chromosomal men are equally affected by laws designed to chip away at a doctor-patient relationship. People in the reproductive justice community should be allies to those who are trans, gender variant, or have had transgender experience. Often people who were assigned female at birth, or as some
- [Jeannette Rankin, Suffragist and Pacifist: She Speaks for Me](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/jeannette-rankin-suffragist-and-pacifist-she-speaks-for-me/) - By Jeanmarie Simpson June 29, 2011 In October 2002, I was scrolling around on the Internet, when an image caught my eye of a woman wearing a fur and a hat that seemed to be a yard in diameter. At that time, my mind was nearly paralyzed with worry. My son had joined the Navy
- [Military Women: Unfair Denial of Abortion Access Needs to End](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/military-women-unfair-denial-of-abortion-access-needs-to-end/) - By Marjorie Signer June 23, 2011 Jessica Kenyon was one of more than 400,000 women who serve in the Armed Forces at any given time. It can be a brutal life. Women in the military are twice as likely to be sexually assaulted as women in civilian life, according to a pending ACLU lawsuit. Yet,
- [Global Gag Rule Poses Moral Challenge for U.S. HIV/AIDS Funding](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/global-gag-rule-poses-moral-challenge-for-u-s-hiv-aids-funding/) - By Marjorie Signer The pending reauthorization of the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, commonly called PEPFAR, is a clear challenge for our government to demonstrate its commitment to human dignity and life. PEPFAR would be expanded dramatically by legislation, S 2731, now before the Senate and already passed by the U.S. House of Representatives
- [New Yorkers Need to Upgrade Abortion Laws](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/new-yorkers-need-to-upgrade-abortion-laws/) - By Galen Sherwin Laurel Simons, (not her real name) who lives in a small town in Western New York, was pregnant with her first child when she got the call that every pregnant woman dreads: routine testing revealed a serious problem. The fetus had a genetic anomaly, Trisomy 18, which has an extremely low survival
- [“Little Marie”: The Daily Toll of Sexist Language](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/little-marie-the-daily-toll-of-sexist-language/) - by Marie Shear I am lying on a gurney in a hospital hallway, alone, waiting to be rolled into the O.R. for the first of two operations. The surgeon approaches and greets me: “It’s Little Marie!” he exclaims. Although his first name is Richard, he does not have jheri curls, a piano and a falsetto
- [Redefining Chutzpah: More Bad Ideas to Burden Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/redefining-chutzpah-more-bad-ideas-to-burden-women/) - by Aram A. Schvey What's chutzpah? Until December 2011, I would have deferred to the classic definition in Leo Rosten's The Joys of Yiddish: chutzpah is a man who kills his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court as a lonely orphan. But at the end of the year, Rep. Trent Franks
- [Leaping, Racing, Spearing: The Female Athlete Amazes in Myth](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/leaping-racing-spearing-the-female-athlete-amazes-in-myth/) - by Laura A. Shamas The physically talented woman-competitor is an amazing feature of many timeless tales. She runs faster than all the men. She draws the arrow from her quiver, aims and hits her mark perfectly, every time. She swims without fear in the stormy sea. She vaults so high she can nearly touch the
- [Understanding the Myth: Why Cassandra Must Not be Silenced](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/understanding-the-myth-why-cassandra-must-not-be-silenced/) - by Laura A. Shamas July 13, 2011 The archetype of Cassandra may be seen as a key symbol for women who warn of the dire and immutable consequences of war. The myth of Cassandra – her predictions and the costs of ignoring her -- carries an important message for those in anti-war movements even today.
- [Taking on Postracialism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/taking-on-postracialism/) - by Rinku Sen Something happened in the months leading up to and including the election of Barack Obama as the President of the United States, something that people working for racial justice could see coming at us like a tornado. The word “postracial" cropped up on cable news, in OpEd columns and, finally, at kitchen
- [ART STILL VITAL TO AIDS ACTIVISM](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/art-still-vital-to-aids-activism/) - By Larry Schulte The AIDS/ART/WORK conference in New York earlier this summer brought together a distinguished group of professionals from the art world, queer world and AIDS activist/prevention world. The first session presented an historical overview of AIDS, including art that was made in response to the AIDS crisis. As one who lived in NYC
- [Olympics' Coverage Still Shortchanges Female Athletes](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/olympics-coverage-still-shortchanges-female-athletes/) - by Jane Schonberger Growing up in the '70s, I loved watching the Olympics. As an athlete myself, I sat mesmerized through performances from exciting athletes like Nadia Comaneci and Bruce Jenner. I became engrossed in learning about their back-stories and personal journeys to the Games. Watching the Olympics is still a highlight for me. But
- [Webs of Connection: Trees, Women, Activism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/webs-of-connection-trees-women-activism/) - By Marianne Schnall April 19. 2011 The Vietnamese monk, Thich Nhat Hanh, a Buddhist writer, often talks about the concept of "Inter-Being." He uses the example of how a piece of paper isn't just paper, it has so many non-paper elements to it. The paper comes from a tree, so the tree is in the paper, the
- [Not-so-New Right Wing Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/not-so-new-right-wing-women/) - by Abby Scher The doctor's wife was an educated woman, she'd raised two children, and been active in her community through the Junior League. But it was President Obama who made her take to the barricades of the Tea Party movement. "It's liberty or socialism," she said. "Any time you are taking from one group
- [Populism Needed to Shovel Out the Old Economy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/money/populism-needed-to-shovel-out-the-old-economy/) - by Donna Schaper Attach fair and just policies to the "emergency" economic stimulus bills and you will find a powerful anti-depressant, the kind that brings people up enough to truly be active citizens again in building a new world. Economically, this moment of great difficulty is also a time of great possibility. Isn’t it great
- [Intimate Lines: Shaping Sexual Futures On A Budget](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/intimate-lines-shaping-sexual-futures-on-a-budget/) - by Donna Schaper I am interested in an overall reversal of course when it comes to preparation for sexual intimacy, that thing we now reduce to “sex ed.” I would stop almost all the sex ed that goes on now because it is ineffective. It tries to achieve a widely unachieved “abstinence,” as well as
- [Rolling with the Role](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/rolling-with-the-role/) - by Rev. Donna Schaper Who tells women and girls who we are? Of course it is we who tell us who we are. Then again, maybe not. The rhetoric holds that no one tells us who we are; the fact is that many have penetrated our hearts and minds. The existential and heartfelt reality of
- [Broadway Has A Long Way to Go, Baby](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/broadway-has-a-long-way-to-go-baby/) - By Deborah Savadge Remember the Virginia Slims ad campaign from 40 years ago Directed at women, it announced, "You've come a long way, Baby." Ads showed black-and-white photos of Victorian era housewives, performing menial tasks, contrasted with slick, color portraits of ostensibly liberated 1960s' women, "provocatively dressed, smoking slim cigarettes." We have come a long
- ["How you dress shouldn't be cause for arrest"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/how-you-dress-shouldnt-be-cause-for-arrest/) - By Penelope Saunders In late 2004 and early 2005, the Mayor of Washington, D.C. proposed several new laws to augment the city’s already stringent anti-prostitution policies. Draft legislation included measures that would allow the chief of police to designate areas of D.C. as “prostitution-free zones,” provide the police and other government agencies with greater powers
- [Letter to a Young Activist: Do Not Drop the Banner](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/letter-to-a-young-activist-do-not-drop-the-banner/) - by Barbara Santee I am 74 years old. When I was 18, I had an illegal abortion that nearly killed me. I ended up in the hospital where I underwent surgery to save my life. That event put me on a trajectory I never dreamed possible. In 1970, three years before Roe v. Wade, I started
- [Good News for Trans Veterans: New VA Health  Care Guidelines](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/good-news-for-trans-veterans-new-va-health-care-guidelines/) - By Autumn Sandeen July 28, 2011 The Veterans Administration released a new directive on transgender veterans in June 2011, "Providing Health Care For Transgender And Intersex Veterans." This directive recognizes the reality of many service members' lives: the intersection of trans women's and women veterans' experience, and the specific needs that they encounter. It's no
- [Mujeres Take Back the Culture With Old Photos](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/mujeres-take-back-the-culture-with-old-photos/) - by Graciela Sanchez We are the survivors of physical and cultural genocide.All people of color in the U.S.Are survivors of physical and cultural genocide.Among the charred ruins of our communities,We search for remnants of the massacred.The conquest has left us empty.Los de poder nos hacen invisibleInvisible even to ourselves.To defeat us, to take our land,
- [Intimate Wars: Sex is Intimate, So is Pregnancy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/intimate-wars-sex-is-intimate-so-is-pregnancy/) - By K Salis January 18, 2012 War can be an intimate experience, often in a deeply personal way, even though its a shared collective event. People experience the physical effect of war through their bodies and perceive their emotional experience in their minds. My grandmother lived through an occupation, and her strongest memories were of
- [Infrastructure: Fiction Techniques and Shaping Public Health](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/infrastructure-fiction-techniques-and-shaping-public-health/) - by Lise Saffran April 5, 2011 To an American college student, there is nothing more invisible than the infrastructure that supports public health on the environmental level. Except in rare occurrences (a cancer cluster, a catastrophic oil spill, a nuclear disaster) the systems that protect the air we breathe, the water we drink and the
- [Anti-Immigrant Fervor Translates to Terror for Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/anti-immigrant-fervor-translates-to-terror-for-women/) - by Melissa Nalani Ross In my work on civil and human rights, especially with immigrant populations, I was contacted recently about a woman without documentation who worked at a fruit stand in the northeast. A male customer approached her and asked if she had any waitressing experience, as he needed servers at his restaurant. Seeing
- [Saying No in Mississippi: No to Personhood, No to Voter Restrictions](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/saying-no-in-mississippi-no-to-personhood-no-to-voter-restrictions/) - October 29, 2011 In Mississippi, we are witnessing the intersection of race and gender politics in two ballot initiatives on which African American voters are the critical constituents on voting day on November 8, 2011. The 2011 Mississippi ballot Initiative 26 on Personhood and Initiative 27 on Voter ID exclusions may be one of the
- [A Feminist Vision: No Justice-No Equity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-feminist-vision-no-justice-no-equity/) - by Loretta Ross My mother always asked the question, "Why would I want to be equal to men, when I've been superior to them all my life?" This sardonic questioning of the equality goals of the women's movement always seemed to have an important message for me hidden behind the joke. In order to be
- [Birthers and Birchers: Hiding Behind Stars and Stripes](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/birthers-and-birchers-hiding-behind-stars-and-stripes/) - by Loretta J. Ross Sustaining a progressive movement based on shared politics requires not only unification on positive values, but an understanding of the opposition and their tactics. Analysis of the various elements of opposition can do much to improve our own eyesight and path forward. “Birthers" may be the newest manifestation of right-leaning conspiracy theorists.
- [Mobilizing for Reproductive Justice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/mobilizing-for-reproductive-justice/) - by Loretta J. Ross I’m not a policy wonk. I am very ill suited to talk frequently to legislators to ask them to do the very jobs they were elected to do and for which they already get paid. From that admittedly jaded perspective, I’m not anyone’s first choice to do lobbying or “education” of
- [Repeal Hyde: Even Republicans Know It's Wrong to Politick With Women's Lives](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/repeal-hyde-even-republicans-know-its-wrong-to-politick-with-womens-lives/) - By Loretta J Ross I believe President Obama should show strong leadership in repealing the Hyde Amendment that prohibits public funding for abortions for poor women. This would send a strong signal of support to his allies in the reproductive justice movement and we need his leadership on this issue. In fact, if President Obama helps repeal
- [Fighting Back with Sperm Personhood and Viagra Limitations](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/fighting-back-with-sperm-personhood-and-viagra-limitations/) - By Ann Rose March 28, 2012 Since 1976 when the Hyde Amendment passed, I've been hopelessly annoyed with the pro-choice movement for always being on the defensive. We are always fighting insane bills cooked up by the anti-abortion movement and never advancing our own agenda. Thankfully, in retaliation for the states passing more anti-abortion legislation
- [Putting Together Pieces Of Sex Work, Gender Inequality, Deadly Consequences](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/putting-together-pieces-of-sex-work-gender-inequality-deadly-consequences/) - By Jane Roberts I look at the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and cringe. I don’t give a damn about those protruding heads, those slightly wavy indentations, those straight edges, those subtle color nuances. Who cares what it will all look like in the end? No thanks. But in my head, I have put together
- [Holding the Line: Defending Feminist Values in Immigration Enforcement](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/holding-the-line-defending-feminist-values-in-immigration-enforcement/) - by Meghan Rhoad As a feminist and as an American working on immigration policy, I have a clear line in the sand when it comes to the treatment of women who immigrate to this country: defending our borders should not be at the expense of defending our values. But when I interviewed women in immigration
- [Intimate Wars: A Faithful Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/intimate-wars-a-faithful-feminist/) - By Manis Rayles January 18, 2012 I am a believer. If I had to name my religion, it would be Judaism-Islam. As the believers of both religions believe in One God, my heart stays indivisible. It is a paradox. I cannot choose between these two religions, the two principals of my family (in which there
- [“It’s Not TV, Its Sexploitation” Protest Against Home Box Office](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/its-not-tv-its-sexploitation-protest-against-home-box-office/) - by Norma Ramos Home Box Office (HBO) advertises the Cathouse DVD this way: If you've got a credit card, it's all there for the asking at Nevada's Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel located in a sparsely populated desert outside of Reno, where it's not just sex, it's an adventure. HBO’s Cathouse distorts the reality of prostitution
- [My Body, The Earth ; The Earth, My Body](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/my-body-the-earth-the-earth-my-body/) - by Carolyn Raffensperger March 16, 2011 I struggle to understand the spiritual and ecological nature of being a living being, a small piece of the incarnation, a bit of the Earth. Growing older has only added to the mystery as my body asserts its own wants and needs in different ways than it did when
- [Acting As If Future Generations Matter](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/acting-as-if-future-generations-matter/) - by Carolyn Raffensperger "Hope is not a lottery ticket you can sit on the sofa and clutch, feeling lucky.It is an axe you break down doors with in an emergency. Hope should shove you out the door, because it will take everything you have to steer the future away from endless war, from the annihilation
- [Reality TV (Re)Rewrites Gender Roles](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/reality-tv-rerewrites-gender-roles/) - by Jennifer L. Pozner Step right up, folks, it's time for everyone's favorite guessing game, Regress-o-Rama. Who said the following? "I will make the best wife for Bob because I will be a servant to him. And if he comes home from a long day at the office, I'll just rub his feet, and have
- [Book Reveals Difficulties of Traditional Chinese Gender Roles](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/book-reveals-difficulties-of-traditional-chinese-gender-roles/) - by Angela Poh Heroines of Jiangyong: Chinese Narrative Ballads in Womens Script, translated by Wilt L. Idema, is the first English translation of the folk literature of Jiangyong County in Hunan, Southern China. This small county is unique because its women penned their songs and poems in womens script (nüshu) up until the middle of
- [Heading Toward Menopause, Still Caring about Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/heading-toward-menopause-still-caring-about-abortion/) - by Andrea Plaid I'm not an aberration because I'm a childless, employed, divorced, college-educated Black cisgender woman -- regardless of what the promulgated stereotypes undergirding the media stories about women like me say. At this point in my life -- I'm in my early 40s --I'm drumming my fingers waiting for my first hot flash. And I
- [Rules Put Extreme Pressure On Transsexual Players](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/rules-put-extreme-pressure-on-transsexual-players/) - by Lindsay Parks Pieper Renée Clarke towered over all of her competitors in the 1976 La Jolla tennis tournament. Aided by a six-feet-two-inch frame and a left-handed advantage, she triumphed, alternating her seemingly-effortless lobs with well-placed baseline shots. Dick Carlson -- a San Diego reporter covering the local tournament -- found himself astounded first by Clarke's
- [Controlling Women: Reasons to Worry About the Scott Sisters](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/controlling-women-reasons-to-worry-about-the-scott-sisters/) - by Caroline Picker February 17, 2011 What would you trade for your freedom? Why should you care about the Scott sisters if you care about reproductive health? Recently, Gladys and Jamie Scott were released from prison after 16 years. Each received a lifetime sentence for allegedly assisting with the theft of $11. The Scotts were released on
- [Stimulating Social Change, Then and Now](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/stimulating-social-change-then-and-now/) - by Suzanne Pharr Recently, I went to the Kentucky Social Forum, and spent time talking with a co-worker and friend from the Astrea Lesbian Foundation for Justice about movement building and a progressive agenda. In our conversation, I kept coming back to economic injustice and violence. For 19 years I worked at the Women’s Project in
- [“Silent Choices": African American Women Open Up on Film](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/silent-choices-african-american-women-open-up-on-film/) - by Faith Pennick The debate over reproductive choice continues to burn, even with a pro-choice president currently in the White House. As we enter another presidential election year, the issue will not go quietly into that good night. The recent reversal by the Department of Health and Human Services of a Food and Drug Administration
- [Stories Matter: How to Power Up Your Activism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/stories-matter-how-to-power-up-your-activism/) - by Thaler Pekar I remember my first feminist act. It was Spring of 1974, and I was nine years old. My mother, Sheila Thaler Pekar, had gone to a car dealer earlier in the day, prepared to purchase a car. When it came time to sign the contract, however, the dealer required that she obtain
- [Education as Action: Supporting the Sexual Health of Sex Workers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/education-as-action-supporting-the-sexual-health-of-sex-workers/) - by Sarah Elspeth Patterson December 8, 2011 Sexuality education is, in many ways, an esteem-building practice. Knowledge of any kind, but especially of one's own body and its functions, allows individuals to make healthier and more informed decisions. It empowers people to decide what works for their specific set of health needs. As a community
- [Natural Disasters, Climate Change Uproot Women of Color](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/natural-disasters-climate-change-uproot-women-of-color/) - by Jacqui Patterson The effects of climate change threaten everyone, but they do not threaten all people equally. Women are disproportionately affected by natural disasters, which are on the increase, as they experience higher rates of mortality, morbidity and post-disaster diminishment in their livelihoods. This pattern of disproportionate impact is echoed the world over, and
- [Gulf Oil Drilling Disaster: Gendered Layers of Impact](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/gulf-oil-drilling-disaster-gendered-layers-of-impact/) - by Jacqui Patterson The Deepwater Horizon Oil Drilling Disaster of April 20, 2010 (the “BP Oil Spill”) is, as the news sometimes tells us, causing grave damage to the waterways and shores, marshlands and bayous of the Gulf of Mexico. Far more hidden is the devastation wrought on the women in scores of coastal communities.
- [Athletes and Magazine Spreads: Does Sexy Mean Selling Out?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/athletes-and-magazine-spreads-does-sexy-mean-selling-out/) - by Laura Pappano As a blogger and reader of women's sports blogs, I've learned that one subject reliably spurs sharp (even bitter) debate: Female athletes' bodies and how they use them. Whether the occasion is the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue, bare-all ESPN magazine spreads or even NCAA softballers planning time for hair and make-up to play in televised championships, it
- [The First of All Liberties: Making Health Care Meet All Women’s Needs](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-first-of-all-liberties-making-health-care-meet-all-womens-needs/) - by Eesha Pandit Why care about women’s health in health care reform? I think it’s critical for reproductive justice advocates to also become health care advocates in today’s world, but the reasons why were best captured by the 19th century Swiss poet and philosopher Henri Frederic Amiel. He wrote: “In health there is freedom. Health is the first
- [American Taliban: Sect Controls Women’s Destinies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/american-taliban-sect-controls-womens-destinies/) - by Carolyn Jessop and Laura Palmer Had I not escaped one night five years ago with my eight children from the manipulation and control of the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), I would have been one of the women in that infamous “prairie-style clothing” on that Texas polygamist compound that
- [Women's Rights, Human Rights and Climate Change](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/womens-rights-human-rights-and-climate-change/) - By Cate Owren May 26, 2011 A major paradigm shift in dealing with climate change has been unfolding in the last few years largely thanks to concerted efforts by women's human rights advocates. Once a strictly "environmental" or "business" issue, climate change has been increasingly accepted as a gender equality and social justice issue by
- [Stop the Traffick: Stiffening State Laws Helps Trapped Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/stop-the-traffick-stiffening-state-laws-helps-trapped-women/) - by Sonia Ossorio I know a woman from South America who spent her first night in the Big Apple in a brothel overlooking Roosevelt Avenue in Queens. With a timer at her side she "serviced" 19 men – a veritable United Nations parade of taxi drivers to restaurant workers who literally queued up for a
- [Feminist, Feminisme, Feministe? Anti-Patriarchy is Key](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/feminist-feminisme-feministe-anti-patriarchy-is-key/) - By Karen Offen March 4, 2011 In her article Feminism Is as Feminism Does, Merle Hoffman invokes the question that many have been asking for decades: What is a feminist and argues that the word feminism itself has been mis-applied by the media. Hoffman insists that upholding the fundamental right to reproductive freedom and justice is
- [Moving the Silence: Rachel Carson’s Groundbreaking Work](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/moving-the-silence-rachel-carsons-groundbreaking-work/) - by Theresa Noll It has been nearly 50 years since Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring and exposed the harmful effects of DDT, but the lessons of her story remain as important as they were half a century ago. A marine biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, Carson had written several successful books about ocean life by
- [Gloria Feldt's "No Excuses" and Ways to Think About Power](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/gloria-feldts-no-excuses-and-ways-to-think-about-power/) - By Theresa Noll As Gloria Feldt points out in her new book, No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change the Way We Think About Power and Leadership, the dial of women's progress is in many ways stuck. The mainstream media is often quick to declare that gender equality has been achieved, but in the United States, where women
- [The Sexual Politics of Meat Revisited](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-sexual-politics-of-meat-revisited/) - by Theresa Noll Carol Adams's The Sexual Politics of Meat: A Feminist-Vegetarian Critical Theory is a pivotal feminist text in which Adams calls upon her readers to see the exploitation of women and the exploitation of animals as part of the same system of oppression. This is an analysis that is still as crucial today as it
- [Best City for Working Women: In Our Checkbooks](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/best-city-for-working-women-in-our-checkbooks/) - by Beverly Cooper Neufeld A small cadre of women rallied on the steps of New York's City Hall on April 28th, 2007, the day known as a Equal Pay Day. This day marks the time when a working woman catches up to what a white male earned in the previous year – she puts in
- [Asylum Pitfalls May Await the Transgender Applicant](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/asylum-pitfalls-may-await-the-transgender-applicant/) - by Victoria Neilson When "Cristina" calls Immigration Equality, where I am the legal director, she’s called the right place for legal representation before the Immigration Court. Immigration Equality is the only national organization that works exclusively for equal rights under the U.S. immigration law for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and HIV-positive (LGBT/H) individuals. She has already filed
- [Afghan and Rwandan Women Entrepreneurs Seek Peace through Business](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/afghan-and-rwandan-women-entrepreneurs-seek-peace-through-business/) - by Dr. Terry Neese July 21, 2011 Rwandan women now boast the highest percentage of women in government of any country in the world. In fact, since the 1994 genocide of nearly 800,000 Rwandans, the majority of the country's population is composed of women. These women are the breadwinners, the business owners and the government
- [Healthcare Compromise: Low-Income Women Get Bumped](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/healthcare-compromise-low-income-women-get-bumped/) - By Jen Nedeau Democrats in the Senate got what they wanted this Christmas: a passed health care reform bill. Low-income women, however, seemed to be the ones with coal in their stocking. Led by Vice-President Joe Biden, the 60-39 vote along party lines on December 24, 2009 ensured that this historic bill will move forward
- [Love and Creative Genius: A Feminist's Most Potent Weapons](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/love-and-creative-genius-a-feminists-most-potent-weapons/) - by Inga Muscio Feminism is an expression of oppressed people, but it has, like everything else in America, been commodified. Why ever in a million years would feminism somehow remain the lone bastion of integrity and strength, boiling away, as it is, in a seething 500 year old brew of buying, stealing and selling stew?
- [Terror in Our Homes; Violence Against Women in Zimbabwe](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/terror-in-our-homes-violence-against-women-in-zimbabwe/) - By Tawanda Mudzonga Zimbabwe has always been ruled by fear and violence. Our political history reveals government again and again forcing its will on the people. This has had an unlikely trickle down effect into each and every household where women fight a losing battle for their humanity. Ian Smith was the first pioneer of
- [Help Global Victims of War Rape: End Anti-Abortion Restrictions](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/help-global-victims-of-war-rape-end-anti-abortion-restrictions/) - By Sarah Morison March 8, 2012 In August 2009, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made an unprecedented visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC) to meet with victims of war rape. She pledged $17 million in aid, reflecting a new level of U.S. commitment and concern for girls and women targeted by the
- [Intimate Lines : Teaching Daughters About Lollipop Politics](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/intimate-lines-teaching-daughters-about-lollipop-politics/) - by Margot Mifflin How did it happen? One day I was a twentysomething heaping scorn on Tipper Gore and her campaign against explicit lyrics in pop music, and the next, 20 years later, I am Tipper Gore, driving my 12 year old home from school, listening to Lil Wayne singing “Lick it like a lollipop,” watching
- [Reducing Violence by Educating for Empathy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/reducing-violence-by-educating-for-empathy/) - By Myriam Miedzian The issue of violence touches me in a very personal and profound way. I am a Holocaust child survivor. While my parents succeeded in getting our nuclear family out of Europe, other family members were not so fortunate135 were murdered. My interest in reducing violence resulted in Boys Will Be Boys: Breaking The
- [Anti-Abortion Legislators Get Flak](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/anti-abortion-legislators-get-flak/) - by Louise Melling April 15, 2012 For nearly two years, legislatures across the country have proposed and passed an unprecedented number of laws aimed at restricting a woman's access to critical reproductive health services. All too often, anti-choice state politicians claim they only want to ensure that women are making informed choices. But if they
- [Next Chapter in the 'Republican War Against Women'](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/next-chapter-in-the-republican-war-against-women/) - by Tanya Melich Republican women have become a not-so-subtle weapon for breaking apart the Democratic coalition, grounded in the women's vote, that gave Democrats control of the House and Senate in 2006 and 2008 and made Nancy Pelosi Speaker of the House. This year for the first time since 1982, Democrats did not have a
- [Harriet’s Voice: A Writer and Her Inhabitation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/harriets-voice-a-writer-and-her-inhabitation/) - by Karen Jones Meadows As a child I learned of Harriet Tubman, icon of the anti-enslavement movement, and the most celebrated “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, a network of diverse citizens in the U.S. and abroad who ushered enslaved people to safe states and countries. I had no idea Harriet Tubman would become an intricate
- [Practicing Freedom: An Enduring Model in Anne Frank](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010spring/practicing-freedom-an-enduring-model-in-anne-frank/) - by Maureen McNeil Anne Frank wrote that when society fails to protect its people, it’s not just the politicians who are to blame, but the common people. Unfortunately, societies around the world continue to fail in that regard today, 60 years later. The Anne Frank Center USA addresses this issue by creating educational programs and exhibits
- ["Crisis Pregnancy Centers" are Threats to Reproductive Justice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/crisis-pregnancy-centers-are-threats-to-reproductive-justice/) - By Lauren Guy McAlpin A young woman, we'll call her Amanda, walked into an agency she saw advertised in her college newspaper. Having missed her period, promises of a free pregnancy test and confidential options counseling seemed like the best next step. A woman in a white lab coat accepted her urine sample and placed
- [Finding Hope: Reweaving -- Then and Now](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/finding-hope-reweaving-then-and-now/) - by Pam McAllister How guilty I felt almost 30 years ago, when I was just 31 and sisterhood was powerful. Everywhere I went with my new book, Reweaving the Web of Life: Feminism and Nonviolence, I was greeted by activists/readers, most, if not all, seemingly, earnest, friendly, and feminist -- just like me. But, unlike me,
- [Population & Environment: A Progressive Feminine Approach](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/population-environment-a-progressive-feminine-approach/) - By Laurie Mazur In "The 'New' Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go" ( in this edition of On The Issues Magazine), Betsy Hartmann implies that everyone working on population-environment issues is part of a misogynistic plot to bring back "population control." I'm here to tell you she is wrong. (See Betsy Hartmann article
- [Gender Harassment: From Our Revolution to Yours](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/gender-harassment-from-our-revolution-to-yours/) - by Emily May HollabackNYC started in 2005 the way a lot of good revolutions must begin - as conversations with friends over a couple of drinks. The seven of us commiserated over being whistled at, cat-called, and propositioned, with each story earning a chorus of “uggg” “ewww” and “gross!” The trouble was that we felt
- [Aspiring for Medals: Watching New Gymnastic Generations](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/aspiring-for-medals-watching-new-gymnastic-generationsby-zerlina-maxwell/) - by Zerlina Maxwell “I’m going to make it to the Olympics!” I shrieked as a knot formed in my throat which happens when I’m about to cry. “You don’t believe in me, but I believe in myself. And if I set a goal, I will achieve it. If I want to go to the Olympics,
- [What To Do When They Say Holocaust](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/what-to-do-when-they-say-holocaust/) - by Carol Mason A new anti-abortion DVD is being distributed on America's campuses. It is called 180 to suggest that society has turned one hundred and eighty degrees and returned to a time like Hitler's in which genocide is the order of the day. Comparing abortion with the Holocaust, 180 presumes that life begins at conception and that everyone
- [Getting Over the Online v Offline Debate](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/getting-over-the-online-v-offline-debate/) - by Amanda Marcotte My fondest wish for 2012 is that it becomes the year where we, as a society, stop chewing over the supposed distinctions between online and offline life, and especially online and offline activism. So much has changed about the Internet since organizers first started worrying that people are spending too much time
- [Helping Bloggers To Help: Tips for Reproductive Health Organizations](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/helping-bloggers-to-help-tips-for-reproductive-health-organizations/) - by Amanda Marcotte As a journalist who specializes in reproductive health, I have the unique opportunity to meet a variety of reproductive rights and justice activists from the heads of organizations to direct service providers to those who do the critical secretarial work that keeps the movement running. They are people who vary in race,
- ['Abortion' as Right's Multipurpose Scare Word](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/abortion-as-rights-multipurpose-scare-word/) - by Amanda Marcotte Abortion: most of us tend to think the word has a fixed meaning, which is: terminating a pregnancy through the use of drugs or surgery. There's also the medical term "spontaneous abortion," used to describe what most people euphemistically call a "miscarriage." Unfortunately, many in the mainstream media don't realize yet that
- [Once the silence has been broken](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/once-the-silence-has-been-broken/) - By Mehret Mandefro Silence is a universal metaphor that explains marginalized human experience. With HIV, the silence that cloaks sexism, the silence that cloaks racism, the silence that cloaks homophobia, the silence that cloaks poverty, is the same silence that fuels the epidemic. I learned this while caring for HIV positive patients, as their physician,
- [Watershed Women: Self Help in India](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/watershed-women-self-help-in-india/) - by Swapna Majumdar May 12, 2011 In an economically distressed region of India, categorized as "severely food insecure," and prone to recurrent natural disasters like droughts and floods, women have seized the opportunity via self-help groups and watershed committees to pave the way for change. The self-help groups were developed by the Western Orissa Rural
- [MDs Tell HHS: High Risk Patients Need Abortion Coverage](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/mds-tell-hhs-high-risk-patients-need-abortion-coverage/) - By Jodi Magee At Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health, we know that abortion is an essential part of comprehensive health care for women, particularly for those with pre-existing conditions like heart disease or cancer. That's why our doctors strongly object to the recent decision of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
- [Equal Rights Amendment Still Brings Out Ranters](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/equal-rights-amendment-still-brings-out-ranters/) - by Jennifer S. Macleod Many established institutions and forces in our country are still fighting desperately against the Equal Rights Amendment because, in one way or another, they substantially benefit -- or believe that they benefit -- from maintaining whatever is left of the age-old system of male dominance over women. The Equal Rights Amendment to the
- [Third Wave Video Art: Sarcastic and Serious](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/third-wave-video-art-sarcastic-and-serious/) - by Heather MacGibbon What is Feminist Art This is a question that art historians and critics have pondered in the last 40 years in the wake of second wave feminism in the U.S. and abroad in the 70s. Is it simply work made by women Does it espouse a particular philosophic, aesthetic or critical stance
- [Reframing Compassionate Care: Of Madame Restell and Other Outlaws](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/reframing-compassionate-care-of-madame-restell-and-other-outlaws/) - by Jeannie Ludlow "You know, illegal abortions aren't all bad." A few years ago, I found myself saying this to students in an Introduction to Women's Studies course. We were reading Marge Piercy's 2005 novel, Sex Wars, set in post-Civil War New York City. The novel traces the careers of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Victoria Woodhull and Anthony
- [Sharing the Joy of Resistance Through Radio](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/sharing-the-joy-of-resistance-through-radio/) - by Fran Luck Political feminism barely exists in corporate mainstream media. Shows like “Oprah” and “Tyra” – boasting female audiences in the tens of millions – owe their existence to space opened up by the feminist movement, but rarely, if ever, acknowledge that such a movement has existed and is responsible for vast changes in
- [Paradoxes of Women in Uniform Take Deep Listening](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/paradoxes-of-women-in-uniform-take-deep-listening/) - By Chris Lombardi In 1944 Dorothy Hanson was a 20-year old Army lieutenant, a nurse, stationed in a Staten Island hospital when a corporal "put something in my drink," she explained 50 years later. "He hit my head with a rock. I was beaten and kicked." After a few days of concussion-induced amnesia, Hanson realized
- [Goalposts: Tackling the Last Bastion of Male Monopoly](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/goalposts-tackling-the-last-bastion-of-male-monopoly/) - by Andrew D. Linden To watch his daughter, Angela, play quarterback in 2011, former National League Football quarterback Mark Rypien, Most Valuable Player in the 1991 Super Bowl, attended a game of the Lingerie Football League (LFL) team, The Tampa Breeze. The LFL -- created in 2009 by former Blind Date contestant Mitchell Mortaza -- emerged after the "Lingerie
- [Not Waiting for Rapture: The Lesbian Avengers March In](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/not-waiting-for-rapture-the-lesbian-avengers-march-in/) - by Dulcey Lewis December 23, 2011 "We want revenge and we want it now! Lesbians! Dykes! Gay Women!" The six co-founders of the Lesbian Avengers printed 8,000 quarter-sheet flyers bearing these words and, on New York City's Gay Pride Sunday in the summer of 1992, handed them to every lesbian they saw. Each card instructed
- [UnCUT/VOICES: Unequivocally Against Female Genital Mutilation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/uncut-voices-unequivocally-against-female-genital-mutilation/) - by Tobe Levin "During training, I would say out loud what others were merely thinking. For example, the day that white gynecologist [said], 'I don't understand my colleagues making [such a fuss] about excision. It's harassment! I always tell them to mind their own business when it comes to African clitorises.' It's so much easier
- [African FGM Author Finds Herself Called to Activism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/african-fgm-author-finds-herself-called-to-activism/) - by Tobe Levin January 5, 2012 That African kid with a sand belly, as the author and activist Khady calls herself, dares the world to look at what it chooses to ignore Female Genital Mutilation. Khady has come remarkably far from This in Senegal to founding and serving as the president of an organization in
- [RAPE NEW YORK-A Narrative of a Rape and an Examination of a Culture of Predation Excerpts from a book-in-progress](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/rape-new-york-a-narrative-of-a-rape-and-an-examination-of-a-culture-of-predation-excerpts-from-a-book-in-progress/) - by Jana Leo From the author:This book is primarily the narration of my individual reflection on an event. It is an autobiography, documenting a period in my life. It is also a compilation of essays on the nature of rape and crime. Moving from an individual’s viewpoint to a more general look at society, the
- [On the Frontline of Sex Wars](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/on-the-frontline-of-sex-wars/) - by Carol Leigh Prostitutes are "the only street fighters we've got," wrote radical feminist Ti-Grace Atkinson in her 1974 book, Amazon Odyssey. The prostitutes' rights movement of the early 1970s evolved directly from the women's movement. As feminists developed an understanding of the mechanics of our oppression, so prostitutes among them recognized the dynamics of our
- [Healthy Masculinities: A Pro-Human Endeavor](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/healthy-masculinities-a-pro-human-endeavor/) - by Josie Lehrer Before a standing room-only house at the debut presentation of the Mens Story Project in August 2008, Kenyatta, a 60 year-old writer from Harlem, describes how, at the age of seven, he proudly shared with his parents a poem he had written. Since many contemporary African American poets were gay, they glared at him
- [Strong Families Love Unconditionally](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/strong-families-love-unconditionally/) - by Susan Lehman May 8, 2011 As the mother of grown children, I have basked in the annual glow of Mother's Day recognition for a long time. Both my family and my community offer me blessings and praise for raising and providing for my children. But one of my most deeply maternal choices, my abortion,
- [Anabella: Guatemalan Leader Deploys Stilettos Against Corruption](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/anabella-guatemalan-leader-deploys-stilettos-against-corruption/) - By Gail Kregel On Christmas day, 2008, Guatemalan Congresswoman Anabella De Leon, called me. A new president had taken office earlier that year and he decided to eliminate Anabellas bodyguards. They cost too much money, he had claimed. The new president and his wife had been denounced for money laundering, drug trafficking and other crimes
- [Indie Music Groups Share Sex Positivity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/indie-music-groups-share-sex-positivity/) - By Georgia Kral Two indie bands with all female members, Mountain Man from Bennington, Vermont and Sleep Over from Austin, Texas, use their music performances to share more than sound. On the road, both experiment with offering zines that preach sex positive messages for fans. Sex positive education goes further than the basic sex education
- [Female Music Critics Transcend Fan Culture](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/female-music-critics-transcend-fan-culture/) - By Georgia Kral Scan through the pages of a major music magazine, the arts section of The New York Times, Pitchfork.com or myriad other sources and count the number of female bylines you find on pop music criticism. Not many, right (Or in the case of The Times, zero.) In music writing, gender disparity is a persistent feature.
- [Virtual Switching, or Playing Games?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/virtual-switching-or-playing-games/) - by Georgia Kral Longtime gamer Michael Duff sits at his computer regularly to play "World of Warcraft," the most popular online role-playing game with 11.5 million monthly subscribers. In a Medieval-looking fantasy world of dwarves, gnomes, humans and other assorted characters, players select an online persona to engage in quests for the land with other players who
- [Unprecedented Recognition for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/3473/) - by Myra Kovary We are living in a new era for persons with disabilities. One sign of this occurred in the last week of February when the first session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities gathered in Geneva. The Committee is charged with monitoring implementation of the first human rights treaty of the
- [Speak Out: Sharing Passions, Tips, Techniques](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/speak-out-sharing-passions-tips-techniques/) - by Gabrielle Korn "What does activism mean to you?" Jennifer Baumgardner: For me, activism is putting into action my feminist values, in an effort to make a world that is more just, compassionate and healthy. Sometimes that means saying "that's not funny" to a homophobic joke or buying a piece of art from a young
- [Engaged Activism: Two Women Challenge Global Sex Trafficking](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/engaged-activism-two-women-challenge-global-sex-trafficking/) - By Gabrielle Korn October 28, 2011 Uncovering the roots of global sex trafficking and protecting its victims are driving forces for Mexican journalist and activist Lydia Cacho Ribeiro. In addition to writing about the topic, Cacho founded and is director of Mexico's only high-security shelter, the Women's Assistance Center in Cancun, which provides victims of
- [Fighting to Fight: Questioning the Battle of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/fighting-to-fight-questioning-the-battle-of-dont-ask-dont-tell/) - By Gabrielle Korn August 11, 2011 On September 20, 2011, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" -- the law barring gays and lesbians from serving openly in the U.S. military -- will officially be repealed. Created by President Clinton in 1993 as a compromise between the existing ban on homosexuals in the military and his campaign promises
- ["Marching Together," Online: Trust Women Week and the Silver Ribbon Campaign](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/marching-together-online-trust-women-week-and-the-silver-ribbon-campaign/) - By Gabrielle Korn January 20, 2012 It's no secret that the United States is in the midst of a War on Women: in 2011, 36 states enacted a record 135 provisions limiting access to reproductive health care, including 92 measures restricting abortion, according to the Guttmacher Institute. But as our reproductive rights are slipping away from us,
- [From Israel, With Questions: Learning to do Abortion Care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/from-israel-with-questions-learning-to-do-abortion-care/) - By Gabrielle Korn January 12, 2012 Maayan Melamed, a first-year medical student at The Medical School for International Health at Ben Gurion University of the Negev in Israel, came to Choices Women's Medical Center in Queens for a three-week externship in Fall 2011. Melamed was born in Heifa, Israel, and grew up both in the
- [Athletically Disinclined: My Counterpoint](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/athletically-disinclined-my-counterpoint/) - by Gabrielle Korn I have a question. Who decided that sports – competitive, complicated, labor-intensive, rules-driven – are fun? I don’t watch sports on TV. I never even know what sports season we’re in. In high school, the closest I came to failing a class (besides Calculus) was earning a D in Physical Education for “forgetting”
- [Book Corner: Feminist Press Picks Five Top Activist Reads](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/book-corner-feminist-press-picks-five-top-activist-reads/) - by Elizabeth Koke and Glynnis King Activists, their stirring written passion and accounts, are also on our bookshelves. The Feminist Press surveyed its staff and searched through its resources and libraries to collect a top-five reading list from its own press and other small presses. From poster art to tips for girls, gays and activist communities, their
- [Glorifying the Fetus While Ignoring the Fetal Environment](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/glorifying-the-fetus-while-ignoring-the-fetal-environment/) - by Margie Kelly Abortion opponents long ago slapped their brand on the fetus, parading giant graphic images of fetuses in marches and now calling for laws mandating pictures of fetuses inside a woman's body via sonograms – sometimes even broadcasting them live in anti-abortion campaigns. By separating fetuses from the fetal environment, they make women into enemies
- [Women in the Arts: How They Can Change Your Life](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/women-in-the-arts-how-they-can-change-your-life/) - by Barbara Kahn The arts, film, theater, music, literature, comic books and graphic novels, fine arts and craftsinfluence the image of women in the world, whether we are ignored, misrepresented or stereotyped. Lack of funding and other support puts the depiction of women in the hands of those who are self-sufficient, who have significant financial
- [Lila Rose: A Sweet Face to Accompany Extreme Anti-Abortion Claims](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/lila-rose-a-sweet-face-to-accompany-extreme-anti-abortion-claims/) - by Kathryn Joyce These days anti-abortion ingénue Lila Rose needs no introduction. In advertisements for this year's Values Voter Summit, an annual conservative Christian confab, Rose was a headline attraction. While former Attorney General Edwin Meese required a note of background, Rose, like fellow speaker and antifeminist icon Phyllis Schlafly, was advertised by name alone.
- [Women On High: The Price of Passion at the Roof of the World](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/women-on-high-the-price-of-passion-at-the-roof-of-the-worldby-jennifer-jordan/) - by Jennifer Jordan I came to this rather obscure subject of “women high altitude climbers” as any self-respecting journalist should -- I wondered who the hell was writing their stories. The problem was how women climbers in the rarefied world of high altitude mountains -- those 14 peaks scattered through Nepal, India, China and Pakistan
- [Nothing About Us, Without Us](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/nothing-about-us-without-us/) - by Ann Jordan Between March and June, scores of women in Cambodia were rounded up and held in detention where they report being robbed, beaten and gang raped by guards who were not wearing condoms. Two hundred members of their unions took to the streets to protest this abuse. This state-sponsored violence occurred as the
- [Girls, Women, Sports: What to Read](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/girls-women-sports-what-to-read/) - by Chané Jones and The Feminist Press An exploration about sports soon reveals that it is about much more than athletic competitions -- law, society, self-image and cultural mores. These eight books selected by the staff of The Feminist Press expand the topics in this edition with rich writing and varied explorations. Two of the
- [The African American Woman Who Shaped the Future of Art](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/the-african-american-woman-who-shaped-the-future-of-art/) - Ms. Michael angel Johnson Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller, a woman of African descent too often overlooked in arts history, was a precursor to the New Negro Movement of the 1920s also known as the Harlem Renaissance. Born in 1877, her sculpture of the early 20th century boldly used folk and African themes that anticipated this
- [Gone Too Far? Reproductive Politics in the Time of Obama](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/gone-too-far-reproductive-politics-in-the-time-of-obama/) - by Carole Joffe What about abortion gives it staying power as the central issue in domestic politics, even in the period of the worst economic situation since the Great Depression of the 1930s? This is a question well worth pursuing. I sounded a much more hopeful note in my recent book, Dispatches from the Abortion Wars.
- [Teaching Feminism in High School: Moving from Theory to Action](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/teaching-feminism-in-high-school-moving-from-theory-to-action/) - by Ileana Jiménez During a recent Twitter chat on #sheparty hosted by the Women's Media Center, I tweeted: "How many feminists know edu hashtags and vice versa?" The point I wanted to get across is that many feminists today don't know much about today's education conversation and, in turn, educators don't know much about what's going
- [Time to Rethink Global HIV/AIDS Care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/time-to-rethink-global-hiv-aids-care/) - By Nicole Itano After 13 years at the head of the UN’s AIDS organization, Dr. Peter Piot is stepping down. His departure offers an opportunity; a chance for a new generation of leaders to shake up the hidebound world of AIDS advocacy and international aid. A Belgian microbiologist who contributed to some of the first studies of
- [The Terror of Motherhood in Somaliland and Women’s Rights to Safe Care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-terror-of-motherhood-in-somaliland-and-womens-rights-to-safe-care/) - by Edna Adan Ismail A very distraught old woman came to Edna Adan Maternity Hospital in Hargeisa, Somaliland, appealing to us to help her transport to the hospital a woman who had given birth five days earlier and who still had the placenta inside her. Those of us at the hospital are not sure how
- [Opening Historic Trails: Accidental Heroes Stomp Sports Inequity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/opening-historic-trails-accidental-heroes-stomp-sports-inequity/) - by Risa Isard It’s a Sunday night in June in 2007 and my best friends and I lie on the floor of my family room in Arizona. Tomorrow morning is the first day of cross-country summer practice. We chatter in anticipation until 3:00 am. “Who do you think will be in the top seven? What
- [In A Word: The True History of "Misogyny"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/in-a-word-the-true-history-of-misogyny/) - by Christine E. Hutchins There is very little new under the sun. Misogyny in art, literature and other records dates as far back in Western culture as documentation itself. Misogyny comes from Greekmisogunia from misos ('hatred') and gyn ('woman'), explains Answers.com But misogyny as a practice -- the enforcement and celebration of the subordination of women -- flourished unnamed in English
- [Equality for Women: Insights from My Grandfather](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/equality-for-women-insights-from-my-grandfather/) - by Maame-Mensima Horne I was raised in a feminist household where I was exposed to feminism and its theory early. My parents created a foundation, which I complemented with books, films and stories from international feminists. Most of my mother’s friends are in academia, as is she. Many are African and Caribbean feminists who work
- [Black Abortion: Breaking The Silence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/black-abortion-breaking-the-silence/) - by Maame-Mensima Horne For years reproductive justice activists have been calling for African American women to break the silence around abortion within our communities. Instead, a new wave of anti-abortionists -- the black religious right -- has been gaining strength, usng a Black Genocide argument. This theory was originally started by Marcus Garvey and members of The
- [Sarah Palin and the Apocalypse](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/sarah-palin-and-the-apocalypse/) - by Merle Hoffman I have been on the psychological defensive since Sarah Palin was chosen as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee -- not wanting to get involved with the vortex of "feminist critiques" that ranged from discussions of whether her Down syndrome baby was really hers or her daughter's to questions of how she could
- [Patient Power – The Reluctant Revolution](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/patient-power-the-reluctant-revolution/) - by Merle Hoffman When I first opened a clinic for women’s abortion care in New York in 1971, women finally had access to safe, legal abortions – even before Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion across the country. New York State had acted to decriminalize abortion in 1970, so we were already a step ahead. Doctors
- [Divide, Conquer and Sell](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/divide-conquer-and-sell/) - by Merle Hoffman Growing up in Philadelphia in the 50s, girls were labeled sluts if they dressed provocatively, let boys “tongue kiss” them or behaved in such a way that crossed the white middle class boundaries that defined appropriate role behavior. Sexual behavior had the power to divide women from themselves, their community and, some
- [A Message from the Publisher - Plus ca change](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/a-message-from-the-publisher-plus-ca-change/) - by Merle Hoffman Welcome to the May/June 2008 edition of On The Issues Magazine Online, the first full edition of our new Internet publishing venture. Reviving the magazine on the web 25 years after our first release in print and after a nine-year hiatus feels like visiting a very old friend that I haven’t seen for years, one
- [Higher Ground, Not Common Ground](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/higher-ground-not-common-ground/) - by Merle Hoffman As a person who feels that war should be the strategy of last resort, I still like to read military history. I find myself going back to the wisdom of Sun Tzu who wrote in “The Art of War” in the 6th century BC: “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you
- [Selecting The Same Sex](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/selecting-the-same-sex/) - by Merle Hoffman There is one place where the definition of gender remains binary – in the womb. When it comes to sonograms, amniocentesis and standard pre-natal testing, there are no nuances. Here, the pronouncement, “It’s a girl,” can translate into fierce and instant parental rejection. The fact is that when the issue is “sex
- [All Wars Are Intimate Wars](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/all-wars-are-intimate-wars/) - by Merle Hoffman All wars are intimate. For women whose bodies have become battlegrounds in the struggle for reproductive freedom, the intimacy is profound. In the U.S. where the rise of the fundamentalist right has resulted in extensive attempts at creative new restrictions on women's rights to Moscow, where an American style anti-choice movement has emerged, the struggle
- [Intimate Wars Blog Series: My Abortion Story](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/intimate-wars-blog-series-my-abortion-story/) - By Merle Hoffman January 17, 2012 It's been over 40 years since I founded Choices Women's Medical Center, one of the first and currently the largest and most comprehensive women's health care centers in the country. Two years before the Supreme Court decision of Roe v. Wade, I opened the doors of Choices to provide women with
- [Where the Reality of Abortion Resides: Intimate Wars](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/where-the-reality-of-abortion-resides-intimate-wars/) - by Merle Hoffman When I first opened a clinic for women's abortion care in Flushing, New York in 1971, women finally had access to safe, legal abortions – even before Roe v. Wade decriminalized abortion across the country. New York State had acted to decriminalize abortion in 1970, so we were already a step ahead. Doctors could
- [The Courage of No](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-courage-of-no/) - by Merle Hoffman Children are natural resistance fighters. From the time they realize that they have the agency (if not the power) to push back against parental authority, they begin to use it. They do not discriminate against particular types of authority, but understand organically that all power can, and in some cases must, be
- [Revolution Lite](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/revolution-lite/) - by Merle Hoffman Oscar Wilde, writing in The Soul of Man Under Socialism, said, “A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth glancing at, for it leaves out the one country at which Humanity is always landing.” Unsurprisingly, women have been assigned supporting roles in even the most expansive male-imagined Utopias. Yet,
- [Feminism Is As Feminism Does](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/feminism-is-as-feminism-does/) - by Merle Hoffman All my life there was a kind of disconnect between my internal and external realities. "Funny," people would say, "you don't look Jewish. Funny, you don't look like a concert pianist. Funny—you don't look like a feminist." But I was all of those things and more. And equally today, as we struggle
- [Roe v. Wade 38th Anniversary: A Time for Celebration and Commitment](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/roe-v-wade-38th-anniversary-a-time-for-celebration-and-commitment/) - by Merle Hoffman As we celebrate the 38th anniversary on Jan 22nd of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide, this day must also signal a commitment to the future – to protect and advance women's reproductive freedom despite the challenges and risks. This year, 2011, also marks the 40th anniversary of Choices Women's Medical Center, which I
- [On the Murder and Continuing Inspiration<br>of Dr. George Tiller](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/on-the-murder-and-continuing-inspirationof-dr-george-tiller/) - by Merle Hoffman In our Spring ’09 edition, On The Issues Magazine writers and artists discuss feminist and progressive values that transcend politics -- our Lines In The Sand George Tiller was a friend, comrade and associate of mine for over a quarter of a century. I would share time and ideas with him at
- [A Message from the Publisher: Merle Hoffman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/may08/a-message-from-the-publisher-merle-hoffman/) - Twenty-five years ago I began On the Issues as a newsletter of Choices Women’s Medical Center in an effort to communicate with other health care providers and pro-choice activists. The first issue in 1983 featured pieces about the early days of the AIDS crisis, the newly-named and diagnosed pre-menstrual syndrome and a report on my
- [Female Orgasm Today: The Hite Report's Research Then and Now](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/female-orgasm-today-the-hite-reports-research-then-and-now/) - by Shere Hite "I always wanted to have orgasm during intercourse with him -- seems like the impossible dream. I used to blame him, I thought he was too fast, did not try hard enough -- then I blamed myself, I thought there was something psychologically wrong with me -- but after several years of
- [On The Subway With Tillie](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/on-the-subway-with-tillie/) - by Rhea Hirshman When I was growing up in Brooklyn, a significant rite of passage for my friends and me was being allowed to ride the New York City subway for the first time without the presence of one or the other of our parental units. Among the rites of subway riding, eagerly dissected among
- [Lessons from Redstockings : A Movement Goes for What It Wants](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/lessons-from-redstockings-a-movement-goes-for-what-it-wants/) - By Adrien Hilton Almost 40 years ago, the New York radical feminist group Redstockings pledged in its manifesto: "This time we are going all the way." Redstockings, still ongoing, now pledges "for as long as it takes" and to engage "generations teaching generations." As part of a newer generation of feminists, I got involved in organizing the Redstockings
- [What's in a name? Everything. Intersex: Why Naming Matters, Or What to Call It](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/whats-in-a-name-everythingintersex-why-naming-matters-or-what-to-call-it/) - by Thea Hillman When I first learned about intersex, it was from a friend of mine who had just completed a training to work at a sex information hotline. I was horrified when she told me about the cosmetic surgery on infants’ genitals. At the time, I had no idea that the term “intersex” had
- [Our Little Light: Letter From A Young Activist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/our-little-light-letter-from-a-young-activist/) - by Lindsey Hennawi "This Little Light of Mine" is the song that my mother chose for all of us to sing as she led a crowd marching up and down the street in the poorer part of the poor neighborhood where we attended church. The 1995 march was part of our church's ongoing voter registration
- [Busting Bogus Biology and Beliefs](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/busting-bogus-biology-and-beliefs/) - by Mahin Hassibi The simplified male-female concept of “gender” has never been simple. Unrelated to individual capabilities, “gender roles” throughout most of human history have subordinated the female to the male. In more recent years, reexaminations of “gender identity” along with developments in science and society have resulted in new understandings about what gender means
- [Terror For Women Exists Throughout History, Across Cultures](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/terror-for-women-exists-throughout-history-across-cultures/) - by Mahin Hassibi Long before the French revolutionaries legitimized terror and terrorizing as an instrument of subjugation, men had discovered its effectiveness in their relations with women. Biology has made women the object of one of the most compelling desires of men and armed them with the necessary instrument of achieving it. Throughout history and
- [Let’s Change the Equation on Sex and Earning](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/lets-change-the-equation-on-sex-and-earning/) - By Mahin Hassibi I have come to the conclusion -- albeit reluctantly -- that selling sex for money or a dollar-substitute, cannot be posed as an “either/or” question. There are women who are forced, sold into slavery, deceived by promises, threatened by addicted husbands, low-life pimps or organized crime groups. There are war refugees who
- [Talking Shop in the Medical Field: The Unfolding of A Strange New Disease](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/talking-shop-in-the-medical-field-the-unfolding-of-a-strange-new-disease/) - by Mahin Hassibi Medical specialists in different fields complain about insurance companies or the Medicare rates; otherwise "talking shop" only occurs when a new disease appears. That's how it was in December1981 when my oncologist-friend asked me if I had seen the New England Journal of Medicine. She said there was the unusual report of
- [Whose Utopia?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/whose-utopia/) - by Mahin Hassibi A clear consensus exists among women writers of varied ages, educational backgrounds and life circumstances in the anthology Feminist Philosophy and Science Fiction: Utopias and Dystopias, edited by Judith A. Little and released in 2007. They agree that not only societies as they are constituted now, but all Utopias envisioned by men do not
- [The Dickflick Defined](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-dickflick-defined/) - by Janis Hashe Two twentysomething women reviewed the movie, Terminator Salvation, in my local Chattanooga paper earlier this summer. "Generally one of three things was happening on screen," wrote one, "something was exploding, a robot was attacking someone, or people were beating each other. Loudly. Very loudly." The other reviewer commented, "Why would the paper send two
- [The ‘New’ Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/the-new-population-control-craze-retro-racist-wrong-way-to-go/) - by Betsy Hartmann It’s back to the bad old days of the population bomb. That was the title of an alarmist book by Stanford biologist Paul Ehrlich that appeared in 1968. He suggested that world catastrophe would ensue unless women in poor parts of the world were prevented from having too many children. This fall’s junk mail
- [Winning the Sports Beat: Female Writers Need Wide Angle Lens](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/winning-the-sports-beat-female-writers-need-wide-angle-lens/) - by Marie Hardin When Title IX became law in 1972, it started a chain of events that have ultimately changed the sports landscape in the United States. While the well-worn adage by women’s sports advocates, “We’ve come a long way, but we have a long way to go,” is certainly still relevant, expectations around sports
- [Women’s Liberation Consciousness-Raising: Then and Now](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/womens-liberation-consciousness-raising-then-and-now/) - by Carol Hanisch Consciousness-raising was birthed as a mass-organizing tool for the liberation of women in 1968 when the country and the world were seething with freedom movements. The women who started the Women’s Liberation Movement, several of whom had experienced the Southern Civil Rights Movement firsthand, were convinced it would take a similar mass
- [Women's Liberation: Looking Back, Looking Forward](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/womens-liberation-looking-back-looking-forward/) - by Carol Hanisch Feminism has always been a problematic term in the struggle for women's liberation, and now with such unlikely public figures as Sarah Palin and Lady Gaga embracing it, it's become more so. When can or should the feminist label be applied? A look at the recent history of the term may help
- [Trans Violence Is Violence Against Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/trans-violence-is-violence-against-women/) - by Ida Hammer December 14, 2011 Trans women are disproportionately impacted by murder and violence, and yet there is a serious gap in anti-violence and anti-oppression organizing when it comes to people who live at the intersection of being both trans and a woman. November 20th of each year is the Transgender Day of Remembrance.
- [Abortion is a Moral Decision](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/abortion-is-a-moral-decision/) - By Rev. Debra W. Haffner February 2, 2012 I have been an advocate for safe and legal abortion for more than 35 years. The Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade during my first year of college, and I remember thinking, "thank goodness, this fight is over." By now, we surely know that this fight is not over.
- [The Plight of Pregnancy; Maternal Mortality in Developing Countries](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-plight-of-pregnancy-maternal-mortality-in-developing-countries/) - By Sarah Hackley Instead of a time of hope, pregnancy too often means death for women in developing countries. In September of 2008, UNICEF reported that one in 76 women in developing nations die from pregnancy or childbirth complications. In sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, the statistics are simply staggering; women in Niger die at the astonishing rate
- [Taking A Stand Against Ageism at All Ages: A Powerful Coalition](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/taking-a-stand-against-ageism-at-all-ages-a-powerful-coalition/) - by Margaret Morganroth Gullette New ageism is the term I use to describe the current American view of aging-past-youth. Whatever your age, you are likely to be affected by the new ageism -- in your job, in your sexual life, in your sense of identity, in your intergenerational relations. The new ageism has gotten so
- [Tips on Making Career Out of Feminist Work](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/tips-on-making-career-out-of-feminist-work/) - By Suzanne Grossman I recently had the pleasure of speaking on a career panel to young women enrolled in Feminist Summer Camp, an intensive weeklong immersion in womens issues and feminist organizations organized by authors and activists Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgardner. Though Ive worn many hats at a variety of organizations over the past
- [Stop Murder and Violence Against Sex Workers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/stop-murder-and-violence-against-sex-workers/) - by Melissa Sontag Broudo and Rachel Grinstein Within the last month, police discovered four bodies along the Long Island Shore in New York State while searching for a missing sex worker. Media speculation turned immediately to a serial killer targeting sex workers. Past serial killers have created rare public conversation around violence towards sex workers. Gary Ridgeway –
- [For the Birds: My Personal Eco Activism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/for-the-birds-my-personal-eco-activism/) - by Catherine Gropper May 19, 2011 I still remember when I heard the first story in April 2010 about the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf in April 2010. I was putting the closing scenes on a new play when radio news bulletins began to interrupt with their searing reality of what was happening. Mostly
- [THEATER ARTS: Whatever Happened to Nora? Women’s Fears Left Huddling on A Grate](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/money/theater-artswhatever-happened-to-norawomens-fears-left-huddling-on-a-grate/) - by Alexis Greene Recently, while walking on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where I live, I saw a woman who made me think of Nora from Henrik Ibsen’s play A Doll’s House, more than a hundred years later, of course, and considerably older. The woman was inching a number of upright shopping carts along the
- [Women in Tyvek: Hope in Nontraditional Green Jobs](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/women-in-tyvek-hope-in-nontraditional-green-jobs/) - by Alexis Greene April 26, 2011 Every morning the trucks roll out of the garage at Community Environmental Center (CEC), and every morning Ruby Carrasquillo is sitting in one of them, heading to a work site. Carrasquillo is a weatherization technician at CEC, a Queens-based nonprofit that brings weatherization to low-income homes and apartment buildings in the
- [THEATER ARTS: Continental Bridges and Stage Firsts “In The Continuum” Tells Women’s Missing HIV Stories](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/theater-arts-continental-bridges-and-stage-firsts-in-the-continuum-tells-womens-missing-hiv-stories/) - by Alexis Greene Nikkole Salter grew up in Los Angeles. Danai Gurira was raised in Zimbabwe. In 2001, the two women, aspiring actors in their early twenties, met at New York University, where they were both enrolled in a graduate acting program. Three years later, they created a play for themselves called In the Continuum, about a
- [THEATRE ARTS: A Menace to Society](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/theatre-arts-a-menace-to-society/) - by Alexis Greene Over the years, Bill Baird, the reproductive rights activist, has been threatened, arrested and jailed. He’s been called a seducer, a self-promoter and a menace to society. He also once provoked a significant Supreme Court decision – Baird v. Eisenstadt – which in 1972 ruled that birth control information and devices could be distributed to
- [The Power of Theater: "Words of Choice" Touches Hearts](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/the-power-of-theater-words-of-choice-touches-hearts/) - by Alexis Greene Words of Choice first emerged as a theatrical performance in the late 1990s when Cindy Cooper, its creator, was working as the Communications Director at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (now the Center for Reproductive Rights) in New York City. The play, which embraces a range of attitudes about choice and
- [THEATER ARTS: “RUINED” by Lynn Nottage Links War, Horror and Prostitution, a Preview](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/theater-arts-ruined-by-lynn-nottage-links-war-horror-and-prostitution-a-preview/) - by Alexis Greene “You will not fight your battles on my body anymore.” Thus speaks the character of the Congolese prostitute Salima in Lynn Nottage’s new drama Ruined. Like most of the women in Nottage’s unsettling play, Salima has been raped and tortured by soldiers waging a vicious civil war. She has become a prostitute to
- [Of Hallie Flanagan and Women Who Won't Be Silent](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/of-hallie-flanagan-and-women-who-wont-be-silent/) - by Alexis Greene The American theater director and educator Hallie Flanagan Davis, hero of Ruth Wolff's play Hallie, grew to womanhood during the climactic decades of American feminism's first wave. But the trajectory of her career evokes women's lives at the onset of feminism's second wave and beyond. Born in 1890, red-haired Hallie Ferguson spent her first
- [Courage and Heroism Follow Devastation in Haiti](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/courage-and-heroism-follow-devastation-in-haiti/) - By Marylou Greenberg Editors Note: In light of the devastating earthquake in Haiti and in tribute to the courage of the Haitian people, On The Issues Magazine presents an exclusive eyewitness interview with a physician who traveled to Haiti on an emergency basis as a volunteer. From the air, it looked like an atomic bomb had hit
- [Iranian Women Today - Fighting Two Enemies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/iranian-women-today-fighting-two-enemies/) - By MaryLou Greenberg Iranian women are today in the forefront of determined resistance to the oppressive theocracy of the Islamic Republic of Iran as well as war threats by the US government. This International Women’s Day brought forward support from a impressive group of US women, who responded to a call issued by Iranian women
- [Haven Volunteers: An Immediate Impact on Abortion Care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/haven-volunteers-an-immediate-impact-on-abortion-care/) - By Mary Lou Greenberg October 7, 2011 Karen Duda signed petitions, went to rallies and participated in traditional pro-choice activism. But, she said, "I wanted to do more." She found the "more" in Haven in New York City six years ago, and now serves as its coordinator. It is, says Duda, "a way to have
- [Beyond Equality to Liberation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/beyond-equality-to-liberation/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg I will always remember the first time I realized that women did not have to live the way I had always assumed. As the '60s began to stir, I read Simone deBeauvoir's "The Second Sex" and my consciousness began to climb to another place: "One is not born, but rather becomes,
- [It all started with Adam and Eve](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/it-all-started-with-adam-and-eve/) - Compiled by Mary Lou Greenberg Strict and immutable gender roles are the cornerstone of right wing theology and politics and are inextricably linked to views on marriage and the family. Here are a few notable statements. “Feminists might attempt to claim that women are unhappy due to continued prejudice and discrimination of women based on
- [On The Frontlines: A Counselor Must Address A Gauntlet of Lies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/on-the-frontlines-a-counselor-must-address-a-gauntlet-of-lies/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Several older women stood on the sidewalk a few feet from the entrance to Choices Women's Medical Center in Queens, New York. They aggressively approached every woman who walked towards the door, literally getting in their faces with rosaries and anti-abortion literature in hand. "Don't kill your baby," they implored, planting
- [Break the Silence, End the Stigma](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/break-the-silence-end-the-stigma/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg "Silence = Death." The shout of AIDS activists cut like a knife through public ignorance, denial and official disregard of HIV/AIDS in the late '80s. Today, denial and ignorance are again taking a huge toll - but the oppression of women in society is twisting the HIV-AIDS epidemic in a newly horrific
- [Media Missteps + Misogyny = Death for Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/media-missteps-misogyny-death-for-women/) - By Mary Lou Greenberg Gender-blind spots in assessing the HIV/AIDS epidemic today are key factors in today's deadly ignorance about the fastest growing segment of the HIV/AIDS population -- women. The media adds to the misogyny at the risk of women's health. Reporting in June from New York and Britain are but the latest examples.
- [Facing Down Danger to Make Reproductive Freedom A Reality](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/facing-down-danger-to-make-reproductive-freedom-a-reality/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg and Eleanor Bader Abortion is one of the safest medical procedures in the country; ironically, those professionals and staff who make sure that abortion is safe may find their own safety compromised. Since it began tracking anti-abortion violence in 1977, the National Abortion Federation has tabulated more than 156, 961 incidents of violence
- [Next Generation Access: Medical Students Fill A Void](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/next-generation-access-medical-students-fill-a-void/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg I remember the first time I heard about Medical Students for Choice. I don't remember the exact date but I remember the atmosphere. Anti-abortion fanatics had been targeting abortion providers for years by firebombing clinics, harassing and stalking doctors and their families, blockading medical facilities and assaulting women who came to
- [When Revolution in China Elevated Women and Took Prostitution off the Market ](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008summer/when-revolution-in-china-elevated-women-and-took-prostitution-off-the-market/) - By Mary Lou Greenberg During the recent Beijing Olympics, the Washington Post reported that up to 10 million women in China earn income from prostitution, including those for whom it's the main source of income to others who sometimes exchange sex for money or rent. The Post quoted Jing Jun, a sociology and AIDS policy professor at
- [Women Still At the Hoops, But Parity Scores Low](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/women-still-at-the-hoops-but-parity-scores-low/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg In the Winter 1998 issue of On The Issues Magazine, writer Angell Delaney projected a bright future for women's professional basketball and its influence on breaking traditional gender roles in her article, "A Whole New Ball Game: Playing like a girl is no longer an insult. It's a hoop dream millions aspire to."
- [Volunteer Abortion Funds Ramp Up in New York, Nationally](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/volunteer-abortion-funds-ramp-up-in-new-york-nationally/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg April 10, 2012 When two Barnard college students arrived to escort patients into a New York City abortion clinic one winter day in 2001, they had no idea their experience would affect the lives of over 700 women. And that number grows daily. As the students, Irene Xanthoudakis and Lauren Porsch,
- [Honor Killings and Human Bombs: Abuses, Old and New](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/honor-killings-and-human-bombs-abuses-old-and-new/) - by Jan Goodwin It’s impossible to imagine the sheer terror that five Pakistani women went through at the end of July, when they were removed from their homes and buried alive by male relatives. They were driven to the desert in Baluchistan, in a car with provincial government plates. Then three of them, teenagers aged
- [Before "Roe": Legal Battles, Involuntary Servitude, My Mom](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/before-roe-legal-battles-involuntary-servitude-my-mom/) - by Justine Goodman I am the daughter of a woman who wrote in 1970 that "involuntary motherhood is slavery." That was 13 years before I was born, and three years before Roe v. Wade was decided. She made that argument in a federal court brief in the 1969 case of Abramowicz v. Lefkowitz, which challenged New York State's
- [An Animal Lawyer Makes a Manifesto](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/an-animal-lawyer-makes-a-manifesto/) - by Barbara J. Gislason Introduction to my Manifesto Beginning in 2003, I was the pivotal person launching Animal Law within the Minnesota State Bar Association and then the American Bar Association. At the time, I was afraid that animals would not survive in the increasingly toxic world described in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring. I imagined how religion,
- [Peggy M. Shepard, Setting the Bar for Environmental Justice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/peggy-m-shepard-setting-the-bar-for-environmental-justice/) - By Molly M. Ginty One progressive "line in the sand" is the conviction that all people are entitled to clean air, clean water, and healthy, unpolluted space in which to live, work, study and grow. But when it comes to people of colorparticularly those in urban environmentsthat line has been crossed one time too many.
- [Swamped: Trying to Save Fragile Bodies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/swamped-trying-to-save-fragile-bodies/) - by Molly M. Ginty Soaring, slithering and swimming, the animals seem undaunted by environmental threats. Overhead, the roseate spoonbills glide, their electric pink wings bright against the azure sky. In the mud, the alligators wallow, cooling their brown backs in the sun. Off the mangrove-ringed shores, grey dolphins frolic, leaping in circles and trapping fish
- [Yoga Frontiers: Women Shape Practices in Exceptional Ways](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/yoga-frontiers-women-shape-practices-in-exceptional-ways/) - by Molly M. Ginty Gathered in a circle on a rainbow of yoga mats, tucking braids, curls and dreadlocks into handkerchiefs and hair bands, women of all ages, shapes and sizes take a moment to check in before yoga class. “My menstrual cramps are bad today. Can we do something for that?” “My abdominal muscles
- [Disappearing the word "rape"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/disappearing-the-word-rape/) - by Stephanie Gilmore The Super Bowl is over, and although the Pittsburgh Steelers lost a record-setting seventh victory, star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is still grabbing a lot of media space with little chance of disappearing. While sportswriters debated his performance in the big game, that he got there at all was deemed to be "the
- [Listening Up: Students Blow the Whistle on Sexual Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/listening-up-students-blow-the-whistle-on-sexual-violence/) - by Stephanie Gilmore and Sarah Barr As women – a faculty member and a student – at Dickinson College, a top-tier, selective liberal arts college in south-central Pennsylvania, we are horrified by the acts of sexual violence that happen on our campus. We are also part of and witnessing a resurgence in student-led activism to
- [Students Draw the Line on Sexual Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/students-draw-the-line-on-sexual-violence/) - By Stephanie Gilmore Sexual violence is a problem on this campus!" "Your silence will not protect you!" "What do we want Safety! When do we want it Now!" On the limestone steps of Old West, outside the admissions building where campus tours for new students and their parents begin and end, and in front of
- [Marcha de las Putas: SlutWalking Crosses Global Divides](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/marcha-de-las-putas-slutwalking-crosses-global-divides/) - by Stephanie Gilmore In Cuernavaca, Mexico and Tegucigalpa, Honduras, it was called Marcha de las Putas. In New Delhi, it was Besharmi Morcha. Morocco was host to a Marche les salopes under the name Woman-Shoufouch. In London, it was Slut Means Speak Up. In Helsinki, Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York, Melbourne and the place of origin -- Toronto -- it was SlutWalk. No
- [A Radical Look at The Question of Equality](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-radical-look-at-the-question-of-equality/) - By Helen Gilbert When I heard from Radical Women members who attended this summer's U.S. Social Forum that some participants in the Gender Justice workshop had questioned whether "equality" was a worthwhile goal, my first response was: "Oh no, are Women Studies academics caving to the rightwing" It reminded me of how many reproductive rights
- [Dangerous Con: How the Right Wing Attracts Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/dangerous-con-how-the-right-wing-attracts-women/) - by Helen Gilbert The emergence of Sarah Palin and other perky-but-tough "mama grizzlies" is well-calculated. The Right wing is searching for a style that appeals to younger women. It may seem contradictory that super-conservative misogynists want women on their side. But women are essential to building any movement. They are major opinion shapers and reliable
- [The Death of A Dream: Layers of Domestic Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/the-death-of-a-dream-layers-of-domestic-violence/) - by Nancy Genova The Death of Dream is a play about domestic violence that is slightly different from other artistic pieces that have been developed on the subject. In the play, codependency is acted out so the audience can enter into the victims and perpetrators space and begin to process what goes on in their world.
- [Second Bill of Rights: Economic Security](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/money/second-bill-of-rights-economic-security/) - By Irasema Garza In the struggle for gender equality, the legal victories have been historic. Women’s employment and educational rights seemed secure with the passage of the Equal Pay Act in 1963, Title VII in 1964, Title IX in 1972, the Pregnancy Discrimination Act in 1978. Then, in 1994, Congress passed the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), for the first
- [Wise Words Cause Fearful Notions](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/wise-words-cause-fearful-notions/) - By Serena Garcia The ascension of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States in fall 2009 seemed to hang on hyped reaction to statements that she made in a speech eight years ago, even as much of her impressive record as a judge for nearly two decades was ignored. The most
- [The Ladies' Room: A Complicated Conversation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-ladies-room-a-complicated-conversation/) - by Carolyn Gage The bathroom has been a site of "gender anxiety" historically, as well as a battlefield, and, although it is tempting to write this off to ignorance about gender and fanatical, knee-jerk policing of the "gender binary," the issue goes deeper than this. Rapists do choose public bathrooms as sites of sexual predation,
- [The War I Know: Sidelined, A to Z](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-war-i-know-sidelined-a-to-z/) - by Carolyn Gage 2003: A journalist contacted several writers, including me, about the impending invasion of Iraq: How was the war was affecting my writing? My comments were rejected for publication, but here is what I said: Taking a little scroll through my Rolodex here, in order to answer your question about how “the war” is
- [Echoing at "Occupy": The Women Behind Social Security](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/echoing-at-occupy-the-women-behind-social-security/) - By Carolyn Gage November 23, 2011 The emergence of the Occupy Wall Street movement would not have been a surprise to one woman activist born over a century ago. Mary Harriman Rumsey was the partner of President Franklin Roosevelt's Secretary of Labor, Frances Perkins, who was the first woman to occupy a Cabinet position. Perkins
- [Advancing Rights: 1964 Marks the Beginning of a New Era](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/advancing-rights-1964-marks-the-beginning-of-a-new-era/) - By Sonia Pressman Fuentes On August 26, we'll be celebrating the 90th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, granting women the right to vote. It's a good time to review what rights women have secured since August of 1920. Actually, women secured no additional rights in the 44 years
- [Reproductive Health Locked Up](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/reproductive-health-locked-up/) - By Janna Frieman March 22, 2012 In January, a woman prematurely gave birth to twins in her cell within 24 hours of entering a Pennsylvania county jail. Despite the fact that she was known to be pregnant, and despite the fact that this was obviously a high-risk pregnancy due to drug use (detected during intake)
- [Taking Multimedia Action to Stop HIV-AIDS In Youth](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/taking-multimedia-action-to-stop-hiv-aids-in-youth/) - By Simon Fisher The need for a youth-focused and culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS educational platform is urgent. Despite growing infection rates, youth-centered prevention information created in an accessible, frank and affirming manner is lacking. In 2006, over one-third of new HIV cases in the U.S. were recorded in young people aged 13-29. In 2005, African-Americans and Latinos accounted
- [How to Think Like A Feminist Economist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/money/how-to-think-like-a-feminist-economist/) - by Susan Feiner As a feminist economist I am constantly amazed—though I suppose I should be used to it by now—by the ways conventional analyses of economic matters completely ignore gender asymmetries. Because I am a feminist economist, I am hypersensitive to differences in women’s and men’s economic circumstances. Women earn less, work in jobs
- [Gender Values: The Costs of War](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/gender-values-the-costs-of-war/) - by Susan Feiner t ten years and counting, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are the longest in U.S. history. Not surprisingly, they are the most expensive, with total war spending poised to top two trillion dollars early this summer. These numbers are so huge it's hard to wrap the mind around them. Grab a
- [To Run the World, Power Up Feminism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/to-run-the-world-power-up-feminism/) - by Gloria Feldt Were you thinking we were done with elections and could take a few minutes to celebrate a pro-woman administration and a Democratically-controlled Congress that appears ready to embrace pro-choice and pro-equality measures? Sorry, my Sisters. Elections are never over when they are over. Candidates are already gearing up for 2010 and 2012.
- [Convictions to Action: Lessons from Margaret Sanger](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/convictions-to-action-lessons-from-margaret-sanger/) - by Gloria Feldt Whenever I set foot in Brooklyn where Margaret Sanger opened the first American birth control clinic 93 years ago at 46 Amboy Street, I feel like I’m on hallowed ground. As an exhausted 20-year-old mother of three in West Texas in 1962, my doctor mercifully prescribed the then-new birth control pill. I
- [A Do-Over for Reproductive Justice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/a-do-over-for-reproductive-justice/) - By Gloria Feldt Lars Larson is a conservative radio talk show host with a following of four million listeners. His producer assured me, when asking me to appear for Roe v Wade’s 36th anniversary, that Lars is respectful, though he would take views opposite to mine. No problem, I said, as long as I can speak my
- [The Grand Folly of Focusing on "Common Ground"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/the-grand-folly-of-focusing-on-common-ground/) - by Gloria Feldt The day before the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was expected to rule, rumors circulated that the agency would approve Plan B One Step emergency contraception as a non-prescription item and allow it to be sold without age restrictions. Freelance writer Robin Marty predicted via e-mail, "Conservative reaction will be a total shitstorm." Instead,
- [Ending Wartime Rape Means Ending War and Ending Patriarchy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/ending-wartime-rape-means-ending-war-and-ending-patriarchy/) - August 24, 2011 You can't build peace leaving half of the people out. Women are a prime target in conflict, yet when it comes to building peace, they are being left out. The discourse around peace building often emphasizes the importance of inclusive and sustainable peace; however, many negotiations proceed amid blatant discrimination against half
- [Poetry: Reliving the Nuclear Nightmare](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/poetry-reliving-the-nuclear-nightmare/) - by Karen Ethelsdattar March 29, 2011 With the now-ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan, I was shaken all over again. After the Three Mile Island nuclear accident in the Pennsylvania in 1979 during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, I was moved to write a poem about it. Many of the details were related to me by
- [A Soccer Dad Faces Parenting, Coaching and Dreams](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/love/a-soccer-dad-faces-parenting-coaching-and-dreams/) - by Mauricio Espinoza Jordan leaped to grab that ball as if nothing else in the world mattered, the way good goalkeepers do, oblivious to the sea of enemy legs that crowded the penalty box like hungry sharks with menacing cleats for teeth. My brave eight-year-old shark-slayer got to the ball first, preserving a hard-fought 1-0
- [Four Bags: My Mother's Gift of Living Simply](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/four-bags-my-mothers-gift-of-living-simply/) - by Sarah Flint Erdreich March 22, 2011 The best Hanukkah gift I ever gave my mother was four canvas bags. My sister and I ordered them from the Seventh Generation catalog, and when the box arrived we took out the plain, off-white totes, ironed them, and then carefully wrapped the bags. My mother was delighted;
- [Discussing Abortion During Polite Dinner Conversation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/discussing-abortion-during-polite-dinner-conversation/) - By Sarah Flint Erdreich January 17, 2012 It had been a lovely wedding, and now the reception was packed. We sat down to dinner; at my table was my husband and three of our friends, along with three of the grooms friends from grad school. Introductions were made and small talk ensued, and as our
- [How Anti-Abortion Protesters Got Me: Letter From a Young Activist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/how-anti-abortion-protesters-got-me-letter-from-a-young-activist/) - by Sarah Flint Erdreich I was 13 years old during the anti-choice "Summer of Mercy" in 1991 when anti-choice activists laid siege to Dr. George Tiller's clinic in Wichita, Kansas. That was the beginning of my abortion education – my first awareness that there were people in this country who opposed abortion so strongly that
- [Adding Environmental Footprints to Birth Control Choices](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/adding-environmental-footprints-to-birth-control-choices/) - by Laura Eldridge With concerns about environmental contamination growing and Americans becoming increasingly aware of its dimensions, we are asking complicated questions about public and personal decisions. Contraceptives, both hormonal and non-hormonal, have entered this difficult, multi-faceted conversation, as it becomes clear that our methods of birth control have an impact on our environment. Many
- [In His Shorts: What Happened to Male Birth Control?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/in-his-shorts-what-happened-to-male-birth-control/) - by Laura Eldridge While feminists in the 1960s and '70s dreamed that a "male Pill" was close to happening, today it has become a joke that such a drug has been "five years away" for decades. Despite huge advances in sexual equality, we still live in a world where contraception is largely the responsibility of
- [Who The Revolution Left Behind](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/who-the-revolution-left-behind/) - by Diana Egozcue I get a lot of questions and statements when I explain that I am campaigning for the Virginia ratification of the ERA, one of several states where campaigns are active. "What’s the ERA? Why do we need that? I thought that passed years ago." From men, I often hear: "The ERA is dead!
- [A Lesson From History:  WWII and Fighting to Keep Women From Slavery](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/a-lesson-from-history-wwii-and-fighting-to-keep-women-from-slavery/) - The war in Afghanistan is not the first U.S. war in which the ill-treatment of women was used to stoke the fire for war support at home. The New York Times on April 18, 1943, reported on President Franklin Roosevelts speech to the Daughters of the American Revolution in Cincinnati just the day before. The headline was
- [MAHIN HASSIBI: Visionary Ideas, Thinking Out Loud](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/mahin-hassibi-visionary-ideas-thinking-out-loud/) - by the Editors When On The Issues Magazine decided to pursue Passion, Freedom, Women and the topic of women fighting for freedom around the world despite the risks to themselves, we discussed several big questions. What drives the people who are willing to put their lives at peril for the greater good? What separates them from those who don’t?
- [Abortion: On The Issues Magazine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/abortion-on-the-issues-magazine/) - by The Editors "Abortion is a matter of the heart," the late Dr. George Tiller once said. "For until we understand the heart of a woman, nothing else about abortion makes any sense at all." Abortion care has been a legal health service in New York State for 40 years now. In fact, the provision
- [Abortionomics: When Choice Is A Necessity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/abortionomics-when-choice-is-a-necessity/) - by The Editors A new study puts another face on women's reproductive decision-making during an economic downturn. It indicates that low-income women increasingly are being forced to "choose" abortions out of economic need. Conducted by independent researcher Robin H. Pugh Yi, Ph.D., president of Akeso Consulting in Vienna, Virginia, the study is called Abortionomics: When Choice Is a
- ["Nontraditional" : A Video Makes A Car Job Seem Auto-Matic](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/nontraditional-a-video-makes-a-car-job-seem-auto-matic/) - The Editors It's generally called "nontraditional" employment women working in jobs that are mostly held by men. While becoming an auto mechanic may be a nontraditional career path for most women, in another sense, it was a totally traditional choice for Audra Fordin. She stepped into the boots of her auto-mechanic father, grandfather and great-grandfather,
- [On The Issues Magazine Launches Fall 2011 Issue, "Activism!"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/on-the-issues-magazine-launches-fall-2011-issue-activism/) - by editors With this past year's spontaneous eruptions of social action across the world from Occupy Wall Street to SlutWalk protests, from the revolution in Egypt to the Wisconsin labor fight, there is one thing that is evident: Activism is alive and kicking. In the new fall issue of On The Issues Magazine, writers and
- [Level the Playing Field: Girls, Women and Sports](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/level-the-playing-field-girls-women-and-sports/) - by The Editors The convergence of two events this summer brings excitement and attention to women in sports -- the impetus for this edition of On The Issues Magazine on girls, women and sports. The anniversary of Title IX, which opened the way for women’s greater participation in sports in the U.S., is on June
- [Women Hold Demonstrations for Liberation in Iran and Afghanistan](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/women-hold-demonstrations-for-liberation-in-iran-and-afghanistan/) - By Carol Downer The women of Iran and Afghanistan used International Womens Day this year to carry forward their struggle for the liberation of women in their countries. They raised their voices in demonstrations in London, Los Angeles, and elsewhere. Susann G., an Iranian woman now living in Germany, said the mass demonstrations in Iran in the
- [No Stopping: From PomPoms to Saving Women's Bodies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/no-stopping-from-pompoms-to-saving-womens-bodies/) - by Carol Downer In the 1970s, I got involved in the women's self-help movement in California, traveling the countryside to introduce women to vaginal self-examination and pioneering the use of menstrual extraction. I got there, and from there to here, because one action simply led to the next. And to the next. And the next.
- [As Access Slides, Feminists Need to "Extract" From Our Self-Help Past](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/as-access-slides-feminists-need-to-extract-from-our-self-help-past/) - by Carol Downer If working in the abortion movement for over 40 years qualifies me to gaze into my crystal ball to see the future for abortion rights in the United States, here goes. Prediction Number One: I see the Supreme Court continuing to interpret Roe v. Wade in a way that will make abortion, especially later abortion,
- [The Rise of Enlightened Sexism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-rise-of-enlightened-sexism/) - by Susan J. Douglas Today, we once again have what Betty Friedan famously called "a problem with no name." Millions of young women -- the girl power generation -- have been told that they can do or be anything, yet they also believe their most important task is to be slim, "hot," and non-threatening to
- [Media Tools Counter War Violence Against Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/media-tools-counter-war-violence-against-women/) - by Ariel Dougherty A quote from UNICEF fills the screen of the 2002 film, Women, The Forgotten Face of War: “A few decades ago women and children were five percent of war victims, today they are 90 percent.” From war zones in Kosovo and Uganda, from Sudan and Georgia, it is women -- young women, old women,
- [Girls Kick: Moving the Media's World Cup Goal Posts](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/girls-kick-moving-the-medias-world-cup-goal-posts/) - by Ariel Dougherty The World Cup coverage by ESPN (and ABC) washed over the U.S. this summer like a fever — a month long homage to the universal sport as played by men. The World Cup games have never before held my attention. But this time I joined in and became a modestly regular viewer.
- [Does Working Girls Still Work?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/does-working-girls-still-work/) - by Ariel Dougherty Working Girls is a classic film on sex work, which many professors report using in college courses for discussion purposes. The narrative of the 1986 award-winning feature by Lizzie Borden holds up well twenty-some years after its release, but perhaps it's also time to rethink its feminist applications. In the movie, the central
- [Films Lag in Sharing Women’s Athletic Dreams](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/films-lag-in-sharing-womens-athletic-dreams/) - by Ariel Dougherty Forty years ago, at the same time that Title IX was passed by the federal government, Sheila Paige and I co-founded Women Make Movies in New York City. Since then, my work has centered on producing women-identified media and making it more available. The collective success of making substantial inroads into corporate media, however,
- [The Heretics: Film Invigorates Feminism, Art, Politics](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/the-heretics-film-invigorates-feminism-art-politics/) - by Ariel Dougherty Exuberance and bravado! Gumption and sweat! Vision and breadth! These are among the many elements that composed the literal collective experience of 28 women who came together in 1977 to produce one of the truly dynamic womens publications to emerge from the Womens Liberation Movement. That publication was Heresies: A Feminist Publication on Art and
- [Feminists Lose Ground Working With Social Conservatives On Trafficking](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/feminists-lose-ground-working-with-social-conservatives-on-trafficking/) - by Melissa Ditmore Many people are surprised to learn that some contemporary feminists work with Right-wing Christians on the issue of trafficking in persons – actions that sell out the rights of other women, particularly those who freely work in the sex trade. The term "trafficking" refers to the trade in persons by coercion, force
- [Stopping Police and DAs from Using Condoms to Convict Sex Workers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/stopping-police-and-das-from-using-condoms-to-convict-sex-workers/) - by Crystal DeBoise November 10, 2011 Last winter, "Sheila,"a sex worker in her early 20s, had just finished her counseling session with me at the Sex Workers Project, and was heading out the door. Sheila was seeking counseling from the Sex Workers Project to help her make a career change, but had no financial support
- [Satirist’s View: Same Old Dilemma, or The Virgin Rebirth](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/satirists-view-same-old-dilemma-or-the-virgin-rebirth/) - by Susie Day Dear Western Civilization – My name is Mary. Not Mary of Had-a-Little-Lamb fame. Holy Mary. Or, if you will, Maria. But not Maria as in The Sound of Music. Ave Maria. You know, Mother of God? Queen of Heaven? Our Lady of Perpetual Boundary Issues? You might remember me from such codependent masterpieces
- ["Love Means Second Chances": Reproductive Freedom in a Novel](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/love-means-second-chances-reproductive-freedom-in-a-novel/) - by Susan Elizabeth Davis On a bleak December day in 1979, I had an epiphany: I would write a pro-choice novel. A novel, I thought, could cut through all the anti-abortion lies and pro-family hypocrisy and assert that every woman's birthright includes the human right to control our own bodies. A novel could change the
- [No Women, No Peace: Time to Change Peace Building](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/no-women-no-peace-time-to-change-peace-building/) - by Shelagh Daley August 24, 2011 You can't build peace leaving half of the people out. Women are a prime target in conflict, yet when it comes to building peace, they are being left out. The discourse around peace building often emphasizes the importance of inclusive and sustainable peace; however, many negotiations proceed amid blatant
- [Loretta Ross Unmasks Black Anti-Abortion Message](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/loretta-ross-unmasks-black-anti-abortion-message/) - Cynthia L. Cooper When Loretta J. Ross speaks, people listen. Ross is a big-picture thinker on reproductive justice, national coordinator of SisterSong, Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective, headquartered in Atlanta, and a vibrant voice on womens rights who brings three decades of analysis into every conversation. She was National Co-Director of the 2004 March for Womens
- [In The Act Alone: German Resistance to the Nazi Movement](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/in-the-act-alone-german-resistance-to-the-nazi-movement/) - by Cynthia L Cooper Almost as soon as I entered the German Memorial Resistance Center in Berlin, I regretted having saved it as the last stop on my short trip. Of course,it had been difficult to tell from afar in New York what I would find here. The “center” could have been a single room, or single
- [Occupying the Air: Banner Wave Truths about Abortion & Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/occupying-the-air-banner-wave-truths-about-abortion-rights/) - By Elizabeth Creely January 19, 2012 On the first day of 2012, an abortion clinic in Florida was firebombed. The clinic is now out of business. The arsonist, a man named Bobby Joe Roberts, told police that he had a "strong disbelief in abortion." Bobby Joe is a part of a nationwide anti-choice choir that
- [Films that Inform Our Lives: Maybe Next Year?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/films-that-inform-our-lives-maybe-next-year/) - by Heather Cowherd March 1, 2011 In 1995, at the age of ten, I wanted to be like Princess Aurora, Jasmine and Snow White. I even remember having a recurring dream where I imagined I was a princess who was imprisoned in my castle by a fire-breathing dragon. Each day, I would sit and wait
- [White Silence and Responsibility](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/white-silence-and-responsibility/) - By Clare Coss What is the role of the artist as we strive to understand issues that divide us How do we recognize and care about the equality of others What is my responsibility as a playwright As a child I journeyed back and forth between my parents in New Jersey and my grandparents in
- [End Torture, End Domestic Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/end-torture-end-domestic-violence/) - by Rhonda Copelon When one compares what is done to a woman in an advanced domestic battering cycle and to prisoners subjected to torture, the situations are frighteningly similar. But only recently have they begun to be equated legally and culturally. How would the world be different for women if domestic violence were treated as torture
- [Not Enough Women Use Web Resource](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/not-enough-women-use-web-resource/) - By Cindy Cooper An invaluable health website has special promise for women with HIV-AIDS, but not enough are using it. The new site, PatientsLikeMe (a link is at the bottom of this story), is a "Facebook" for people with difficult illnesses. A support, information and health research site, it accentuates the value of patients helping
- [Gender Equality: Devil in the Details](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/gender-equality-devil-in-the-details/) - by Cindy Cooper Perhaps one of the biggest impediments to women's equality in the United States is a pervasive, persistent and too-common myth: it's all been done. It's a cruel trick, as if the exhortation to girls that they can do anything is turned on its head into a "fait accompli" by mere affirmation and
- [In Peril: North African Freedom Fighter On Hunger Strike](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009fall/in-peril-north-african-freedom-fighter-on-hunger-strike/) - by Cindy Cooper Editor's Note: Urgent circumstances call for early publication of this story planned for our Winter 2010 edition on women of courage. Aminatou Haidar, known as the "Gandhi" of the Western Sahara for her advocacy for the human rights of her people, sat on a mattress provided by the Red Cross in the
- ["Occupy" and Feminism Equal New Solidarity: Frances Fox Piven Speaks](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/occupy-and-feminism-equal-new-solidarity-frances-fox-piven-speaks/) - By Cindy Cooper November 3, 2011 "I think there may be a new page that we've come to the United States," author, activist and professor Frances Fox Piven told an audience in New York City about the Occupy Wall Street protests in New York. "Not just that there's a big movement out there and it
- [Theo Colborn: Making Her Own Scientific Path](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/theo-colborn-making-her-own-scientific-path/) - by Cindy Cooper June 6, 2011 Dr. Theo Colborn is often compared to Rachel Carson, whose famous book, Silent Spring will celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. Colborn, a dedicated environmental researcher, heartily tosses off the association, even as her own scientific insights gain public attention and acknowledgement. Carson, of course, kicked off the environmental movement with
- [Say "I Do": Constitutional Equality is Forever](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/say-i-do-constitutional-equality-is-forever/) - by Carolyn A. Cook Looking back now, my parents' divorce was my first awakening to the double standard for women. Mom raised two daughters alone and re-entered the workforce as a nurse part-time for no benefits after twenty-plus years as a full-time homemaker/mother. We shopped thrift stores, clipped coupons and conserved utilities year-round. Juxtapose this
- [My Body, My Choice, My Intimate War](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/my-body-my-choice-my-intimate-war/) - By Abigail Collazo January 17, 2012 What does war look like Taste like Smell like Images and soundtracks come to mind from centuries of conflict: guns roaring, cannons booming, flesh burning, bombs exploding. These are the sights and sounds that remind us of what we know to be a universal truth: no matter where, when,
- [Midwifery Reborn: Politicians Take Note](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/midwifery-reborn-politicians-take-note/) - By Lesley Cohen Healthcare remains a forefront issue for the American public. With a new president who acknowledges the need for healthcare reform, midwives are in an optimal position to assert their importance as principal members of America's primary care providers. As a member of this midwifery profession, I have the honor and privilege of
- [Life’s Precious Trio: Women, Water and Health](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/lifes-precious-trio-women-water-and-health/) - by Elayne Clift Her day begins before dawn. She walks over four miles on uneven paths to reach a hand-dug pit from which she fetches the day’s water supply for her family. The water is polluted by flies, feces and feeding animals. In the dry season the walk is often treacherous as steep-sided mud walls
- [Maternal Mortality, Slavery, Fistula Fill Half the Sky](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/maternal-mortality-slavery-fistula-fill-half-the-sky/) - By Elayne Clift Ive always felt ambivalent about Nicolas Kristofs columns in The New York Times, even though they have exposed so effectively the tragic lives of so many women around the world. The reason is that for decades before he got all those column inches, women (like myself) working in the trenches of womens
- [Letter to a Young Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/letter-to-a-young-feminist/) - by Phyllis Chesler Here I sit, head bent, writing you an intimate letter. I sense your presence, even though I don't know your name. I envision you as a young woman, possibly a young man, somewhere between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, but you may also be a decade older -- or younger --
- [Telling it Like it Was](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/telling-it-like-it-was/) - by Phyllis Chesler It is time, and Second Wave* feminists are beginning to document their salad days. In the late 1960s/early 1970s, feminists literally felt ten thousand years of patriarchy begin to give way by at least an inch or two, before the so-called "backlash" and intramovement strife hit, hard. But first, we'd changed the
- [IN MY VIEW: A Wolf In Feminist Clothing](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/in-my-view-a-wolf-in-feminist-clothing/) - by Phyllis Chesler These are the times that try feminist souls. "Femininity" is back - even among feminists - and for years, I'd thought it was a fugue state, not a secret political weapon. It's 1994 and we're still surrounded by ancien regime images of glamorous, mainly white, young, thin, lucky-in-love, rich women who, by
- [A MEDITATION ON THE SEA](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-meditation-on-the-sea/) - by Phyllis Chesler When in doubt or trouble, but also in times of joy, I always return to the sea: to put things in perspective. In America, only the elements seem eternal, and as such, afford splendid relief. Elements have the power to transport me out of my self. Perhaps the sea is my Confessional.
- [My Six Months As An Afghan Bride: The Making Of An American Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/my-six-months-as-an-afghan-bride-the-making-of-an-american-feminist/) - by Phyllis Chesler "Do you have elephants in America?" my Afghan mother-in-law asked me in Kabul, in 1961. Beebee Jan, as she was called, was the first wife of my tall and dapper father-in-law, Mohammed. In 1920, Mohammed had backed King Amanullah, who had unveiled the women, opened schools for both boys and girls, and
- [An Update on Aileen Wuornos<br><em>by Phyllis Chesler</em>](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/an-update-on-aileen-wuornosby-phyllis-chesler/) - For the first time in U.S. history, a woman stands accused of being a serial killer - of having killed six adult male motorists, one by one, in just over a year, after accompanying them to wooded areas off Highway 75 in Florida, a state well-known for its sun, surf and serial killers. I first
- [SEX, DEATH AND THE DOUBLE STANDARD Wuornos On Trial](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/sex-death-and-the-double-standard-wuornos-on-trial/) - by Phyllis Chesler Many studies have shown that at least 90 percent of all violent crime and 99 percent of mass and serial murder is committed by men, not women. However, women are not rewarded - no cash, no political power, no freedom from violence - for being "good girls." Perhaps a woman's only reward
- [Little Girl Lost: Early Puberty Hides Environmental Injustice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/little-girl-lost-early-puberty-hides-environmental-injustice/) - by Michelle Chen When a little girl starts growing breasts a year after losing her first baby tooth, her parents probably understand the situation as little as she does. And when it happens to girls across the country, and to many girls growing up in certain neighborhoods but not others, scientists struggle to explain the
- [Can We Choose to Move Forward on Reproductive Justice? -- And How?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/can-we-choose-to-move-forward-on-reproductive-justice-and-how/) - by Ayesha Chatterjee and Judy Norsigian As current staff members at Our Bodies Ourselves (OBOS), an organization that has advanced the health and human rights of women and girls over four decades, and longtime reproductive justice activists, we continue to hope that safe and affordable abortion care will, someday, become a reality for everyone. With increasing
- [Nuclear Revival? Lessons for Women from the Three Mile Island Accident](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/nuclear-revival-lessons-for-women-from-the-three-mile-island-accident/) - by Karen Charman For the first time in several decades, serious attempts are underway to build new nuclear power reactors. The public is told that nuclear power is a clean energy source needed to combat global warming, which is caused by burning coal and other fossil fuels. But as the nuclear disasters unfolding in Japan
- [Common Enemies: LGBT, Abortion Share Foes](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/common-enemies-lgbt-abortion-share-foes/) - by Pam Chamberlain When I was in college, a group of radical women dressed as witches ran around major U.S. cities doing zap actions, placing hexes on male-dominated institutions like Wall Street, the courts, even wedding fairs. I really didn’t get what W.I.T.C.H., or the Women’s International Terrorist Conspiracy from Hell, was trying to say,
- [Intimate Lines: Know thy Clitoris](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/intimate-lines-know-thy-clitoris/) - by Rebecca Chalker The Ancient Greek aphorism, "Know yourself," was inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. Whatever this bit of wisdom applied to in the past, in a certain respect, it applies to sexuality today. The fact that many women have difficulties or dissatisfactions with sex in relationships is widely understood by sex
- [Alright Then, Let Men Compete](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/alright-then-let-men-compete/) - by Megan Carpentier This summer, Hanna Rosin warned readers of The Atlantic that the apocalypse was nigh -- for boys, at least. In an article provocatively titled The End Of Men, Rosin used the increasing preponderance of women in higher education and the low rungs of our recession-impacted workforce (as well as their somewhat disproportionate success at elementary
- [A Feminist’s U-Turn: A Torrid Tale of Disappointment and Discovery](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-feminists-u-turn-a-torrid-tale-of-disappointment-and-discovery/) - by Megan Carpentier When my parents instilled in me the belief that I could do anything a boy could do, I’m not sure they really knew what they were going to get. They probably pictured me playing baseball (I turned to ballet) and taking calculus (I chose car repair), but what they got was a
- [Women Are the Solution, Not the Problem](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009summer/women-are-the-solution-not-the-problem/) - by Talia Carner At a mid-October U.N. session commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo, Egypt, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the international community to commit resources to improve women's health and gender equality. How much has changed since 1994 In 2009, across the globe, women are still positioned
- [Privacy at Stake: Patients, Clinics and Electronic Medical Records](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/privacy-at-stake-patients-clinics-and-electronic-medical-records/) - by Corinne A. Carey Our nation's health care system is in a period of rapid and dramatic change, and the way that our health information is stored and shared is a big part of that transformation. Many healthcare providers are already using electronic health records to store patients' medical information. If your doctor isn't doing
- [Unfurling the Progressive Banner: Where We Are](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/unfurling-the-progressive-banner-where-we-are-2/) - by Leslie Cagan My mind is racing as I begin to address this quite large topic: the state of progressive activism. There is, after all, not a simple activist checklist that we can run down and if there are enough items checked we could declare all is well. We live in a very difficult period:
- [Calling Black LGBTQ Institutions: Where Are You? Where is Reproductive Justice?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/calling-black-lgbtq-institutions-where-are-you-where-is-reproductive-justice/) - by Jasmine Burnett The Black feminist group, the Combahee River Collective, described its beginnings by saying: "It was our experience and disillusionment within these [other] liberation movements, as well as experience on the periphery of the white male left, that led to the need to develop a politics that was anti-racist, unlike those of white women, and
- [Listen Up: UN Must Hear Women on Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/listen-up-un-must-hear-women-on-violence/) - by Charlotte Bunch Violence against women is an issue that has come onto the global agenda from the grassroots level of the women’s movement, that is, from women’s lives and feminist organizing. No issue better illustrates how the women’s movement can and has moved a concern from local women’s spaces to the tables of power.
- [Resilience Circles: Conscious-raising Groups for Tough Economic Times](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/resilience-circles-conscious-raising-groups-for-tough-economic-times/) - By Sarah Byrnes October 20, 2011 Here in the U.S., our economic system is just not working for most Americans. The official unemployment rate is 9.1 percent, costs are rising, savings are diminishing, foreclosures are continuing. Even worse, the future is likely to bring even more challenges. We're facing stronger impacts of climate change and
- [Violence is the Unifying Narrative of Anti-Abortion Chatter](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/violence-is-the-unifying-narrative-of-anti-abortion-chatter/) - By David Burress March 14, 2012 The right-wing anti-abortion movement's every argument against abortion has a coherent pro-violent subtext. There are no exceptions. Does that sound implausible It certainly surprised me. But that's what I found after close reading of internet anti-abortion rhetoric, especially organizational websites and blogs that support criminalization of abortion. I reached
- [Who Owns Sports? Dissecting the Politics of Title IX](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/who-owns-sports-dissecting-the-politics-of-title-ix/) - by Martha Burk Title IX has been a part of our body of law for 40 years, and it has been contested legally and politically almost continuously since it was enacted. Although it applies to all educational programs receiving federal financial assistance, sports programs have drawn the bulk of the political fire. Opponents say that
- [Most Wanted: Meaningful Enforcement in the War Against Domestic Abuse](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/most-wanted-meaningful-enforcement-in-the-war-against-domestic-abuse/) - By Madeline Lee Bryer September 1, 2011 The war against domestic violence is heating up. In a decision released publicly on August 17, 2011, an international human rights tribunal has determined that the U.S. authorities paid insufficient attention to domestic violence and violence against women in violation of the nation's human rights obligations. This ruling,
- [Religious Repugnance Obscures Need for Sex Work Decriminalization](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/religious-repugnance-obscures-need-for-sex-work-decriminalization/) - by Rita Nakashima Brock In the mid-1990s, Asian feminists concerned about the sexual exploitation of children and women and the growing epidemic of HIV/AIDS urged Susan Thistlethwaite and me to write a book about the sex industry. We traveled to six Asian countries and to major cities in the U.S., interviewing sex workers, anti-prostitution activists,
- [Esther Chavez Cano Added Up the Devastation of Gender Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/esther-chavez-cano-added-up-the-devastation-of-gender-violence/) - by Theresa Braine In mid-December 2009, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights condemned Mexico’s handling of the cases of three women who had been murdered in the Mexican border city of Ciudad Juarez. The decision of the judicial arm of the Organization of American States (OAS) was the latest to validate work started by Esther
- [Having Children When You Have HIV – Still a Problem?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/having-children-when-you-have-hiv-still-a-problem/) - by Dr. Ann Boyer When I began working with HIV in the 1980s, women still had a 9 to 30 percent chance of passing it to their babies (depending on whether or not they were adequately treated with AZT). And after they had a child, arrangements needed to be made to assure that continuity of
- [How A Feminist Found Her Sexism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/love/how-a-feminist-found-her-sexismby-helen-boyd/) - by Helen Boyd It’s been a surprise to find out what a sexist I really am. I’ve been calling myself a feminist for two decades, and surely was one for the two decades before that. I’m a woman who found myself with a female husband – the man I married is trans and currently transitioning
- [Teens, Freaks, Outlaws and Alternatives to Suicide](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/teens-freaks-outlaws-and-alternatives-to-suicide/) - by Kate Bornstein Gender rights are often reduced to the rights of women and the rights of men. But over the past 15 yearsby means of postmodern theory, as well as more precise biological confirmationWestern Culture has parsed gender into far more than simply two genders. I wrote the book, Hello, Cruel World, using gender as a
- [OPEN DRAG NIGHT AT THE OUTPOST LOUNGE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/open-drag-night-at-the-outpost-lounge/) - by Angela Bonavoglia On a sizzling summer night, I head to the Outpost Lounge in Brooklyn to Switch N' Play's Open Drag Night to watch gender-based performances, mainly by drag kingswho I'd never heard of before this year. I'm greeted at the door by Ellen Vas. I've worked with Ellen and known her as a smart, quick,
- [Of Victims And Vixens--The Feminist Clash Over Prostitution](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/of-victims-and-vixens-the-feminist-clash-over-prostitution/) - by Angela Bonavoglia In the wake of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s stunning fall from grace in March 2008 for spending some $80,000 on call girls, prostitution has come way out of the closet. NBC News brought us self-proclaimed “ho-fessional” Brooke Taylor of Nevada’s Moonlite Bunny Ranch, in a web extra, promoting her work and
- [Women Challenge Gender Apartheid in the Catholic Church](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/women-challenge-gender-apartheid-in-the-catholic-church/) - by Angela Bonavoglia If ever there were doubt about the relationship between the Catholic Church's spectacular failure to address the clerical child sex abuse crisis and the church's glaring system of gender apartheid, the Vatican put it to rest in July. Engendering a firestorm of criticism, their new canonical guidelines for handling and punishing the
- [What is a Woman Worth? The Global Story is the Feminization of a Pandemic](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/what-is-a-woman-worth-the-global-story-is-the-feminization-of-a-pandemic/) - by Marcy Bloom What is a woman worth? HIV infections among women and girls have risen in every part of the world in recent years. The numbers point to a fundamental and startling reality—the HIV/AIDS pandemic is inextricably linked to the brutal effects of sexism and gender inequality, most pronounced in Africa. Consider these statistics: The
- [Health Inequality: Gates Foundation Bans Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/health-inequality-gates-foundation-bans-abortion/) - by Marcy Bloom Melinda French Gates, philanthropist, co-founder and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was greeted with great applause on the first day of the Women Deliver conference in Washington, D.C. earlier this summer. But the hand clapping was temporary. As a reproductive health advocate, I was not the only one who
- [Good Girls, Bad Girls: The Kinkiness of Slut-Shaming](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/good-girls-bad-girls-the-kinkiness-of-slut-shaming/) - by Elizabeth Black When I was in college, I was slut-shamed. On the one hand, I was encouraged to save myself for marriage, but, on the other hand, men and women were urged to enjoy their sexuality. I wasn't interested in settling down with one guy; I wanted to date as many guys as possible
- [Mother Nature Gets Naughty: Eco-Friendly Sex Toys](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/mother-nature-gets-naughty-eco-friendly-sex-toys/) - by Elizabeth Black I am a copywriter for a sex toys company in England, and, for several years, I've written articles reviewing new products for American and English sex toys company magazines. Consumers today are demanding that manufacturers make sex toys from healthier materials, and now companies are beginning to respond. The problem with sex
- [Enemies and Heroes: A Memoir of Two Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/enemies-and-heroes-a-memoir-of-two-women/) - by Resa Crane Bizzaro If I ask my students to write about someone they admire, chances are they'll write about their mothers, grandmothers, or great-grandmothers. They tell stories of life and death, and they often comment upon how these women sacrificed for children and grandchildren. But if I had the same assignment, I don't know
- [Teens and Indian Health Service: Saving Both](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/teens-and-indian-health-service-saving-both/) - by Resa Crane Bizzaro Over the years, much of my writing has been in response to news articles. Among stories about Native Americans that have spurred me to write essays is an Associated Press story of another sort: disturbing statistics indicating the attitudes of teenagers about their future lives. After I saw the story in the
- [Academic Feminisms: Gaining or Losing Ground?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/academic-feminisms-gaining-or-losing-ground/) - by Resa Crane Bizzaro February 23, 2011 When I first thought about writing this essay, I was a little afraid of what I might say -- and who might read it. From my perspective as a woman in higher education, I've seen many changes over the years. For instance, since the advent of the feminist
- [Twisted Treaty Shafts U.S. Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/twisted-treaty-shafts-u-s-women/) - by Janet Benshoof American women need legal tools to fight patriarchy. Women outside of the U.S. are pushing for and getting far reaching gender equality guarantees, albeit appallingly unenforced, that put American constitutional guarantees to shame. This is a revolution we can join. A revolution in the structure of legal guarantees to gender equality in the
- [Justice for Aung San Suu Kyi: End Male Power Structures](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/justice-for-aung-san-suu-kyi-end-male-power-structures/) - by Janet Benshoof Aung San Suu Kyi’s unwavering commitment to a nonviolent path to democracy in Burma, and her decades-long detention have made her a global icon. But true justice for Aung San Suu Kyi requires dismantling the male power structures, as well as addressing her situation and that of the people in Burma. Women
- [Lady-Parts, The Church and Planned Parenthood](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/lady-parts-the-church-and-planned-parenthood/) - By Sara Benincasa February 9, 2012 I'm a comedian, not a scientist or another type of professional smart person, so I have a limited understanding of that which occurs at the microscopic level inside my lady-parts. However, I did once have a job at Planned Parenthood Federation of America for six weeks, which taught me
- [Why I Wrote A War Novel](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/why-i-wrote-a-war-novel/) - By Helen Benedict August 3, 2011 In 2006, when I discovered that more women were serving and fighting in the Iraq War than in all past American wars put together, I wanted to know why: why they had joined, why they went to war, and what was it like to be a woman in combat.
- ["Earth to Natalie:" One Teacher and Integration in Nashville](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/earth-to-natalie-one-teacher-and-integration-in-nashville/) - by Natalie Bell By the early 1970s, nearly 20 years after the U.S. Supreme Court had found segregated schools to be inherently unequal, little had been done to voluntarily integrate in the South. Forced to take action, many districts began literally shipping black and white kids into schools once divided by race. So-called busing represented
- [Exclusive: Women of Color Push Boundaries on Reproductive Justice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/exclusive-women-of-color-push-boundaries-on-reproductive-justice/) - by Natalie Bell Women of color increasingly feel empowered and emboldened to defend their rights to make healthy decisions about their bodies. This sentiment was in clear evidence at the fifth national membership meeting of the SisterSong Women of Color Reproductive Justice Collective in Washington, D.C. in early November, as participants not only talked the talk, but
- [The Down Low Effect](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-down-low-effect/) - By Natalie Bell There is another side to the stories that occasionally break out into the public, such as with former New Jersey governor Jim McGreevey, but more typically only get whispered about among trusted friends or family. McGreevey, married with two children, admitted having an extramarital affair with a man in 2004, announced he
- [With the Understanding of Gandhi, Aminatou Put Her Life on the Line](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/with-the-understanding-of-gandhi-aminatou-put-her-life-on-the-line/) - by Barbara Becker When I was in college, I had a small book of questions meant to serve as conversation starters for social gatherings. There was one question in particular that I had no idea how to answer, and not having a response seemed to indicate some form of personal shortcoming in my young and
- [Dispatches from the Road: A Travelogue of True Stories](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/dispatches-from-the-road-a-travelogue-of-true-stories/) - by Barbara Becker Two decades ago, an encounter with a now-famous global trailblazer helped point me on a path of international travel from which I’ve never looked back. The lessons I’ve learned on the road have informed my career choice, my activism, and even my willingness to be open to perfect strangers. Recently I began
- [Student Think Tank](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/student-think-tank/) - Student Think Tank is a new feature of On The Issues Magazine to host and include the writings of students on feminist and progressive topics. Professors and students frequently contact On The Issues Magazine about their coursework use of material from the magazine. Since we aim to increase the level of discussion on feminist and progressive topics, we always welcome
- [The Populist Movement Reborn, At Last, In Occupy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/the-populist-movement-reborn-at-last-in-occupy/) - By Rosalyn Baxandall October 14, 2011 At last the 99 percent are shaming them: "This is not a Recession; It's Robbery," one sign read in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Usually U.S. social movements occur every 30 years: the 1900s, the 1930s, the 1960s. Even with the longest war in history against Afghanistan, and wars
- [Filming to Shatter the Stigma](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/filming-to-shatter-the-stigma/) - by Jennifer Baumgardner I was finishing a writing and film project breaking through the contemporary silences about abortion experiences when a photographer acquaintance said, "You know what else is a common secret Rape." I knew she was right. The goal of the abortion project, I Had An Abortion had been to encourage people to "come out" about
- [We're Not Sorry. Still.](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/were-not-sorry-still/) - by Jennifer Baumgardner Just over eight years ago, I decided to make a T-shirt that said "I had an abortion." It was not just a shirt, but a campaign -- I wanted to find ways for women to have the space to say, "I had an abortion and you know what? I'm not sorry. I
- [Naked Truth: Reality and Fantasy Are (Stripper) Poles Apart](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/naked-truth-reality-and-fantasy-are-stripper-poles-apart/) - by Bernadette Barton Every semester I assign my undergraduate students in my gender and sexuality courses a class project on the media. They bring examples of music videos, television shows, commercials and MySpace pages to class and analyze the content for what it tells us about inequality in our society. If you’ve been watching any
- [Equally Expendable: Looking at Men and War through a Feminist Paradigm](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010summer/equally-expendable-looking-at-men-and-war-through-a-feminist-paradigm/) - by Kathleen Barry I had not planned to write a book on masculinity and war. But following the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 2006 with daily reports for a month of "loss of innocent lives," that term haunted me. "If we agree that it is wrong to kill civilians in war, then there must be
- [My Feminist Action: Locating Sex in Sexual Harassment and Rape](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/my-feminist-action-locating-sex-in-sexual-harassment-and-rape/) - by Kathleen Barry November 16, 2011 Here we go again! Last week Mother Jones published an article, "Herman Cain's Sexual Harassment Scandal Isn't About Sex." The claim that rape, sexual harassment, sexual abuse are NOT sex -- they are power is not new. But this Mother Jones article is more blatant than most in that it asserts that the harassment is
- [Fighting Prostitution at the Expense of Slavery: The 2007 Federal Law](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/fighting-prostitution-at-the-expense-of-slavery-the-2007-federal-law/) - By Melynda H. Barnhart Feminist debates about sex work, prostitution, and sex trafficking raged long before the debate was enshrined in federal law through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 -- referred to as TVPA. When “trafficking” is at issue, feminists tend to fall into two camps. Anti-slavery feminists focus on the human rights
- [Putting Money Where Our Causes Are](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/putting-money-where-our-causes-are/) - by Marion Banzhaf What can feminists expect, or demand, from foundations in the coming years? Foundations lost approximately 30 percent of their assets in 2008, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and the bottom is probably not yet here. Competition is going to be fiercer than ever, and the demand for essential services will increase so dramatically
- [Curious Tension: Feminism and the Sporting Woman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/curious-tension-feminism-and-the-sporting-woman/) - by Susan J. Bandy As a former athlete and a graduate student in Sports Studies, I embraced feminism in the 1970s. It seemed to be a natural alliance because I had experienced sports as personally liberating and felt that it offered females the possibility to become accomplished athletes, develop strong and healthy bodies, and defy
- [Defeating Racism and Sexism with the Politics of Authenticity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/defeating-racism-and-sexism-with-the-politics-of-authenticity/) - by Lu Bailey I've always been interested in the media's impact on public policy as well as the media's role in depicting women and people of color. Although we live in the Age of Obama, Clinton and Sotomayor, one glance at a movie or TV program, and you start to wonder about the real and
- [Dirty Down There: The Selling of "Feminine" Products](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/dirty-down-there-the-selling-of-feminine-products/) - By Lu Bailey April 12, 2011 Several years ago, I attended a workshop about the history of douching. The topic was very intriguing to me. In fact, the young lady who presented the workshop used part of her dissertation as the foundation for her presentation. She mentioned that she was given a full scholarship to
- [Put Self-Objectification Under Wraps](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/put-self-objectification-under-wraps/) - By Lu Bailey I am saddened by today's pop-culture version of feminism, and especially by the number of women who have embraced a new definition of feminism. Instead of seeing feminism as ensuring that all females have the right and opportunity to exercise their human capacity, many subscribe to the notion that being a free
- [Cheering or Being Cheered? My Daughter's Cheerleading Adventure](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/cheering-or-being-cheered-my-daughters-cheerleading-adventure/) - by Lu Bailey This year, my 10 year-old told me that she wanted to try out for the cheerleading squad at her elementary school. First of all, is there really a competition to “make the team” at 10-years-old? The answer is a resounding YES! So, off we went to cheerleading practice and later to countless
- [Republicans Aim to ‘Divide and Conquer’](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/republicans-aim-to-divide-and-conquer/) - by Lu Bailey There’s something very peculiar about what has happened in American politics during the last election cycle. The Republican party has tried to convince the nation that it has turned into the party that advances the agenda of women and African Americans and other minorities. At the same time, conservatives used race (the
- [Beginning with the Children: To Teach Peace](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/beginning-with-the-children-to-teach-peace/) - by Eleanor J. Bader It is the third week of classes at P.S. 130, The Parkside School in Brooklyn, New York. A group of fourth graders sits on the floor, watching five others — a mix of nine and 10-year-olds from other classes in the school — take seats in front of the room. Emma
- [To Halt Emotional Abuse, French Law Teaches Bullies A Lesson](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/to-halt-emotional-abuse-french-law-teaches-bullies-a-lesson/) - by Eleanor Bader When I was growing up, my father had two favorite words, ignoramus and moron. He hurled them at my mother for any-and-all perceived infractions: A broken glass, over or-under cooked food, or a misplaced paper. I heard them too-for tearing my pants after falling off my bike, getting a B on a
- [Activists Boost Female Health Empowerment](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/activists-boost-female-health-empowerment/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Our Bodies, Ourselves started with a small group of strangers talking to one another at a women's liberation conference. Now, nearly 40 years later -- that milestone will be reached in December 2010 – Our Bodies, Ourselves, located in Boston, has become a world-renowned resource on every aspect of women's health, from
- [Trans Health Care Is A Life and Death Matter](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/trans-health-care-is-a-life-and-death-matter/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Robert Eads was visiting friends in the late 1990s when he woke up in a pool of blood. His terrified hosts quickly began calling hospitals, clinics, and private physicians, explaining that Robert was a partially-transitioned female-to-male transsexual and demanding an immediate appointment. The request was repeatedly rebuffed. By the time Eads found physicians
- [Anti-Abortion Terror Tactics Take A Toll](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/anti-abortion-terror-tactics-take-a-toll/) - by Eleanor J. Bader To the anti-abortion movement, standing outside clinic doors and bellowing at patients and staff that they are murderers and whores is simply an effort to “stop the war against America’s children.” Like most wars, this one has included a host of tactics, from picket lines to blockades, and has gone so
- [Heather Ault: Visualizing 4000 Years of Choice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011fall/heather-ault-visualizing-4000-years-of-choice/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Growing up, 39-year-old activist artist Heather Ault never imagined that people had been trying to control their fertility for more than 4000 years. The Grosse Pointe, Michigan native says that she simply assumed that contraception was a recent phenomenon and that prior to Roe v. Wade, abortion in the United States had
- [War Resisters Inject Truth into Military Recruitment](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/war-resisters-inject-truth-into-military-recruitment/) - by Eleanor J. Bader The setting changes but the scene does not: Men and women in crisply pressed uniforms enter public high schools across the country and cajole the teenagers they meet into signing on the dotted line to serve Uncle Sam. Thanks to Section 9528 of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002, recruiters
- [Snipping Pink Sentimentality: Persisting on the Whys of Breast Cancer](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/snipping-pink-sentimentality-persisting-on-the-whys-of-breast-cancer/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Three years ago, The International Journal of Chemistry published an article positing Biphenyl-A, or BPA, as a primary culprit in the breast cancer epidemic of the past 50 years. The report sounded an alarm because BPA has not only been used to make plastic and epoxy resins, but has become embedded in American life, found
- [Anti-Abortion Harassment and Violence Still Stifle Access](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/anti-abortion-harassment-and-violence-still-stifle-access/) - by Eleanor J. Bader When retired clinic owner Patricia Baird-Windle contacted me in 1998 and invited me to collaborate with her on a book about anti-abortion violence in the U.S. and Canada, the challenge was daunting and the task enormous. Six people had already been murdered: James Barrett, Dr. John Bayard Britton, Dr. David Gunn,
- [Snood by Snood, Tight-Knit Orthodox Piety Loosens Up](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/snood-by-snood-tight-knit-orthodox-piety-loosens-up-2/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Inside insular religious communities in the U.S. women are quietly, and sometimes covertly, rolling back limitations on women's equal participation in society, setting examples for their offspring and inspiring change at a local level. Religiously observant women in Muslim and Orthodox Jewish communities are becoming engines of small business. Their reasoning?
- [Bodies in Motion: Physical Females Face Different Risks](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/bodies-in-motion-physical-females-face-different-risks/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Prior to the 1960s, women and girls heard a steady banter when it came to sports: Don’t participate. Of course, not everyone listened and those who insisted on taking part were warned to tread lightly lest the running, throwing, jumping and lifting irreparably harm their bodies and interfere with their ability
- ['Feminists for Life': A built-in contradiction?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/feminists-for-life-a-built-in-contradiction/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Sarah Palin, on the vice-presidential campaign trail in 2008, raised the profile of a previously obscure anti-abortion group, Feminists for Life, by announcing that she herself was a FFL member. The group did not return the favor by endorsing Palin or the Republican ticket, but the group's new prominence reignited debate
- [Women with AIDS: Off the Radar Screen](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/women-with-aids-off-the-radar-screen/) - By Janine Avril I feel for all women with AIDS, but my heart goes out to women like my mother who have lived, suffered and died with it secretly, perhaps without even naming it AIDS to themselves. Sixteen years after my mother's death, there is a huge and unfulfilling gap between my own questions and
- [Lady Gaga: Celebrity Feminist?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/lady-gaga-celebrity-feminist/) - by Nona Willis Aronowitz This past summer, I found myself in Chicago's Grant Park amid a sea of zealots. They were pushing and laughing, or cheering with their eyes squeezed closed in ecstasy. They were wearing t-shirts that said things like "He ate my heart" and "Just dance," body paint smeared with sweat in the
- [Being A Jane: Past, Present, and Future Tense](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/being-a-jane-past-present-and-future-tense/) - By Judith Arcana February 16, 2012 Im a Jane. Another Jane said when she heard me use the past tense a few years ago No. Once a Jane, always a Jane; its not something that passes. We are Janes. Immediately, I knew she was right. Ive been dealing with abortion, one way or another, since October,
- [Grace Paley's True North: Justice in Writing and Action](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/grace-paleys-true-north-justice-in-writing-and-action/) - by Judith Arcana I've been thinking about Grace Paley, the late activist and writer, in relation to this theme of "women fighting for freedom and justice, even when it puts them at risk or imperils their lives." Grace Paley, who died in August of 2007, was one of the great masters of the short story form; she
- [Safeguarding the Rights of Prostituted Women On the Frontlines of a Global Grassroots Movement](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/safeguarding-the-rights-of-prostituted-women-on-the-frontlines-of-a-global-grassroots-movement/) - By Lakshmi Anantnarayan The great divide in the women’s movement on the subject of prostitution has been well-documented and even sensationalized by the media. What we seldom hear about is the common ground we all share - a deep understanding of the abuse and discrimination that women in prostitution face everyday by the law enforcement
- [My Body, My Story: In Memory of Dr. Tiller](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/my-body-my-story-in-memory-of-dr-tiller/) - By Judy Gumbo Alpert I am one of the 45 million American women who's had an abortion. But I wouldn't criticize any woman for dealing with her unintended pregnancy differently than I did. It is, after all, your choice. In the spring of 1972 I was young, single, and a leader of the Yippies, a
- [The Terror of Loving and Losing](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/uncategorized/the-terror-of-loving-and-losing/) - by Cathy Albisa When gender and poverty intersect, the failure to protect economic and social rights gives rise to the possibility of real terror. The first thing that comes to mind for many people when asked how economic issues might create terror for women is the risk that women face of violence when economically vulnerable,
- [Fighting to Gratify a Sex Instinct? War Attitudes Vary by Gender](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/fighting-to-gratify-a-sex-instinct-war-attitudes-vary-by-gender/) - By Lori Adelman In her influential 1938 essay "Three Guineas," Virginia Woolf portrayed war as an expression of male power and self-interest. "If you insist upon fighting to protect me, or ‘our' country," she warned, "let it be understood soberly and rationally between us that you are fighting to gratify a sex instinct which I cannot
- [Occupying the Waiting Room: 40 Years of Health Care Needs](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/occupying-the-waiting-room-40-years-of-health-care-needs/) - by Lori Adelman In 1970, something electrifying filled the air in New York. Feminist organizing was in high gear. Betty Friedan planned a march and rally to mark the 50th anniversary of women's right to vote in August, called the New York City Women's Strike for Equality. Two years earlier in 1968, the New York Radical
- [Terrorizing the Loved Pets of Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/terrorizing-the-loved-pets-of-women/) - by Carol J. Adams Several years ago, for one week’s time, I was a circuit rider working against domestic violence. I traveled from county to county throughout a western portion of a Northeastern state, training 1,000 clergy about battering and proper pastoral responses. I wept from all I heard: pastors advising women to return home,
- [Abortion's silent constituency](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hoffman-merle/abortions-silent-constituency-2/) - by Merle Hoffman She must have been in her mid-40s. The lines and depressions in her face testified to a life that had not been easy to live, or comfortable to live with. Her clothes -non descript. Heroine of the working class. Her hands filled with pictures of bloody images ("Hail Mary, full of grace").
- [On The Issues](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1985vol5/on-the-issues/) - by Merle Hoffman In the cheaper stores, it's much more obvious - Sometimes there's a big sign announcing that everything on the rack is $19.95. Usually the tag is brightly colored, not difficult to see. When you move up - Bendel's. Bergdorf's - it's a little more subtle - Sometimes hidden in the sleeve or
- [A CONVERSATION: The Rev. Beatrice Blair and Merle Hoffman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1985vol5/a-conversation-the-rev-beatrice-blair-and-merle-hoffman/) - by Merle Hoffman The Rev. Beatrice Blair has served as Executive Director of National NARAL and as chair of its Board. She presently chairs the Board of New York State NARAL and the Policy Council of New York Metropolitan Religious Coalition for Abortion Rights. An Episcopal priest, she serves on the staff of St. Mark's
- [FLO KENNEDY and IRENE DAVALL: Forever Activists](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1985vol5/flo-kennedy-and-irene-davall-forever-activists-2/) - by Merle Hoffman With Volume V, On the Issues is pleased to welcome two contributing editors: Florence Kennedy and Irene Davall, long time activists in both the civil rights and women's movements. In 1971, they were instrumental in founding the Feminist Party, a national but informal organization still in existence, that works for women's equality
- [American Fantasies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1989vol11/american-fantasies-2/) - I am going to miss Ronald Reagan. Miss him in places of personal history and political passion. Miss him in a very special way because of the unique place he holds in my life, both objectively and in comparison to other men in the public arena who have entered uninvited to mine. I remember the
- [ABORTION - THE "ISSUE"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1989vol12/abortion-the-issue/) - It seemed to have happened quietly, quickly, very subtly. It was there, overshadowing everything else, demanding immediate attention - The funny part about it was that thing had always been there -always a reality, but hanging in the shadows -part of the generalized white noise of the collective unconsciousness; something you had to make a
- [More than a Woman's Issue](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1989vol13/more-than-a-womans-issue/) - by Merle Hoffman "I love your enemies because they drive you to my arms for comfort" -Edna St. Vincent Millay - 1941 I was very young when I read that sonnet - when those words arrested me with the power of their insight. With similar shattering clarity, the recent Supreme Court's decision allowing the states
- [Body Ethics](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/earth/body-ethics/) - by Merle Hoffman The symptoms arrived a few years ago. At first I experienced them as a generalized discomfort, amorphous and confused, but they got progressively worse, escalating into a pervasive feeling of sickening dread. I searched for answers in the traditional landscapes of medicine, neurology, psychiatry. Finding no organic source, I turned to philosophy
- [Editorial: Arlene Pfeiffer](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1990spring/editorial-arlene-pfeiffer/) - It was 1984, and Ronald Reagan was in the fourth year of his presidency. The country was awash in the mythology of patriotism and family values, and Arlene Pfeiffer met reality head on. It wasn't that she was stupid or in any way naive. Perhaps she thought that in some unexplainable way she was exempt,
- [A Discussion with Liz Holtzman and Alice Vachss](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1994summer/a-discussion-with-liz-holtzman-and-alice-vachss/) - by Merle Hoffman Why haven't candidates, especially, women candidates, made violence against women - and specifically rape - a central issue in election campaigns? And how can women's groups formulate a political agenda to attack the problem? To find out, the editors of ON THE ISSUES invited two well known prosecutors of rape cases to
- [Not Just Another Packwood Story](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1994winter/not-just-another-packwood-story/) - by Merle Hoffman All told 1985 was not an unusually dangerous year. There had been a rash of fire bombings at abortion clinics, a physician had been kidnapped, and my secretary was attending a course with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms to teach her how to correctly open my mail so that she
- [Abortion Providers: The New "Communists"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1995summer/abortion-providers-the-new-communists/) - by Merle Hoffman I KNEW THAT THINGS HAD CHANGED WHEN I WAS HANDED a button that read "I'm Pro-Choice and I shoot back" at a recent abortion-providers conference in Washington, D.C. I also learned that a physician in Nevada had built a million-dollar clinic outfitted with strategic military defense protection and six .357 magnums. He
- [Poetry Redux](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1998fall/poetry-redux/) - by Merle Hoffmnan I had gone to bed in my habitual way -- very late, with some difficulty, the muted sounds of C-Span droning in the background. Hours after, dazed with sleep, I heard it. Something about the grass being "the handkerchief of the Lord." The metaphor was so arresting that I was unsure whether
- [The Love of Strangers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hoffman-merle/the-love-of-strangers/) - by Merle Hoffman "Patient #4 in recovery was moved by your work and wants to see you." When my assistant's email came through, I was in the middle of a meeting in my office. Excusing myself, I put on the white coat I always keep hanging on the back of my chair and went up
- [The Greening of the World: An Exclusive Interview with Petra Kelly, Founder of the West German Green Party and Anti Nuclear Activist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/earth/the-greening-of-the-worldan-exclusive-interview-with-petra-kelly-founder-of-the-west-german-green-party-and-anti-nuclear-activist/) - by Merle Hoffman MH: How did you achieve your level of political consciousness and activism? PK: One of my mottos is that "The personal is the political, and the political is the personal." It started rather early when I left Germany after being in a Catholic convent in Bavaria. At age 131 came to the United States
- [Medical E.R.A.](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/medical-e-r-a/) - by Merle Hoffman It was Mother's Day and the son of William Schroeder was responding to repeated questions on David Brinkley's television show "This Week." Specifically, how he dealt with competing press information regarding his father's daily condition which at one point, was described as being both much better and much worse at the same
- [Politicized by Henry Hyde](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/politicized-by-henry-hyde/) - by Merle Hoffman I remember it distinctly the point in time when I became political: it was summer, 1976, and the smells and sounds of a country morning kept me in bed a little longer than usual... monotonic radio voices intruded. Something about Henry Hyde and abortion. Now I was all ears. Republican Congressman Henry
- [Abortion's silent constituency](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/abortions-silent-constituency/) - by Merle Hoffman She must have been in her mid-40s. The lines and depressions in her face testified to a life that had not been easy to live, or comfortable to live with. Her clothes -non descript. Heroine of the working class. Her hands filled with pictures of bloody images ("Hail Mary, full of grace").
- [Quiet Heroines](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/quiet-heroines/) - by Merle Hoffman November, 1985 did not come quietly for me. It was a month of immersion in violence and conferences. It was also a month for Quiet Heroines. The first two days find me in Amherst, Massachusetts at the First Annual Nursing Conference on Violence Against Women" presenting a workshop on Abortion: The Politics
- [Where are the Troops?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/where-are-the-troops/) - by Merle Hoffman The question came at me from left field. It was raining, cold and very early in the morning. I was standing behind a police barricade on East 85th Street in New York City with 50 other pro-choice activists. We were counter demonstrating against "Operation Rescue", the recent right wing evangelical invasion of
- [Two Faces of Motherhood](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/two-faces-of-motherhood/) - by Merle Hoffman It was the pots and pans that finally activated me. I had followed the case for days in the media with a somewhat distant intellectual curiosity, but then I read that a psychiatrist had testified that Mary Beth Whitehead was an unfit mother because she gave her child stuffed pandas to play
- [The New Crusaders](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-new-crusaders/) - by Merle Hoffman have always worn a lot of black, even when it was out of fashion. Perhaps it was my flair for the dramatic or tendencies towards romanticism. Perhaps it was because black always seemed so strong, so direct, so in control ... so basic. Whatever the underlying psychological reasons, black is definitely one
- [Marriage As Realpolitik](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/love/marriage-as-realpolitik/) - by MERLE HOFFMAN Elizabeth I had a proper perspective on political marriage. Having seen both her mother and her stepmother beheaded by her father, Henry VIII, for political expediency before she was 10, she wisely decided to live and die the "Virgin Queen." Elizabeth's personal history taught her that a politically powerful woman could be
- [Compassion and Consistency](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/earth/compassion-and-consistency/) - by Merle Hoffman I have always had a problem with a style of consistency that demands seeing things in black and white holding the line for political purity. The kind that the Catholic left preaches, a "seamless ethic of life" (argued most clearly by Joseph P. Cardinal Bernardin) which states that those who oppose nuclear
- [Tragedy, American-Style](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/tragedy-american-style/) - by Merle Hoffman For in other ways, a woman Is full of fear, defenseless, dreads the sight of cold Steel; but, when once she is wronged in the matter of love, No other soul can hold so many thoughts of blood. --Medea, 431 B.C. I was in love with someone very much, but he didn't
- [Living in a land of Sexual Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/living-in-a-land-of-sexual-violence/) - by Merle Hoffman I have an old friend who lives in North Miami. She's bright, solidly middle class, married and a mother. She also carries a .38 with blanks in the glove compartment of her car. The thing she wanted most as a birthday present was a "Police Zapper," described in the Spy Shop International
- [IRAN: Notes from the Interior](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/iran-notes-from-the-interior/) - by Merle Hoffman You're going where? The insistent questioning by family and friends reverberated in my head as I flew over the blackness of the Bosphorus, the sky brilliant with stars.. Traveling to Iran in the fall of last year, I journeyed much farther than anticipated. Media sound bytes and commentary defined my expectations: The fatwa
- [Warrior Healers of South Africa](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/warrior-healers-of-south-africa/) - by Merle Hoffman In March of 1997 I traveled to South Africa, intellectually knowing what to expect, but not expecting what I would feel once I arrived there. I had read a great deal about the obscene history of apartheid; the media images of the townships and of Soweto's agony were burned into my consciousness.
- [Survivors](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/survivors/) - by Merle Hoffman Iam a child of the holocaust, a survivor of sorts, a kind of surrogate sufferer. I have never smelled the burning flesh or felt the pain of my kidneys close to bursting -my legs turned to leadened fatigue as I stood crushed against others in the trains bound for Auschwitz or Treblinka
- ["I Am Against Fanatics": A Dialogue Between Elie Wiesel and Merle Hoffman on Abortion, Love and the Holocaust](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/i-am-against-fanatics-a-dialogue-between-elie-wiesel-and-merle-hoffman-on-abortion-love-and-the-holocaust/) - The first time I heard it was in Detroit in 1982. The words shot out at me like bullets, creating an immediate mental image that could not be shared. I had just finished responding to Jerry Falwell on national television. He had asked me how I would feel "meeting my maker with the blood of
- [Death takes the Stage](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/death-takes-the-stage/) - by Merle Hoffman Nothing focuses the mind like the prospect of death. Contemplating the cessation of being immediately changes priorities. Always the sleeping giant on the stage, death suddenly assumes the spotlight as the rest of reality recedes into soft focus. La Rochefoucauld said that death, like the sun, should not be stared at. But
- [Isn't It Enough to Make You Scream?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/isnt-it-enough-to-make-you-scream/) - by Merle Hoffman Ihave this fantasy. It's a variation on that wonderful scene in the movie "Network," when the eccentric, somewhat mad character played by Peter Finch attempts to wake the slumbering masses from their television caused stupor and into revolution. He opens his apartment window and screams: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not
- [Choices: The Road Not Taken](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/choices-the-road-not-taken/) - by Merle Hoffman Ionce attended a small social gathering which included a woman who professed great skill in analyzing people through calculating the numbers in their names. Not one to ever really believe much in the "occult," yet always profoundly interested in anything concerning myself, I immediately asked her to read my numerological chart. After
- [Sex after the fall](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/sex-after-the-fall/) - by Merle Hoffman In some ways my personal and political ties with Russia seem to have an uncanny quality -almost like destiny. The ties began with CHOICES, the women's medical center I founded in 1971. and around which I've built my life and work. In the 1980s, as the immigration policies of the Soviet Union eased, masses of Russian emigrees found
- [Praise the lord and kill the doctor](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/praise-the-lord-and-kill-the-doctor/) - by Merle Hoffman Question: What would you do if you found yourself in a room with Hitler, Mussolini, and an abortionist, and you had a gun with only two bullets? Answer: Shoot the abortionist twice." (From Bottom Feeder, an anti-abortion cartoon book) Just for good measure, Dr. David Gunn was shot three times in the
- [High Noon in Moscow](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/high-noon-in-moscow/) - by Merle Hoffman Somewhere in the course of planning my latest journey to Russia I lost my fear of flying. It left me suddenly, without fanfare or notice. I simply came to the conclusion that fear of flying was an inappropriate phobia for a pioneer. And, so it was with great excitement and a sense
- [Heroism: Theory and Practice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/heroism-theory-and-practice/) - by Merle Hoffman By nature, I am a romantic and have had warrior fantasies since my early adolescence. Surrounding myself with images of heroic battles, I enjoyed the luxury of believing that reality came in black and whiter— good or evil. I was Elizabeth I on her white horse at Tilbury, rousing her troops to
- [Trojan Horses](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/trojan-horses/) - by Merle Hoffman M E R L E H O F F M A N | O N T H E I S S U E S It is a fact that some people find Jesus in the strangest of places -- he seems to relish coming in chance epiphanies, catching them unexpected and amazed. So
- [Fatal Denial?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/fatal-denial/) - by Merle Hoffman The tragic case of Amy Grossberg and Brian Peterson It was just another baby in the garbage, tossed away with the other leftovers of a gluttonous society. Another baby, wrapped in plastic, that quintessential American product, postmodern version of swaddling clothes -- soft, malleable, enfolding the contours of little arms and legs
- [27 Years, but Who's Counting? Thoughts on yet another Roe v. Wade](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/27-years-but-whos-counting-thoughts-on-yet-another-roe-v-wade/) - by Merle Hoffman For the first time, women were in control of patient referrals and clinics, while physicians were brought down from their godlike pedestals to function as employees of women-owned and feminist-run medical centers. I used to celebrate it differently -- very differently. I remember one January in particular in New York City's Bryant
- [Facing the Dragon: Reflections on Female Heroism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/facing-the-dragon-reflections-on-female-heroism/) - by Merle Hoffman In a world with no more Wests to conquer or empires to build, where risk-taking comes packaged as adventure vacations, what becomes of the concept of the heroic -- and how, if at all, do women fit it? These questions filled my mind when I contemplated the terrifying danger and death that
- [Peak Experience](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/peak-experience/) - by Merle Hoffman Everest -- avatar of the Himalayas.Everest -- whom the Nepalese call Sagamartha and the Tibetans call Chomolungma "Great Mother Goddess of the Earth."The coldness - starkness - eminent loneliness of the thing.Rising in self-contained purity, its summit draped in a constant cloud like some diaphanous shawl -- worn with a bit of
- [The Text behind that Cover Girl Smile](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-text-behind-that-cover-girl-smile/) - by Merle Hoffman In the morning that I would be posing for photographers for an upcoming profile in Lears magazine I of course dressed myself with more than my customary attention to detail. The issue of what to wear -slacks suit or dress, basic black or color, what color, how to do the makeup, the
- [First Ladies, Second Sex](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/first-ladies-second-sex/) - by Merle Hoffman It was one of those defining moments: I am watching the finals of the Miss USA pageant and the tension is palpable. Dick Clark reaches into the large glass fish bowl and chooses the question, the answer to which will decide the winner from the six semifinalists. Miss Kentucky is up her
- [Is Being Female a Birth Defect?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/is-being-female-a-birth-defect/) - by Merle Hoffman rowing up in Philadelphia in the 1950s was a special kind of wasteland. a time when one's worth and acceptance as a female was measured by the width of a hooped crinoline skirt, when "soul" kissing branded you a sexual outlaw and when little girls' dreams had well defined limits and barriers.
- [America's Most Dangerous Woman?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/americas-most-dangerous-woman/) - by Merle Hoffman "It was the prison that had proved the best school. A more painful, but a more vital, school. Here I had been brought close to the depths and complexities of the human soul; here I had found ugliness and beauty, meanness and generosity. The prison had been the crucible that tested my
- [Replacing PROZAC with PLATO](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/replacing-prozac-with-plato/) - by Merle Hoffman THE NEW PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELINGInterview with Lou Marinoff by Merle Hoffman Call me elitist, but I have always agreed with Socrates that the unexamined life is not worth living. The profound question "How shall I live?" is one that I am always in the process of answering for myself. I don't think I
- [What's a Feminist to Do?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/whats-a-feminist-to-do/) - by Merle Hoffman No passionate love letters, no dark night of the soul; just a demand to kiss it -- not even to kiss ME. I have never liked Bill Clinton. I voted for him in 1992 primarily because of the abortion issue. I remember my revulsion when I learned that, during the 1992 presidential
- [A Poem about Bella: "Under the Big Hat"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/a-poem-about-bella-under-the-big-hat/) - by Claire Reed flamboyant, Bella strides,stumps, marches, a lightening rod,raucous, rallying the troops, fierce, intense, prodding hard,under the big hat, an inner spirit reigns,exhilerated by music, by songs, stroked by Nature's magnificence,by mountain, sea and plains,embracing family, friends, pleads for peace, fights resists war,under the big hat, a legend,an icon, whom we applaud, a serious
- [Poem: My heroines](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/poem-my-heroines/) - by Marge Piercy When I think of women heroes,its not Joan of Arc or Molly Pitcherbut mothers who quietly sayto their daughters, you can.Who stand behind attemptsto open doors long bolted shutto teams or clubs or professions. I think of women who dressrespectably and march and marchand march again, for the abilityto choose, for peace, for
- [Letters to the Editor: Lauren Brightwell](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-lauren-brightwell/) - September 4, 2009 Just now found On The Issues online!!I was a subscriber to your print edition. SO PLEASED TO HAVE FOUND YOU AGAIN! Any way to contribute, too? Posted by: Lauren Brightwell Dear Lauren: We're glad you found us, too. And, there are several ways that you can contribute. We continually add fresh commentary
- [Letters to the Editor: Alan Edwards](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-alan-edwards/) - Tuesday, November 3, 2009 I am a gay man. I am on the Committee of the Eastern Cape Gay & Lesbian Association in South Africa. I recently encountered your magazine through the good offices of the President of ECGLA who is a TransSex woman and a dear friend. Thank you for speaking out! The account
- [Letters to the Editor: Cora](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-cora/) - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 Thank you for your profile(Fall 2009) of Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. As a former Assistant Principal in the NYC BOARD of Education, and now an experienced Staff Developer training and coaching teachers in Morningside Center approaches to creating caring classroom communities, I have experienced first-hand the dramatic, measurable difference
- [Letters to the Editor: Laura McClure](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-laura-mcclure/) - Wednesday, November 4, 2009 I loved Eleanor Bader's article Beginning with the Children! It does a great job of describing the work of my organization, Morningside Center for Teaching Social Responsibility. More importantly, it draws a vivid picture of what can happen when we give kids a safe place where they can tell their stories
- [Letters to the Editor: Ernie Lazar](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-ernie-lazar/) - Thursday, November 5, 2009 Loretta Ross's article "Birthers and Birchers: Hiding Behind Stars and Stripes" is a malicious caricature of the John Birch Society and it contains malicious innuendo that the JBS is an organization with "nativist, racist tendencies." It is obvious that Ms. Ross has no genuine factual knowledge about JBS beliefs or its
- [Letters to the Editor: Philip Cafaro](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-philip-cafaro/) - Thursday, November 19, 2009 Betsy Hartmann's "The 'New' Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong Way to Go" is way off base. Common sense tells us that more people means more demands on natural resources, and fewer resources left for other species. If common sense isn't sufficient, the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change calls population growth
- [Letters to the Editor: Joan Michel](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-february-27-2010/) - Marge Piercy Pens Poem on Heroines for New Issue It's a great story, but I'm bothered by the fact that women …. particularly feminists …….are still using the word "heroines." The "ine," the "ess" and other such attachments to a word to make it be "female" are wrong wrong wrong, Those attachments are diminutives, subsets
- [Letters to the Editor: Gloria Steinem](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-gloria-steinem/) - I'm so glad On the Issues is back -- thank you Merle and all its parents! Gloria Steinem
- [Letters to the Editor: A Reader](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-a-reader/) - How did I manage to get through the last 25 years without stumbling upon your magazine? I've been doing radical feminist work for all this time. I remember Sojourner and Off Our Backs among others. Anyway, I am sooooooooo glad to have found you now! Thank you! -A Reader
- [Letters to the Editor: Ellen Snortland](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-ellen-snortland/) - HURRAH! Like a phoenix, you have arisen! -Ellen Snortland
- [Letters to the Editor: Stephanie Young Liederman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-stephanie-young-liederman/) - So glad to see the return of On the Issues! As a little girl, I read the magazine every time I visited my grandmother's house. Occasionally, if the stars aligned, she was in a good mood, I had behaved, AND she had finished reading it herself, then she'd let me take the current issue home
- [Letters to the Editor: Barbara Santee](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-barbara-santee/) - I'm so glad you're reviving OTI. It was an important documentation of what we did back in the "good old days." I'm happy that you put the old copies on the Internet. It is important to preserve this history. I will send your memo to Oklahoma feminists, as well as feminists on a national list.
- [Letters to the Editor: Melissa Nalani Ross](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-melissa-nalani-ross/) - I am actually quite amazed with how much response the article (Anti-Immigrant Fervor Translates to Terror for Women) has received. So exciting! Thank you for the opportunity. -Melissa Nalani RossDirector, Campaign for a United America, Center for New Community
- [Letters to the Editor: Max Dashu](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-max-dashu/) - I enjoyed Frances Kissling's article on masculine-dominated religion, and have always admired her work. However I was surprised that she didn't address the importance of revisioning the Divine in female form, when this form has been either forbidden as heretical or blasphemous, or defined down by male theologians. Room for diverse divine images, oh yes.
- [Letters to the Editor: Freeda Cathcart](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-freeda-cathcart/) - A recent article by Diana Egozcue on a strategy to pass the ERA in Virginia said that a website would be up shortly. It would be good for your readers to know one already exists even though we're hoping to have a fancier one in the future.: There is a website to support the ERA
- [Letter to the Editor (March): Edna Adan Ismail](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-march-edna-adan-ismail/) - I send you greetings from Somaliland where we will also be celebrating the 7th anniversary of the opening of our hospital on the 9th of March. During the seven years that we have been working, we have delivered nearly 9000 women and treated an additional 7500 other sick patients -- proof that you can serve
- [Letters to the Editor: JanG](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-jang/) - He should have been in Zambia when I was, and 1 in 3 were dying from AIDS, and the only growth industry was coffins, and employers hired two people for every job because they knew one would die, and the streets were full of starving kids, many of them children of judges, lawyers, teachers, etc.
- [Letters to the Editor: Judith Freeman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-judith-freeman/) - As always "On The Issues" is informative , thought provoking, and a Feminist Voice that speaks loud and clear about the realities affecting Women's lives around the world. I read the acticle MOBILIZING FOR REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE written by Loretta Ross and I am in total agreement. . Women Of Color will have to continue to
- [Letters to the Editor: Elsa Panciroli](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-elsa-panciroli/) - I live in Montreal and I've just discovered On The Issues online. It's really intelligent and fascinating, I'm so glad to have found it. Do you know if the magazine is stocked anywhere in my city? I can't find it. Or do you only publish online? Elsa PanciroliMay 8, 2009 Ed: We’re online! From 1983-1999
- [Letters to the Editor: Rose Briggs](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-rose-briggs/) - You are doing a wonderful job writing about the many topics that women do not want to discuss. I applaud youand I do discuss sexuality with women of all ages, I will also share you magazine with my business.If it were not for women the popluation would be zero so why not enjoy the gift.
- [Letters to the Editor: Sarah Murnen](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-sarah-murnen/) - In this time of trouble when more men than women are losing their jobs and the woman becomes sole support of the family, we need "equal pay for equal work" more than ever. Or are we forced to believe that the radicals among us are truly trying to supress the middle income families until they
- [Letters to the Editor: Bob Nichols](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-bob-nichols/) - I agree completely. I did AB referrals and set up a Federal Court lawsuit in Oklahoma in 1970. It is just as true now as ever. I'm totally with you on this. I'm a correspondent now in San Francisco covering the nuke weapons labs. Resist. Fight. Win.Never Quit. Bob NicholsProject Censored Award WinnerSan Francisco Bay
- [Letter to the Editor: Edna Adan Ismail](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-edna-adan-ismail/) - Please accept our deep and sincere condolences on the loss of Dr. Tiller. You may wish to know that we have just registered the first and only national Family Planning Association in Somaliland and am sharing with you our website which is still under development : www.SOFPA.org It took me two years to get it
- [Letters to the Editor: Dorothy Bryant](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-dorothy-bryant/) - I was relieved to read Lu Bailey's article on "self-objectification," chosen by young so-called feminists. I have fallen silent after too many discouraging arguments with young women, some of them close relatives, who refuse to see what I call their "hooker-style" dress as a cop out. They see my position as the sour grapes attitude
- [Letters to the Editor: Ginny NiCarthy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-ginny-nicarthy/) - About equal pay, I agree with the letter writer who urged us to take up that struggle again. It should be with the same passion as some of us worked for it decades ago. BUT the goal should not be limited to attaining equal wages. We should revive the broader and more basic cause of
- [Letters to the Editor: heather harvey](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-heather-harvey/) - I am a UK based reader so this may be a naive point to make but it seems to me the US has to be made to engage with parental paid leave if we are to address feminist concerns in the US. On your broader question of feminist priorities I think we need to look
- [Letters to the Editor: xxmkn](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-xxmkn/) - August 2, 2009 I think OTI is marvellous and rely heavily on it - but it is a shame it is no longer available in hard copy not just for the pleasure of it but for the visibility and passing on quality of it and its issues. What I mean is that it has become
- [Letters to the Editor: Katy Stewart](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-katy-stewart/) - August 7, 2009 I must commend Eleanor Bader on her excellent article entitled "Trans Health Care Is A Life and Death Matter." It was refreshing to see someone tackle this subject. In regards to prevalence of transsexualism based on actual numbers of gender reassignment surgeries performed, though, I would encourage the author, researchers, and readership
- [Letters to the Editor: Jim Nibblett](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-jim-nibblett/) - August 18, 2009 Few could imagine how tired I am of reading mindless repetition of the party line "subordinated the female to the male," as Mahin Hassibi did in his (her?) editorial "Bogus Beliefs …." This axiom would be laughable were it not for it's wide acceptance, reminiscent of the phrase I heard about half
- [Letters to the Editor: Julie](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-julie/) - August 19, 2009 I had a conversation with a young woman who is expecting twins…her long term relationship with the father ended at almost the same moment that the pregnancy began. She has a decent job in an area where good pay for women is $11 per hour. Average rent for a small apt. or
- [Letters to the Editor: Dr.Cassandra Langer](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/letters-to-the-editor-dr-cassandra-langer/) - September 1, 2009 Linda's interview with Elisabeth Sackler is excellent. I interviewed Sackler several years ago and was delighted to see that she has carried forward with her goals. I particularly enjoyed the Patricia Cronin exhibit and will be interviewing the artist for Gay and Lesbian Review in connection with her show and catalogue Raisaonne;
- [Guam Territory in Turmoil](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/guam-territory-in-turmoil/) - by Amy Goodman She walked into the governor's office wearing a Halloween mask, a purple wig, a floor-length red velvet cape and army fatigues. She was in disguise and she was scared. Her lawyer had tried to allay her fears the night before. But the setting hadn't helped. They'd met in a dark back alley
- [What Women Can Learn from Malcolm X](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/what-women-can-learn-from-malcolm-x/) - by Flo Kennedy and Irene Davall It seemed a sure bet that "Malcolm X" would not be the favorite feminist film of 1992. For starters, with a "cast of thousands" it has only two prominent roles for women - neither of which, as written, could generate the enthusiastic response women had for the characters in
- [Deep Tapioca](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/deep-tapioca/) - by Jill Johnston In May 1989 the Danish Parliament granted lesbians and gay men the right to civil marriage -- the result of a 40-year campaign by gay-rights advocates. I was eligible to take advantage of this new law because my partner, Ingrid Nyeboe, is a Danish citizen. Since 1980 we have lived together in
- [Write What You Want, as Long as It's About Sex](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/write-what-you-want-as-long-as-its-about-sex/) - by Shere Hite Download PDF
- [How Orgasm Politics Has Hijacked the Women's Movement](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/how-orgasm-politics-has-hijackedthe-womens-movement/) - by Sheila Jeffreys Why has the Big O seduced so many feminists -- even Ms. -- into a counterrevolution from within? The November/December 1995 issue of Ms., cover-lined HOT UNSCRIPTED SEX, showed a close-up of an African American woman licking her lipsticked lips. Despite all the feminist work that has been done in the last quarter-century
- [What Is Justice For A Rape Victim?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/what-is-justice-for-a-rape-victim/) - by Phyllis Chesler There she was, on the front page of the American newspapers, a 20-year-old Bosnian Moslem girl, hanging from a tree, a suicide, dead by her own hand, her death a cry for help. Our silence, deafening. We cannot say: "We didn't know, no one told us." We know. We've seen it on TV,
- [The Only Reason You Want to Go to Heaven is that You Have Been Driven Out of Your Mind (Off Your Land and Out of Your Lover’s Arms),](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1997spring/the-only-reason-you-want-to-go-to-heaven-is-that-you-have-been-driven-out-of-your-mind-off-your-land-and-out-of-your-lovers-arms/) - by Alice Walker Download PDF
- [Finland and Domestic Violence: The Strong Nordic Woman is in Trouble](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/finland-and-domestic-violence-the-strong-nordic-woman-is-in-trouble/) - by Catia Bruno Finland is an amazing country, especially if you happen to be a woman. This was the first place in the world where women could vote and be elected – and in less than 100 years, Finns elected a female president and a female prime-minister. It is a country where more than half
- [Review: City of Soldiers: A Year of Life, Death, and Survival in Afghanistan](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012spring/review-city-of-soldiers-a-year-of-life-death-and-survival-in-afghanistan/) - by Elayne Clift City of Soldiers: A Year of Life, Death, and Survival in Afghanistan Author: Kate Fearon Interlink Books, Northhampton, MA ISBN: 978-1-56656-902-6 Memoir/Politics 318 pages Paperback: $17.95 Kate Fearon is a gutsy woman with a good sense of humor and a very difficult job. Currently head of the Mitrovica Office for the International
- [A 'Stubborn Little Hold on Life' An abortion before Roe v Wade](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/a-stubborn-little-hold-on-life-an-abortion-before-roe-v-wade/) - by Frances Karlen Santamaria I'm not sure how or when I first heard that my mother had an abortion before I was born, but I knew, in a vague way, by the time I was a teenager, that I might have had an older brother or sister had my mother not terminated a pregnancy. My
- [Entrusted with Women's Sacred History](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/entrusted-with-womens-sacred-history/) - by Jennifer Baumgardner In 2004, frustrated by the gridlock around abortion, I embarked on an awareness campaign to put a face on abortion statistics. More than a million women have abortions each year, and for most, it's a secret—even a shameful secret. The truth is, however, that women who have abortions are religious, mothers, grandmothers,
- ["Jollywood, Afghanistan" Teenage Girls Create And Perform Their First Play](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/jollywood-afghanistan-teenage-girls-create-and-perform-their-first-play/) - by Sahar Muradi In eastern Afghanistan under the glow of an April sun and the sweet scent of orange blossoms, a small revolution begins. Six young women, ranging in age from 13 to 19, huddle in the basement office of a local civil society organization and brainstorm ideas for a play by women about women
- [AFTER HURRICANE SANDY: Long Beach Psychologist Copes And Helps Neighbors](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/after-hurricane-sandy-long-beach-psychologist-copes-and-helps-neighbors/) - by Mary W. Quigley On Monday evening, October 29, as super storm Sandy made landfall on Long Island, Laurie Nadel crouched in an attic crawlspace with her boyfriend and cat and watched as waves crashed through her one-story home. She saw her washing machine, furniture and clothes churn in more than four feet of water
- [After Sandy: The Nature of Rebuilding From the Heart of an Architect](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/after-sandy-the-nature-of-rebuilding-from-the-heart-of-an-architect/) - by Carol Clouse In the surge of Sandy, I sat alone in my home in southeast Pennsylvania, and listened to the moans of the moon and the howling of the wind. Harmony and melody. My friends in Montana "where I also live" emailed me earlier that evening to say that they were having dinner with
- [Merle Hoffman on Eldrige & Co](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/merle-hoffman-on-eldrige-co/) - by The Editors Merle Hoffman, President and CEO of Choices Women's Medical Center and the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of On the Issues, was a recent guest on CUNY TV's Eldridge & Co. Her conversation with host Ronnie Eldridge on New York's Channel 75 will air on the following dates: October 24th at 9am, 4pm, and 9pm,
- [WRITING ON THE BODY AT THE BROOKLYN INSTITUTE FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/writing-on-the-body-at-the-brooklyn-institute-for-social-research/) - by The Editors Only a few more days to register for a course on "Writing on the Body." Registration closes October 2. The course, capped at 20, is taught through the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research. The institute was founded a year ago and is a collective of recently minted scholars who offer six-week discussion-based
- [Where's The Women's Room This Year?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/wheres-the-womens-room-this-year/) - by Carol Jenkins It was my brilliant friend, the writer Marilyn French, who presciently and prodigiously wrote about the war against women in The Women's Room, her landmark 1977 novel, which opened the populist door to feminist thought. Before she died in 2009 she documented our existence in The History of Women in the World, a four-volume
- [TV Documentary Series Elevates Women's Work to Stop Warring](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011summer/tv-documentary-series-elevates-womens-work-to-stop-warring/) - by Ariel Dougherty September 22, 2011 "The finest minds have always underscored the peacemaking role of women," Nobel Peace Prize winner and Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev said decades ago. Now a new five-part TV documentary series, Women, War & Peace, illustrates this sentiment. The series airs on public television in the U.S. in October and November.
- [A Poem: Praise to Our Mothers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/a-poem-praise-to-our-mothers/) - by Gcina Mhlophe "Praise to Our Mothers" was performed in 1989 when Gcina Mholphe first met Nokukhanya Luthuli, wife of Chief Albert Luthuli. He was president-general of the African National Congress (ANC) during the 1950s and 1961 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Nokukhanya Luthuli was a leader in the women's part of the struggle for liberation
- [Heads High: Three Poems of Unsung Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/heads-high-three-poems-of-unsung-women/) - by Emily Rand Breitner The Courage of Anne It doesnt matter whatlittle Charlie did to provokehis father, but probablynot much for the manto whip off his worn beltin that familiar motion.This time soft-spokenAnne sister described asafraid of her own shadowstepped between the boyand the strap, and in a voiceshed never used, saidIf you touch him
- [Aung San Suu Kyi Acts on Love, A Poem](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/aung-san-suu-kyi-acts-on-love-a-poem/) - by Maureen McNeil Editors Note: Janet Benshoof wrote about the Burmese leader Aung San Suu Kyi in our Winter 2010 edition of On The Issues Magazine, devoted to women around the world who are fighting for freedom. Benshoof described how the military dictatorship in Suu Kyi’s country was preparing to end any possibility that the Nobel
- [Shirley Chisholm and Courage](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/shirley-chisholm-and-courage/) - by Barbara Winslow Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005) wanted to be know as a catalyst for change. She should be known as a catalyst for courage. In 1968, Chisholm became the first African American woman elected to Congress and in 1972, the first African American to run for the presidency of the U.S. on
- [Articles of Interest from our Archives - Lines in the Sand](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/articles-of-interest-from-our-archives-lines-in-the-sand/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg “Lines in the Sand” can be either personal or political -- or most often, both. Both frequently involve activism and personal sacrifice arising out of political commitment, and the print edition of On The Issues Magazine (1983-1999) carried many articles highlighting the need for such stands as well as profiles of
- [Feminist Revolution: Carrying On](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009winter/feminist-revolution-carrying-on/) - by Cindy Cooper What revolutions do we need? "We still need the feminist revolution," Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said in a video commentary to On The Issues Magazine. It's now posted Online with Merle Hoffman's commentary, Revolution Lite (scroll down on the left). "We're still fighting for family planning, abortion rights. We keep on moving
- [Birthed from Scorched Hearts: Women Respond to War; Book Review](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/birthed-from-scorched-hearts-women-respond-to-war-book-review/) - by Tom Kerr In a new book anthology, Birthed from Scorched Hearts: Women Respond to War (Fulcrum Books 2008), the phenomenon of war is insightfully explored by more than 60 award-winning women writers. War, as experienced, observed and defined by the writers, is skillfully interrogated with wisdom and unapologetic honesty. Editor and compiler MariJo Moore, also a
- [Killing planeloads of pregnant Nigerian women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/killing-planeloads-of-pregnant-nigerian-women/) - by Elisa Slattery Fifty-nine thousand women die every year from pregnancy-related causes in Nigeria, a number second only to that of India. One Nigerian professor equated the frequency of maternal death with a planeload of Nigerians crashing everyday without survivors. If a plane full of pregnant women fell out of the sky every day in
- [Zambia: Curbing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/zambia-curbing-sexual-and-gender-based-violence/) - by Nada Ali The news of the opening of a hospital-based crisis center in Kabwe, Zambia, to address the complex needs of women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence was music to my ears; given that in 2007 I listened to heart-wrenching accounts by Zambian women, including women living with HIV. Gender-based violence devastated the
- [Reading The Times](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/reading-the-times/) - by Merle Hoffman It was interesting to open the Sunday New York Times and see that Nicholas Kristof had discovered the differing meaning of terrorism in women’s lives. His column, Terrorism That's Personal, filed from Islamabad, described acid attacks that left women disfigured, blind and outcast. Its a kind of terrorism that becomes accepted as part
- [Poetry: Broken Box](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008summer/poetry-broken-box/) - By Christine Stark I can’t write nothingBeautiful. I am expected to be that way because I am a girl writer and we are supposed to have some sort of lock on pretty things. I don’t own no box and I ain’t got no lock. Thatwas picked a long time ago and no way can I
- [Featured Video - Bella Abzug: In Her Own Words](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/featured-videobella-abzug-in-her-own-words/) - Featured Video:"Bella Abzug: In Her Own Words" is a reminder of the New York politician who carried her powerful commitment to women’s rights and human rights to the U.S. Capitol, the United Nations, international conferences, media and courtrooms, too. "You have to fight with hundreds and thousands of others, every day of your life," says
- [April 2014:<br>"43 Years Later, I Am Still on the Front Lines"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/merle-writings/april-201443-years-later-i-am-still-on-the-front-lines/) - By Merle Hoffman, Founder/PresidentChoices Women's Medical Center It has been 43 years since I founded one of the first legal abortion clinic in the country—2 years before Roe. V, Wade. It has been 25 years since I organized the first pro-choice civil disobedience. It was 1989 and Operation Rescue was riding high, defying court orders
- [April 2015:<br>It Can't Happen Here? But It IS!](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/merle-writings/april-2015it-cant-happen-here-but-it-is/) - As the founder of Choices Women's Medical Center, today a comprehensive women's health facility that I began as a small abortion clinic 44 years ago, I have consistently been in the crosshairs of an always-intense and sometimes murderous battle aimed at both providers and women. My longtime friend and associate, a skilled and loving abortion
- [Icons, Superheroes and Fantasies a Feminist Can Love?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/icons-superheroes-and-fantasies-a-feminist-can-love/) - by Linda Stein I hate violent movies. I was never drawn to the shoot ‘em up genre that attracts so many viewers to the big screen with buildings and people blowing up, blood spewing everywhere, excruciating tortures writ large – those scenes never did it for me. Usually I had to avert my eyes or
- [An On The Issues Featured Video: "To the Oklahoma Lawmakers: poem"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011winter/an-on-the-issues-featured-video-to-the-oklahoma-lawmakers-poem/) - by Lauren Zuniga Visit On The Issue Magazine's channel on YouTube for our original and favorite videos.
- [The Conning of the Feminists](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-conning-of-the-feminists/) - From the Editors The Conning of the Feminists -- this edition of On the Issues Magazine -- looks at feminist icons, feminist values and the cons of both the Right- wing and media variety. Faced with contradictory rhetoric and imagery that are trying to snag women’s devotion, money and voting power, an incredible array of writers and artists
- [RELATED STORIES: The DAY AFTER in On The Issues Magazine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/related-stories-the-day-after-in-on-the-issues-magazine/) - by The Editors Challenging the personal, political and economic realities of women and pushing toward a more liberatory future is the essence of many discussions in On The Issues Magazine, both in print (1983-99) and online (2008 on). As our current edition notes, The Day After the elections, women will need to keep moving beyond the bonds of what is
- [Nurses Unionize to Heal the System](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/nurses-unionize-to-heal-the-system/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Deborah Burger, one of three presidents of National Nurses United, the largest union of registered nurses in the U.S., minces no words when expressing her dissatisfaction with the Affordable Care Act, also known as "Obamacare." "It is not anywhere near universal coverage," she begins. "It puts the worst players in the
- [Global "Security" Equals Human Security and Gender Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/global-security-equals-human-security-and-gender-rights/) - by Jamie Hagen As a political scientist concerned with securing minority rights, I have had to ask myself what "security" really means. Traditional methods of improving "security" -- increasing military operations, protecting physical state borders, financing advanced weaponry -- most often exacerbate problems of sexism, rape and economic instability for women and children. "We should
- [No Dancing: The Right Aims to Take Down Sexual Liberation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/no-dancing-the-right-aims-to-take-down-sexual-liberation/) - by Amanda Marcotte There can be no doubt now: this is a war on sex. More than most campaign seasons in the past couple of decades, this most recent election serves as a reminder that the gap between sexually progressive and reactionary pockets of America persists. If anything, it’s growing, with progressives forging ahead and
- [Broken Politics: Republicans Assail Suffrage Itself](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/broken-politics-republicans-assail-suffrage-itself/) - by Tanya Melich A U.S. Senatorial nominee for the Republican party arguing that a woman who is raped can simply will herself not to become pregnant. Elderly would-be voters prohibited from voting because they don't have a government-issued photo ID. Republican candidates for federal office backing tax cuts for the very rich while cutting public
- [Fukushima's Hot Water: Now Fallout in Our Kitchens?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/fukushimas-hot-water-now-fallout-in-our-kitchens/) - by Kimberly Roberson "Nuclear meltdown" is a term for a catastrophic reaction in a nuclear reactor that has overheated. The uncontrolled heat damages the reactor itself, causing an uncontrolled release of life threatening radioactive material, also known as "radioactive fallout" into the environment. At Fukushima this happened three times, an unprecedented catastrophe. With the 67th anniversary
- [Standing Our Ground: Going Beyond Maslow's Basic Needs](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/standing-our-ground-going-beyond-maslows-basic-needs/) - by Mary E. Plouffe Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of needs tells us that basic needs (food, shelter, safety) must be satisfied before higher level needs (social relationships, self-esteem, self-actualization) can be given much attention. A University of Illinois study published in 2011 challenges this assumption. In fact, even in countries where survival is a daily battle, people report a need
- [Can Black Women Lead on Rethinking Marriage?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/love/__trashed-3/) - by Dani McClain One highlight of Election Day 2012: voters in Maryland, Washington and Maine deciding, with their ballots, whether people in same-sex relationships will be allowed to marry. Black voters in those states -- especially Maryland, which is nearly one-third African American – may need to take cover. We know about the backlash black Californians
- [The Abortion Rights Looking Glass: Canada Reflects Women First](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/the-abortion-rights-looking-glass-canada-reflects-women-first/) - by Nick van der Graaf Currently, Canada is the only country in the world where there are no criminal laws pertaining to abortion. Combined with our publicly-funded universal health care system, this means abortion is available on demand, period. Many in the United States don't know that, or how that right was secured, or why
- [Our Feminist Media Road Trip: Time to Take the Wheel](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/our-feminist-media-road-trip-time-to-take-the-wheel/) - by Jennifer L. Pozner Two months. That's how long it took for three high school girls to reverse a two-decade blackout of women in one of the most influential journalism jobs in America. In 1992 when veteran broadcaster Carole Simpson was the last woman to moderate a presidential debate, sophomores Sami Siegel, Emma Axelrod and
- [Victims of Gender Violence Find Solutions Slipping Away](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/victims-of-gender-violence-find-solutions-slipping-away/) - by Juhu Thukral What will the next president mean for the way we live and pursue safety in our daily lives? For most women, fear and apprehension of assault or domestic violence is pervasive. We all know someone who has been raped or battered, or maybe it's happened to us: living with and negotiating the
- [Getting Closer to the Levers of Power](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/getting-closer-to-the-levers-of-power/) - by Diane Vacca "How do women achieve true parity in political representation?" The question is simultaneously simple and impossibly complex, perhaps triply so, when you add progressive feminism to the mix. What do we want from our politics? Given the relatively pathetic female percentages that Americans see among elected officials, from Congress to state legislatures,
- [The Book Corner: Women Define the Agenda, Find the Power](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-book-corner-women-define-the-agenda-find-the-power/) - by Samuel Huber and the Feminist Press It's easy to get tunnel vision during election season. In these months of heated partisan debate, it is important to keep not only the long-term impact of a presidency in view, but also the larger goals and challenges that persist for feminists after our ballots are cast and
- [Fracking's Health Calamities Left to Fester](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/frackings-health-calamities-left-to-fester/) - by Jan Goodwin Unless you've been living on a desert island for the last couple of years, you've probably heard of "fracking," or hydraulic fracturing, and you may well have seen dramatic footage of tap water being ignited. If you listen to the slick and expensive public relations campaign from the natural gas drilling industry, lobbyists and
- [Living Up to "The New Deal": Half the Nation Is Still Waiting](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/money/living-up-to-the-new-deal-half-the-nation-is-still-waiting/) - by Susan F. Feiner President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave his fourth and final State of the Union Address in 1944. Because the defeat of fascism in Europe was in sight, FDR could frame a peacetime vision for the nation. He saw that the full realization of political freedom depended upon the elimination of material deprivation. FDR
- [50 Shades Of Grey, Erotica and the Bondage Craze](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/50-shades-of-grey-erotica-and-the-bondage-craze/) - by Elizabeth Black The erotic novel, 50 Shades of Grey by E.L. James, has taken the public, media and the literary world by storm. This summer, the book became the bestselling Kindle book of all time. It beat out the Harry Potter series and it's surpassed the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo triad. Its influence has resulted in a
- [The DAY AFTER](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012fall/the-day-after/) - by The Editors "The Day After" refers, of course, to a real-time event: the presidential election. The dizzying buzz and swirl of the campaign and the selection of the White House occupant make distraction all too easy. But feminists and progressives know that they need to keep their eyes on core issues no matter what
- [A Woman's Place is in the House -- and Senate!](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-womans-place-is-in-the-house-and-senate/) - by Betty G. Lall Choices. We are asked: Why is it so important to have more women in politics? To get out and exercise our right to vote; to have our numbers represented not only at the polls, but on the ballot as well! We as women can choose to get involved, to stand up
- [PRE-MENSTRUAL SYNDROMES](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/pre-menstrual-syndromes/) - by Howard J. Osofsky, M.D., Ph.D. Although pre-menstrual tension was first described in 1931. only in recent years has there been growing interest by the medical profession in the topic of pre-menstrual symptoms. Perhaps related in part to the feminist movement and to women's insistence on better care for themselves, more women have openly described
- [AIDS ALERT](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/aids-alert/) - Responding to the steadily growing need to provide the public with up-to-date information on AIDS, the N.Y. City Department of Health has established a new, 24-hour hot line: (212) 608-4860. The caller will get a recorded message explaining symptoms and latest Health Department facts. We hope this new number will speed the flow of information
- [Falwell Meets Hoffman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1983vol1/falwell-meets-hoffman/) - The Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of The Moral Majority, leader of Liberty Baptist, a Christian fundamentalist college in Lynchburg, Va.. and fierce opponent of abortion, met Merle Hoffman, Executive Director of CHOICES, for the first time on station WXYZ-TV in Detroit. The two debated, in front of a live audience, a woman's right to choose
- [Kudos & Awards - USA Today](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-usa-today/) - Women More Than Sex MachinesBy Barbara Reynolds Most women's magazines have long used romance, love and family- and, inevitably, sex -- as mainstays, but some now are pushing the limits of decency. They're becoming more tawdry and displaying women . . . as bodies, without souls or minds. If women accept these images of themselves,
- [Kudos & Awards - Inside Media](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-inside-media/) - ON THE ISSUES is a magazine for "readers who prefer to be known as women." . . . ON THE ISSUES started as a newsletter back in 1983 and is still supported by Choices Women's Medical Center. Founder, editor-in-chief and publisher Merle Hoffman says that her original goal was to communicate with activists and feminists. Today, with 20,000
- [Kudos & Awards - WLW Journal](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-wlw-journal/) - ON THE ISSUES really is--on the issues, that is. It kind of reminds me of Ms. When it was a lot younger and a lot more feisty, when it really had something to say about topics of concern to women no matter how revolutionary or radical they seemed. A look at some topics covered in recent
- [Kudos & Awards - Utne Reader](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-utne-reader/) - By Elizabeth Larson ON THE ISSUES delivers solid articles that are original and engaging without becoming esoteric. Every issue is carefully balanced to represent a wide range of interests and experiences: Volume XIV features two opposing pieces on Margaret Sanger, the controversial turn-of-the-century birth control advocate/activist; an interview with Renee David about French feminism and Jewish
- [Kudos & Awards - The Boston Globe](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-the-boston-globe/) - By Jeanne Cooper (Literary Life Section) With very few advertisements to clutter its pages (and nudge its editorial direction), ON THE ISSUES...is denser and more politically diverse than it first looks. On the opening pages, Merle Hoffman explores the ethical issues -- or rather, the ignoring of those issues -- around xenotransplantation, the use of animals
- [Kudos & Awards - About.com: Sexuality](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-about-com-sexuality/) - By Cory Silverberg Shere Hite on Redefining SexWednesday August 20, 2008 I was recently alerted to the newly re-launched On The Issues Magazine. On The Issues was originally published from 1983 to 1999 as a print quarterly feminist magazine started by reproductive rights activist Merle Hoffman. The new incarnation is only available online and based
- [Kudos & Awards - Confessions of a Dirt Warrior](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-confessions-of-a-dirt-warrior/) - Angela Bonavoglia over at On The Issues Magazine poses a provocative (and in my humble opinion) very important question: Can prostitution be a freely made choice? If you have the time, I'd suggest that you take an hour or so to browse through the rest of the content at On The Issues. They have some fascinating stuff there!
- [Kudos & Awards - Beyondmedia Education](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-beyondmedia-education/) - by Tara MalikBeyondmedia Education Thanks very much for publishing the Chain of Change article on your website. It means a great deal to us to spread information about this subject and share a forum with others who are fighting against violence towards women."
- [Kudos & Awards - Our Bodies, Our Blog](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-our-bodies-our-blog/) - "Good reads in the On the Issues Magazine cafe, including Diana Whitten's look at Women on Waves, a Dutch organization that provides on-ship abortions in international waters for women from countries where it is illegal. Women on Waves recently won an important victory in the European Court of Human Rights. And don't forget to check out
- [Kudos & Awards - November 2010](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-november-2010/) - The Front Page Award for Opinion Writing was given to Merle Hoffman, publisher and editor-in-chief of On The Issues Magazine, for her essay, Selecting the Same Sex. The essay about the complex issues of sex selection and abortion appeared in the Summer 2009 edition of On The Issues Magazine. Hoffman's essay did "a brilliant job with a controversial subject," said
- [Kudos & Awards - Treehugger](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-treehugger/) - During the nuclear crisis at Japana's Fukushima plant, there have been endless comparisons to both Chernobyl and Three Mile Island. But there have been fewer good, in-depth pieces that examine the fallout of through the lens of the communities that suffered through them. Yet this is surely the best way to gain insight into the
- [Kudos & Awards - Phoenix Transgender Support](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-phoenix-transgender-support/) - Check out the Summer 2009 issue of "On The Issues: The Progressive Women's Magazine." Our Genders, Our Rights features artists and writers from On The Issues Magazine with articles on Gender Norms and Gender rights. We'd like to thank On The Issues for addressing these concerns and thanks to Lola Cola for giving us the
- [Kudos & Awards - Power Oppression Privilege in Sport](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/awards/kudos-awards-power-oppression-privilege-in-sport/) - "Level the Playing Field: Girls, Women and Sports" was recently launched by "On The Issues: A Magazine of Feminist Progressive Thinking" … this tremendous collection stands out for its combination of quality, quantity, accessibility (it's online), and readability. It notably bridges common gaps between academia and new media that prevent great work from being read
- [OTI Newsletter - Winter 2011](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-winter-2011/) - As many of you may know, massive anti-choice efforts are currently aiming to strip away our reproductive rights. The latest of these, a bill just introduced in South Dakota, goes beyond heights of immorality in this war against women: It would literally legalize the murder of abortion providers. House bill 1171 would expand the definition
- [OTI Newsletter - Spring 2011](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-spring-2011/) - e·col·o·gy–noun 1.the branch of biology dealing with the relations and interactions between organisms and their environment. Over the course of history, women have had their share of living in a variety of hostile environments. But when do we talk about how the environment – specifically, ecology – affects women’s lives? With disasters like the recent
- [OTI Newsletter - "Next "Wave" Peace Activists Pour Feminism into the MixOTI Newsletter"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-next-wave-peace-activists-pour-feminism-into-the-mixoti-newsletter/) - Next "Wave" Peace Activists Pour Feminism into the Mixby Jean Stevens Rachel Gehringer-Wiar liked the sound of Nebraskans for Peace. Before arriving on campus of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln nearly two years ago, she’d seen its bumper stickers, she’d heard about its rallies. Peace work made sense to her, she said, as she
- [OTI Newsletter - "A Feminist Looks at Masculine Rage and the Haditha Massacre"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-summer-a-feminist-looks-at-masculine-rage-and-the-haditha-massacre/) - "A Feminist Looks at Masculine Rage and the Haditha Massacre"by Kathleen BarryWhat happened to the Haditha Massacre trial? Though Sergeant Frank Wuterich was scheduled to be in military court this summer for a massacre that killed 24 in Haditha, Iraq, in November of 2005, his trial has been postponed indefinitely. The media has barely covered
- [OTI Newsletter - Summer 2011](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-summer-2011/) - The current edition of On The Issues Magazine features voices from a diverse group of progressive thinkers as we explore the infinitely complex topic of Women, War, and Peace. Yesterday was World Peace Day - a fitting conclusion to September days spent pondering the consequences of war, the role of women and feminists, and the
- [OTI Newsletter - October 1, 2011](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-october-1-2011/) - This month, the conversation about activism isn't just happening online. Take a look at these exciting events featuring On The Issues staff and friends! Tuesday, October 18, 6pmSocials for Change and On The Issues Magazine PresentEngaged Activism: A Conversation on Global Sex Trafficking We will be joined by Civil Courage Prize Winners Triveni Acharya, President
- [OTI Newsletter - December 1, 2011](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-december-1-2011/) - Today, December 1, is World AIDS Day. People around the world will spend today spreading awareness, honoring those whose lives have been lost, and celebrating victories in the battle against the spread of AIDS. But for people living with HIV and AIDS, activists, and their loved ones, this isn't just a conversation that happens once
- [OTI Newsletter - January 1, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-january-1-2012/) - Happy New Year From On The Issues! Regardless of the holidays that you are celebrating, protesting, or ignoring altogether, the new year is coming and we're so grateful for your readership and support. Thanks for making another year of critical, independent feminist thinking possible. P.S. We're going to dive into 2012 with an in-depth issue
- [OTI Newsletter - January 12, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-january-12-2012/) - She fought for reproductive justice on the streets, within clinics, in the news --with brave words, in an uncompromising voice,with a giant wire hanger raised high in the air --and this January,she reveals the truths from the front lines of the battle for abortion rights: Barnes & Noble Upper East Side Presents a reading and
- [OTI Newsletter - January 17, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-january-17-2012/) - Introducing Our Very First Blog Series To celebrate the release of Merle Hoffman's new book, Intimate Wars: The Life and Times of the Woman Who Brought Abortion from the Back Alley to the Boardroom, we've invited an impressive list of bloggers to speak out about their own first-person stories and experiences with abortion and reproductive
- [OTI Newsletter - January 23, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-january-23-2012/) - On The Issues Magazine is proud to sponsor Trust Women Week: January 20-27 Yesterday marked the 39th anniversary of the historic Roe v Wade Supreme Court decision. Despite the decades since this accomplishment, today it's no secret that the United States is still in the midst of a War on Women: in 2011, 36 states
- [OTI Newsletter - February 9, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-february-9-2012/) - In the wake of the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, reproductive activists have watched the abortion debate make national headlines surrounding the controversy caused by the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation's defunding for Planned Parenthood. And despite the systematic attacks on women's reproductive healthcare access, the inspiring responses from activists -- online
- [OTI Newsletter - February 23, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-february-23-2012/) - What's next for women's reproductive autonomy? According to a study featured in this edition of On The Issues Magazine, it depends on the economy. From the Editors: A new study puts another face on women's reproductive decision-making during an economic downturn. It indicates that low-income women increasingly are being forced to "choose" abortions out of
- [OTI Newsletter - March 8, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-march-8-2012/) - It's International Women's Day! Here at On The Issues Magazine, we're celebrating the incredible women around the world who fight for reproductive justice. But just as the fight will continue after today ends, so should the celebration of our warriors. So, in that spirit, here's a brand new piece from the Cafe about a global
- [OTI Newsletter - April 19, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-april-19-2012/) - On The Issues Magazine is taking feminism outside! We've just launched our Spring 2012 edition – Level the Playing Field: Girls, Women and Sports. In light of two major upcoming events this summer – the 40th anniversary of Title IX coming up on June 23, and the Summer Olympics, which will begin on July 27th
- [OTI Newsletter - May 3, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-may-3-2012/) - Female athletes face challenges that go beyond the physical demands of their sport: double standards, cultural policing of their bodies, and more. But what about female athletes not in the public eye? As it turns out, women in extreme sports -- the sports that very few people dare to try -- are subject to the
- [OTI Newsletter - June 16, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-june-16-2012/) - As spring turns into summer, a lot is happening here at On The Issues!Merle Hoffman in Guardian UK: 'This is about every woman, it affects all of us'Did you see this recent profile of our founder and publisher, by Guardian staff writer Carlene Thomas Bailey? On the Issues is mentioned as Bailey describes Hoffman's historic
- [OTI Newsletter - July 9, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-july-9-2012/) - With politics and East Coast temperatures both flaring to previously unheard-of levels, On the Issues Magazine is ramping up. We're finding new ways to deepen the conversation on subjects crucial to progressive women, and keep our voices in the dialogue, In the News and Going Deeper When the Supreme Court ruled last week on health
- [OTI Newsletter - July 20, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-july-20-2012/) - "The Movement, the Block, The Action" of Summer 2012While much of the East Coast broils, On the Issues Magazine is busy discovering what's cool.As promised in the last newsletter, pro-choice pioneer Bill Baird reported back from the National Right to Life Convention for our Hot Topics column in "Why They Hate Birth Control and Love
- [OTI Newsletter - August 16, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-august-16-2012/) - Summer is ending in a whirl here at On the Issues Magazine. While women broke records on playing fields at the London Olympics, we ran daily coverage of the Games while our 'Level the Playing Field' issue continued to gain plaudits and spark lively dialogue. And as the 2012 election approaches, we don't expect things
- [OTI Newsletter - September 12, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-september-12-2012/) - "The Day After" refers, of course, to a real-time event: the presidential election. The dizzying buzz and swirl of the campaign and the selection of the White House occupant make distraction all too easy. But feminists and progressives know that they need to keep their eyes on core issues no matter what -- before, during
- [OTI Newsletter - October 4, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-october-4-2012/) - It's the day after the first presidential debate, and women across the country are scratching their heads wondering: What happened to them? Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Merle Hoffman penned a featured piece on Huffington Post asking this very question:After debating every major "right-to-life" leader in this country -- including Jerry Falwell -- I didn't need to
- [OTI Newsletter - October 22, 2012](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/oti-newsletter-october-22-2012/) - Malala was the name on our minds over the past two weeks. The Taliban's shooting of this 15-year-old who spoke out about Pakistani girls' rights to an education drew outraged responses from the Pakistani people and the rest of the world."Without education, what is the meaning of Pakistan?" had become Malala's motto, and it makes
- [April 2008 A Message from the Publisher on Our New Online Publication](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/april-2008-a-message-from-the-publisher-on-our-new-online-publication/) - by From Merle Hoffman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of On The Issues Magazine A Message from the Publisher on Our New Online Publication Twenty-five years ago I began On the Issues as a newsletter of Choices Women's Medical Center in an effort to communicate with other health care providers and pro-choice activists. The first issue in 1983 featured pieces about the early
- [April 08, 2008 Feminist and Progressive: "On The Issues Magazine"Relaunches Online](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/april-08-2008-feminist-and-progressive-on-the-issues-magazinerelaunches-online/) - by Contact managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com On the Issues Magazine, an award-winning print publication known for tantalizing progressive and feminist articles, announces a new online magazine venture at www.OnTheIssuesMagazine.com. "Today's political climate of crisis and uncertainty, of continuing and intensifying attacks on women in the U.S. and around the globe, demands a voice of courage and conviction," said Merle Hoffman, publisher
- [May 21, 2008 HIV-AIDS and Women Equals Misogyny finds "On The Issues Magazine," Publishing Online with new OCR Technology](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/may-21-2008-hiv-aids-and-women-equals-misogyny-finds-on-the-issues-magazine-publishing-online-with-new-ocr-technology/) - by Contact: On The Issues Magazine - managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com NEW YORK: HIV-AIDS is crossing the gender divide and targeting women while the world looks the other way. What is a woman worth? asks ON THE ISSUES MAGAZINE ONLINE in a series of probing articles and art that explore the deadly cocktail of sexism, silence and HIV. The
- [June 24, 2008 Women At Risk for HIV-AIDS by Sexism in Media, Down-Low Effect, Global Gag Rule in Probing New Commentary of On The Issues Magazine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/june-24-2008-women-at-risk-for-hiv-aids-by-sexism-in-media-down-low-effect-global-gag-rule-in-probing-new-commentary-of-on-the-issues-magazine/) - by Contact: ManagingEditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com Men on the "down low" go to extreme lengths to deceive the women they marry about their sexual encounters with other men because of self-hatred and denial, a practice that puts women at risk for HIV, writes Natalie Bell in "The Down Low Effect," an essay at On The Issues Magazine Online. In addition, women
- [July 22, 2008 Time for Media and Feminists To Penetrate Prostitution: On The Issues Magazine Challenges Stale Stereotypes](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/july-22-2008-time-for-media-and-feminists-to-penetrate-prostitution-on-the-issues-magazine-challenges-stale-stereotypes/) - by Contact: ontheissuesmagazine@yahoo.com NEW YORK: Prostitution penetrated the news in a major way in recent months -- from ex-governor Eliot Spitzer of New York and his paid binges with women to the suicide of DC madam Deborah Jeane Palfrey and the Showtime fluff of "Secret Diary of A Call Girl" But the media, politicians and feminists
- [December 10, 2008 New York Times Can Find Terror for Women in the U.S.](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/december-10-2008-new-york-times-can-find-terror-for-women-in-the-u-s/) - by Contact: Managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com In a commentary on On The Issues Magazine,, publisher and editor-in-chief Merle Hoffman commented on a recent column by Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times, "Terrorism That's Personal," filed from Islamabad. It describes horrific acid attacks that leave women disfigured, blind and outcast. But, notes Hoffman, Kristof didn't have to travel to Asia to learn about the
- [March 12, 2009 New Feminist Revolutions from On The Issues Magazine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/march-12-2009-new-feminist-revolutions-from-on-the-issues-magazine/) - by Contact: 718-391-0023 managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.comMarch is Women's History Month and On The Issues Magazine is featuring articles about what kinds of New Revolutions are needed across the globe for women. Iranian exiles in California and Europe raised their voices against oppression and gender restrictions in the Islamic Republic of Iran, as explained by Sussan G., who
- [March 19, 2009 The Pope, Condoms and The Cafe](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/march-19-2009-the-pope-condoms-and-the-cafe/) - by ManagingEditor@On The Issues Magazine 718-391-0023 The Pope's recent statement on condom usage in Africa has created an international uproar, and rightly so. The Pope's assertion that condom usage has made the problem of HIV/AIDS in Africa worse contradicts the facts and is a death sentence for African women. Last year we called attention to the issue
- [April 29, 2009 Higher Ground, Not Common Ground: Our Lines in the Sand](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/april-29-2009-higher-ground-not-common-ground-our-lines-in-the-sand/) - by Contact: OnTheIssuesMagazine@yahoo.com Lines in the sand... What are yours? Our lines are the values and principles that motivate and inform our lives, inspire action and require resistance and sacrifice. The theme of the new edition was provoked by today's too-prevalent sentiment to compromise principles in the interests of seeking "common ground" and reconciliation with opposing
- [May 14, 2009 Intimate Lines in the Sand](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/may-14-2009-intimate-lines-in-the-sand/) - by OnTheIssuesMagazine@yahoo.com 718-391-0023 The transcendent values we fight for are beyond the political. Sex inspires lines in the sand, too. In our Spring edition, three writers explore Intimate Lines. Popular music is filled with sexually explicit content and misogyny. That's nothing new. But in "Teaching Daughters About Lollipop Politics," Margot Mifflin discusses what pop lyrics generally teach kids about sex-
- [June 4, 2009 Dr. George Tiller: A Life Lived on the Line](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/june-4-2009-dr-george-tiller-a-life-lived-on-the-line/) - by OnTheIssuesMagazine@yahoo.com 718-391-0023 Statement from Merle HoffmanPresident, CHOICES Women's Medical CenterPublisher and Editor-in-Chief, On The Issues Magazine George Tiller was a friend, comrade and associate of mine for over a quarter of a century. I would share time and ideas with him at conferences, refer patients for his services and exchange holiday gifts with his staff. He, like so
- [October 6, 2009 Domestic Violence Awareness Month Inspires Art](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/october-6-2009-domestic-violence-awareness-month-inspires-art/) - by Managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com For Domestic Violence Awareness Month, On The Issues Magazine features an exclusive article by playwright Nancy Genova, whose play "The Death of a Dream," opens in New York City on Oct. 23. Genova's play is based on her own private, personal, professional and artistic experiences. "This piece was tugging at me," Genova writes in "The Death
- [November 3, 2009: Race, Feminism, Our Future: New Edition at On The Issues Magazine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/november-3-2009-race-feminism-our-future-new-edition-at-on-the-issues-magazine/) - by Managing Editor Managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com What do postfeminism and postracialism have to do with liberation and freedom? "Nothing, not a single thing," says the new edition of On The Issues Magazine. "The 'post' terms, thrown about vigorously by pundits, send out signals that the problems of our society related to gender and race have magically flown away
- [November 5, 2009 Launch of Race, Feminism, Our Future](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/november-5-2009-launch-of-race-feminism-our-future/) - by Contact: Managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com On The Issues Magazine launched its Fall 2009 edition, "Race, Feminism, Our Future." Writers and artists address the two provocative topics -- race and feminism -- by presenting visionary ideas. What do postfeminism and postracialism have to do with liberation and freedom? "Nothing, not a single thing," write the editors. Rinku Sen tackles postracialism and argues that racial
- [February 5, 2010 Passion, Freedom & Women: Winter 2010 On The Issues Magazine Is Launched](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/february-5-2010-passion-freedom-women-winter-2010-on-the-issues-magazine-is-launched/) - by Contact: ontheissuesmagazine@yahoo.com Aung San Suu Kyi, Aminatou Haider, Harriett Tubman, German anti-Nazi resistance fighters abortion providers. The winter edition of On The Issues Magazine, "Passion, Freedom & Women," focuses on women who have fought for freedom, even at their own peril. The winter edition of On The Issues Magazine, "Passion, Freedom & Women," focuses on women who have fought
- [The Hyde Amendment: Unacceptable for More Than 30 Years](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/hoffman-merle/the-hyde-amendment-unacceptable-for-more-than-30-years/) - by Merle Hoffman It was a major tactical and long-term strategic error of the Pro-choice movement to not have unleashed a massive outpouring of political anger, or a march on Washington, after the initial passage of the Hyde amendment in 1976. What was unacceptable then, should be even more unacceptable now. The amendment said Medicaid
- [The Feminist Mind, Spring 2010](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/the-feminist-mind-spring-2010/) - by From The Editors How do we, as feminists and progressives, keep thinking fresh and alive during these difficult times? How do we feed our heads? In "The Feminist Mind," our writers and artists address "out of the box" learning. Can engagement with the arts through imagination and empathy teach us to be better citizens
- [Sex, Seminaries and Wonder Woman's New Look](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/sex-seminaries-and-wonder-womans-new-look/) - by contactus@ontheissuesmagazine.com Don't miss the new articles in The Cafe at On The Issues Magazine: Pro-choice activists today need to take a lesson from second wave feminists of the 60s and 70s, writes Carol Downer in "A Blast From the Past Can Secure Abortion Rights." "We need women who have had abortions to share the story
- [New Wonder Woman: A Missed Opportunity](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/new-wonder-woman-a-missed-opportunity/) - by contactus@ontheissuesmagazine.com Art Editor Linda Stein responds to Wonder Woman's new depiction and persona in "Wonder Woman Confronts a Makeover Moment: A Missed Chance." DC Comics had its chance, and it missed the moment. In wanting to give Wonder Woman a trendy present-day persona, it released her new look on June 30, 2010 in issue number
- [EQUALITY: How much further away?: Summer, 2010 Issue Up Now](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/equality-how-much-further-away-summer-2010-issue-up-now/) - by contactus@ontheissuesmagazine.com How are women faring on "equality"? What remains unequal? And is equality really the summit for progressives and feminists, or only one more mountain to climb? With the 90th anniversary of women's right to vote upon us -- and August 26th is designated as Women's Equality Day, On The Issues Magazine invited writers, artists
- [Women's Equality Day: After 90 Years, Where Do Women Stand?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/womens-equality-day-after-90-years-where-do-women-stand/) - by On The Issues Magazine It has been 90 years since women won the right to vote, and what's happened since then? Today is Women's Equality Day, designated by Congress at the request of Rep. Bella Abzug in 1971 to mark the anniversary of women's right to vote. On The Issues Magazine's summer edition "EQUALITY:
- [YouTube, Slam Poetry & Remembering Jill Johnston](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/youtube-slam-poetry-remembering-jill-johnston/) - by Editors On The Issues Magazine on YouTube On The Issues Magazine is on YouTube! See our page for all the videos we've posted on the site including our first original video essay, on Audra Fordin, female car mechanic. The video was produced by Ann Farmer. We want to know what you think. Go to the page,
- [Merle Hoffman, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief, Wins Front Page Award](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/merle-hoffman-publisher-and-editor-in-chief-wins-front-page-award/) - by The Newswomen's Club of New York Front Page Awards for 2010 to Recognize the Work of 31 Women in the Media AP's Edith Lederer to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award from Newswomen's Club of New York New York Times' Gretchen Morgenson to Receive Reporter of the Year Award Political unrest at the G20 summit, Alzheimer's
- [Merle Hoffman Wins Prestigious Front Page Award](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/merle-hoffman-wins-prestigious-front-page-award/) - by Editors We are delighted and proud to announce that the Newswomen's Club of New York has awarded Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Merle Hoffman its 2010 Front Page Award for political commentary. Hoffman's article, "Selecting the Same Sex", appeared in the "Our Genders Our Rights" edition of On The Issues Magazine and discusses the complex, troubling practice of aborting female fetuses while firmly upholding women's right
- [Anti-Choice Tactics Attempt to Codify The Hyde Amendment Into Permanent Law](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/anti-choice-tactics-attempt-to-codify-the-hyde-amendment-into-permanent-law/) - by The Editors Today, House Republicans pulled a frightening revision from HR3, or "The No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act" that would have redefined rape and make pregnant rape survivors prove their sexual assault was "forcible," leaving many survivors by the wayside. But removing this language should not be considered a major victory, as this
- [On The Issues Magazine Launches: 'The Ecology of Women'](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/on-the-issues-magazine-launches-the-ecology-of-women/) - by The Editors The Spring 2011 edition of On The Issues Magazine "The Ecology of Women" examines how environmental health affects women's lives, particularly the toxins and chemicals that enter our bodies from the air, water, food and consumer products. These toxins are implicated as possible causes of conditions like cancer, early puberty, infertility, miscarriages, and
- [Choices Women's Medical Center Announces Expansion To Jamaica, Queens](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/choices-womens-medical-center-announces-expansion-to-jamaica-queens/) - by Cara Amore For More Information and to Attend Luncheon Contact:Cara AmoreDirector of Marketing/Outreach718-349-9100 ext. 116camore@choicesmedical.com On Wednesday, October 26, 2011, Choices Women's Medical Center will announce its upcoming expansion to Jamaica, Queens and celebrate its 40th Anniversary at a luncheon at O Lavrador Restaurant in Jamaica. The luncheon will feature remarks from New York
- [On The Issues Magazine and Merle Hoffman Take on The Past, Present and Future of Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/on-the-issues-magazine-and-merle-hoffman-take-on-the-past-present-and-future-of-abortion/) - by The Editors NEW YORK -- To mark four decades of women exercising the right to have an abortion and the beginning of a major presidential election year, high profile activists, authors and thought leaders in the reproductive rights and justice movements join Merle Hoffman and On The Issues Magazine for a special issue sparking
- [The Day After: Feminist Leaders and Writers On The Issues That Will Remain After the Elections](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/the-day-after-feminist-leaders-and-writers-on-the-issues-that-will-remain-after-the-elections/) - by Editors NEW YORK (September 12, 2012) - Between political convention battles, the war on women, and a pivotal presidential election for the nation, there is one lingering question that is on the minds of every American: What will the day after the elections look like? Leading feminist writers, thinkers and thought leaders bring this
- [October 1, 2008 On The Issues Magazine: WHAT IS TERROR FOR WOMEN](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/october-1-2008-on-the-issues-magazine-what-is-terror-for-women/) - by Contact: managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com NEW YORK On the Issues Magazine, the progressive feminist online publication's current web release, WHAT IS TERROR FOR WOMEN (AND WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT) revisits the concept of the "War on Terror." In a series of articles, essays, commentary and art, writers and thinks look at the terror that affects women in their
- [January 21, 2009 On The Issues Magazine: NEW REVOLUTIONS](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/january-21-2009-on-the-issues-magazine-new-revolutions/) - by Contact: managingeditor@ontheissuesmagazine.com NEW YORK: On the Issues Magazine, the progressive feminist online publication's current web release,NEW REVOLUTIONS, provides a breadth of vision not likely discussed by the new transition team nor in the Oval Office. On The Issues' January lineup of controversial pieces shed light on the bigger-picture thinking that truly matters and examine contemporary social
- [July 30, 2009 "Our Genders, Our Rights," Summer 2009 Edition](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/july-30-2009-our-genders-our-rights-summer-2009-edition/) - by OnTheIssuesMagazine@yahoo.com 718-391-0023 On The Issues Magazine launched "Our Genders, Our Rights," its Summer 2009 edition. A unique combination of articles, poetry, art and videos focus on a topic that is both utterly fundamental and wildly revolutionary: gender norms and gender identity. Top writers discuss sex-selection abortion, gender expression, "Intersex" self-identification and a first-hand account of forced sex roles
- [How to Keep Thinking Radically](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/how-to-keep-thinking-radically/) - by contactus@ontheissuesmagazine.com In "The Feminist Mind," On The Issues Magazine explores ways to inspire feminists and others to continue thinking radically. Eleanor J. Bader looks at the proposal already approved by the French National Assembly, to categorize verbal abuse as domestic violence, in "To Halt Emotional Abuse, French Law Teaches Bullies a Lesson." "Verbal abuse often goes
- [On The Issues Magazine Launches, "Women, War and Peace"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-release/on-the-issues-magazine-launches-women-war-and-peace/) - by On The Issues Magazine NEW YORK, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As the U.S. rounds the corner into a decade of war, Women, War and Peace, the Summer 2011 edition of On The Issues Magazine, takes a look at an age-old topic with a 21st century lens. In Gender Values: The Costs of War,
- [On The Issues Magazine Launches, Level the Playing Field: Girls, Women and Sports](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/the-editors/on-the-issues-magazine-launches-level-the-playing-field-girls-women-and-sports/) - by The Editors NEW YORK | The convergence of two events this summer brings excitement and attention to women in sports: the anniversary of Title IX, which opened the way for women's greater participation in sports in the U.S., is on June 23, 2012, 40 years since its passage. And on July 27 is the
- [Can Separate Be Equal in Women's Health? OTI Interview with Eileen Hoffman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/can-separate-be-equal-in-womens-healthoti-interview-with-eileen-hoffman/) - Dropping the laboring woman on the bed was an ancient method of hastening childbirth among the ancient Greeks in the time of Hippocrates. New ideas for improving women's health care have been in the air since the highly publicized 1990 U.S. General Accounting Office study which noted how infrequently women are included in clinical trials
- [Media Tools Counter War Violence Against Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/media-tools-counter-war-violence-against-women-2/) - By Ariel Dougherty On election day many hope for a transformation away from the politics of war, greed and repression. Many San Franciscans also hope for a transformation for sex workers and our families, away from violence and criminalization. Proposition K on the San Francisco ballot calls for the decriminalization of consenting sex, and for
- [Loretta Ross Unmasks Anti-Abortion Message](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2010winter/loretta-ross-unmasks-anti-abortion-message/) - By Cynthia L Cooper When I was a little girl in the mid to late 1980s, I thought hippies were the coolest thing. Peace, love, ending war, fighting for civil rights these all seemed like ideas I could get behind. My father, who refused to cut his hair or wear a suit, is the one
- [Clean Up: Shareholder Activism Pushes Companies Larissa Ruoff](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2011spring/clean-up-shareholder-activism-pushes-companies-larissa-ruoff/) - May 3, 2011 One in six women of childbearing age have elevated levels of mercury in her bloodstream, which, if she were to become pregnant, could put her child at risk, reported a January 2011 study, "Dirty Energy's Assault on Our Health: Mercury," by Shelley Vineyard and Lauren Randall of the Environment America Research and
- [Ending Wartime Rape Means Ending War and Patriarchy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/ending-wartime-rape-means-ending-war-and-patriarchy/) - By Judith Avory Faucette August 17, 2011 The international legal system treats rape in wartime as a serious crime, especially when it is used in a systematic way as a weapon of war. But what the law says about rape is only a tiny, tiny part of the picture, and that picture is a bleak
- [A Prayer for the Girl Child](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-prayer-for-the-girl-child/) - By Suzanne Stutman When I grow upPlease let me:Be safe.Learn to read and write.Live with my parentsAnd my brothers and sisters.Not be sold to workAs an indentured servantOr a sex slave.Have enough foodAnd clean waterTo enable me to haveA healthy body and mind.Keep my sexual organsIntact and not mutilated.Allowed to love and marryThe person of
- [Race and Gender: Two Lovers Who Dare to Kiss](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/race-and-gender-two-lovers-who-dare-to-kiss/) - By L.A. Bailey What would happen to America if race and gender decided to unleash their passion and proclaim their undying love, respect, desire and need for one another What would happen if the two achieved their collective vision and birthed a dream of a world that deconstructs and eliminates barriers that block the progress
- [A Poem: Barrettes, Bandages and Butterflies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/a-poem-barrettes-bandages-and-butterflies/) - by Donna Nelson October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This poem "Barrettes, Bandages and Butterflies," was inspired by my friend who passed away in April. The poem is about the malignant nature of domestic violence, but also the venomous feeling of entitlement that some human beings feel they possess over another human life. So many mothers have been
- [Why Annie Got Her Gun](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/why-annie-got-her-gun/) - by Carolyn Gage ANNIE OAKLEY HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PROBLEM FOR FEMINISTS. The world's champion sharpshooter, she stalwartly refused to align herself with any of the women's reform movements of her day, including suffrage. Who should have understood better the need for the bloomer costume than the woman who made a career of slogging through
- [The Tyranny of the Esthetic Surgery's Most Intimate Violation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-tyranny-of-the-esthetic-surgerys-most-intimate-violation/) - by Martha Coventry Sexual conformity at the point of a knife is being forced on women whose genitals are declared not "normal" -- with devastating results Big clitorises aren't allowed in America. By big, I mean over three-eighths of an inch for newborns, about the size of a pencil eraser. Tiny penises, under one inch,
- [Poem Honoring Slain Abortion Doctor, Again](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2009spring/poem-honoring-slain-abortion-doctor-again/) - Obstetrician Murdered by Terrorist in Amherst, New Yorkby Judith Arcana This poem, written for Barnett Slepianis here dedicated, in memoriamand with gratitude, to George Tiller The doctor went into the kitchenwhere if you can't stand the heatyou don't stand by the windowand he stood there, he came into maybe drink a glass of water,and there
- [Justice Still Awaits Terror Victims in Algeria](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/justice-still-awaits-terror-victims-in-algeria/) - By Malika Zouba Years of terror at the hands of religious fundamentalists have left bruises beyond remedy for women in Algeria , even as women led the struggle to fight back against their vicious tactics seeking to enforce gender inequality. From symbolic annihilation of womens bodies by forcing them to cover their bodies or faces
- [The Dangerous Complacency of Victory](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2008fall/the-dangerous-complacency-of-victory/) - By Merle Hoffman In the midst of my elation, shared with so many others, over the election of Barack Obama -- the transcendence of the moment, the breaking of the racial barrier and a new puppy in the White House -- I remembered that there is a complacency that can result from victory. This is
- [A Quiet Revolution](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/a-quiet-revolution/) - by Lila A. Wallis, MD A quiet revolution has been taking place in American medical schools during the last decade. Learning from patients has long been the basis of medical education, but the patients' traditional role in this process has been passive: to be just a body for examination and a voice to answer questions.
- [Women on War and Survival, Ending Nuclear Overkill and War](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/women-on-war-and-survival-ending-nuclear-overkill-and-war/) - by Daniela Gioseffi The enemy is always thought to have no real humanity or he couldn't be murdered so easily. Are you one of those thinking that glasnost and the demise of the Berlin Wall means the end of nuclear overkill and war? Then, think again, as avoidance and media cover-ups, or peace breaking out
- [Mothers in the Fatherland, Interview with author Claudia Koonz on Women in Nazi Germany](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/mothers-in-the-fatherland-interview-with-author-claudia-koonz-on-women-in-nazi-germany/) - by Fred Pelka People would turn up in the Nazi camp whom I was utterly surprised to find there Claudia Koonz remembers being a grade school student in small-town Wisconsin and watching the Army- McCarthy hearings on TV. "We were let out of school so we could go home and watch, because we would want
- [Fay Stender and the Politics of Murder](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/fay-stender-and-the-politics-of-murder/) - by Diana Russell Mass killings were considered gender-neutral before Lepine's frenzied shooting of "fucking feminists" This is one person's account of an event that happened in 1979, but had its roots in the turbulent '60s. No picture of those times would be complete without noting that various government agencies were extremely active spying on and
- ["I AM SOMEBODY" Barbara's Story](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/i-am-somebody-barbaras-story/) - by M. Robbyn Swan Barbara, 42, is lying in the middle of the living room floor in a pool of her own urine, tooting a brightly colored paper horn. It is New Year's Eve. I've just come in from an evening with friends. As I approach, Barbara rises and stands swaying before me. On her
- [Ginny Nelson, A Sister of the Road](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/ginny-nelson-a-sister-of-the-road/) - by Shannon Moon Leonetti I don't spend as much time in the restaurant actually serving and cooking like I used to," says Genny Nelson, co-founder and executive director of the Sisters of the Road Cafe. Sisters of the Road is a small diner located in the heart of Portland, Oregon's Burnside community. It's a place
- [THE FULL EXTENT OF THE DAMAGE: The Hidden Children of the Shoah](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-full-extent-of-the-damage-the-hidden-children-of-the-shoah/) - by Beverly Lowy "Childhood is a time when ayoung person learns to love and trust. You weretaught a brutal lesson at anearly, early age, that the world of mankind wasnot to be trusted. You begana life without a childhood - call it 'hiddenchildhood' - but you know youwere old before you were young. You lost
- [YOU CAN GO HOME AGAIN: An Interview With Melissa Fay Greene](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/you-can-go-home-again-an-interview-with-melissa-fay-greene/) - by Eleanor J. Bader "All I ever wanted to do was write," says 39-year-old National Book Award nominee Melissa Fay Greene, author of Praying for Sheetrock. "But I didn't know how to make the connection between high school and college writing and making a living. After I graduated from Oberlin college in 1975,1 sent letters to
- [Women Whistleblowers: What They Say, the Price They Pay](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/women-whistleblowers-what-they-say-the-price-they-pay/) - by Elaine Clift hen Suzanne Hadley said "no" to her boss last year, "it seemed like the most natural thing in the world to say." Karen Pitts and Jackie Brever thought so too when they said "yes" to the FBI. Little did these women suspect that they would be shunned, harassed and treated like pariahs,
- [Bike Lust](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/bike-lust/) - by Barbara Joans hree days ago, I picked up my new bike, a Harley-Davidson Lowrider (FXD). She's black, of course, and incredibly beautiful. She's streamlined and sleek and powerful. Since she arrived I have been able to focus upon nothing but my bike. All else pales. She calls to me. I sit in my bedroom,
- [The Ugly Duchess She was everything a woman wasn't supposed to be](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-ugly-duchess-she-was-everything-a-woman-wasnt-supposed-to-be/) - By Edith Pearlman The Ugly Duchess haunts me. She has haunted me since our first encounter, when I was seven. I was sitting with my parents on a train bound for New York reading Alice in Wonderland. The Duchess—a character in the book—was also sitting, on a stool in her kitchen. She was in a
- ["One Must be Ready for Time and Eternity," The Legacy of Bertha Pappenheim](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/one-must-be-ready-for-time-and-eternity-the-legacy-of-bertha-pappenheim/) - by Melinda Given Guttman SHE BECAME A LEGEND TWICE IN HER LIFE. FIRST AS ANNA O., DESCRIBED BY JOSEPH BREUER IN Studies on Hysteria, a book he coauthored with Sigmund Freud, as a beautiful, fragile, poetic hysteric, "with a powerful intellect and a penetrating intuition who was suffocated by an extremely monotonous existence of an upper-class
- [THE GOOD (AND NOT SO GOOD) MOTHER](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-good-and-not-so-good-mother/) - Book Reviews by Robin Bromley The notion of motherhood, never simple or particularly stable, is again under pressure -- this time on several fronts. While advances in reproductive technology and changes in family structures stir debate about where, when and why women want children, the sharp increase in working mothers heightens the tension between self-fulfillment
- [BIOLOGY AND DESTINY: The Feminist Awakening of Nobel Prize Winner Rita Levi-Montalcini](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/biology-and-destiny-the-feminist-awakening-of-nobel-prize-winner-rita-levi-montalcini/) - by Ruby Rohrlich HOW COULD YOU RETURN TO LIVE IN a country that persecuted you, that took away your citizenship, your profession, and forced you to live underground to survive?" Rita Levi-Montalcini, winner of the 1986 Nobel Prize in Science, never answered my question. Instead, smiling a little, she set down her watering can amid
- [No Tears Left: One Nanny's Odyssey in America](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/no-tears-left-one-nannys-odyssey-in-america/) - by Camille Small Who's caring for the children of America? It's a topic that gets lots of media attention now, not all of it good. Every couple of months a network news program airs an expose on bad daycare centers or about abusive nannies. While I would never condone child abuse under any circumstances, such
- [GIRLS AND THE BUSINESS OF SEX: From Senegal to Philadelphia, girls getting out of "the life." One Woman With a Mission](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/girls-and-the-business-of-sex-from-senegal-to-philadelphia-girls-getting-out-of-the-life-one-woman-with-a-mission/) - by Dylan Foley and Andrea D'Asaro middle of a crackdown on prostitution as part of a campaign against "social evils," and the owner's husband recently ran off with one of the girls who worked for her. "My girls are free to leave the house, not like other girls in the area," boasted the madam, sitting
- [When death is a constant companion: Why Women Reporters Go to War](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/when-death-is-a-constant-companion-why-women-reporters-go-to-war/) - by Marilyn Stasio Between the depression and the danger, the fear and the futility, what makes these women go through this kind of hell, anyway? Dickey Chappelle, pioneer combat reporter and photographer, at the frontline, which she dubbed "bayonet borders of the world," shortly before she died on assignment in Vietnam. Dickey Chapelle died with
- [Saving the World : Motherhood as Advocacy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/saving-the-world-motherhood-as-advocacy/) - by Michelle Brockway A confusion of sounds. She would call me back, she said. But my phone didn't ring, and no one answered hers. She could be downtown, she could be dead. I sped along dim freeways, past the yellow lights of the factories on her side of town. I imagined her father as powerful
- [My Grandmother's Stories](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/my-grandmothers-stories/) - by Jody Lannen Brady My grandmother told me the same stories over and over. Many times she'd recount the tale of receiving her first paycheck and what she bought with it (a housedress for her mother and a shirt for her brother). She also liked to tell me how she'd caught her nephew Edward, who'd
- [Serving the Sentence: From both sides of the bars](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/serving-the-sentence-from-both-sides-of-the-bars/) - by Deborah Shouse My friend Elizabeth is in prison. "Please send me poetry books," she writes. I imagine her sitting in her cell until lights out, reading Keats or Marge Piercy, and writing letters to her husband and son. I imagine her lying on the two-inch mattress, tucking the thin blanket around her, grieving over
- [The Hormone Wars: Mothers, Daughters and Estrogen](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-hormone-wars-mothers-daughters-and-estrogen/) - by Loretta Williams It started just as the bus left the expressway. The familiar warmth began somewhere near my waistline, and crept upward, spreading a layer of hot moisture that would end at my scalp - where icy-hot ringers would make my roots stand on end. I felt my underwear starting to cling, and instinctively
- [Always in Your Face, Flo Kennedy, An Activist Forever](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/always-in-your-face-flo-kennedy-an-activist-forever/) - by Beverly Lowy Perhaps nothing is more awe-inspiring than the accomplishments of African American women, some famous and some unknown except to those whose lives they have touched. All are heroines who have struggled past the barriers of racism, classcism, sexism and often the most dire poverty, to leave a positive mark in the world.
- [A Fighter from the Bronx](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-fighter-from-the-bronx/) - Bella Abzug, "the Bronx's gift to the nation, and now the world," was awarded the 1994 Veteran Feminists of America Medal of Honor. The former congresswoman, now 74, was the U.S. delegate to the recent Cairo population conference, where she helped organize the daily women's caucus to ensure the conference's final document reflected the reality
- [Forever Bella](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/forever-bella/) - Pioneer, visionary, feminist, mentor, revolutionary, woman of the people, principled politician. She had a great heart and extraordinary energy - and the courage always to speak truth to power. Comrade and friend, she was always right ON THE ISSUES: "I am not elevating women to sainthood, nor am I suggesting that all women are good
- [The Crusade of Karen Thompson](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-crusade-of-karen-thompson/) - by Merle Hoffman For Karen Thompson, the personal has indeed become the political; and for someone like Karen - a very private person who was never issue-oriented - the path to activism has resulted in an upheaval of her entire life. The story of Karen Thompson and Sharon Kowalski began as a love story and
- [The Making of A Radical Feminist:<br>a Different Perspective on Andrea Dworkin<br>in an Intimate, Candid Interview](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-making-of-a-radical-feminista-different-perspective-on-andrea-dworkinin-an-intimate-candid-interview/) - OTI: How did Andrea Dworkin become Andrea Dworkin? AD: I come from a family with strong political principles and deep human rights convictions, so I was brought up thinking about human rights. My parents were the first generation born in this country, with father's parents from Russia and my mother's from Hungary. My parents were
- [On The Trail Of Jane The Fool](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/on-the-trail-of-jane-the-fool/) - by Denise Selleck As a superstitious person, I would never have started this project had I realized that it was Friday the 13th when I first learned of Jane. I was on a tour of Hampton Court Palace in England when the guide happened to mention that one particular picture of Henry VTII and his
- [To Pee or Not to Pee, Sexism at Harvard](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/to-pee-or-not-to-pee-sexism-at-harvard/) - by Irene Davall She grabbed the ringing phone and said brusquely "Flo Kennedy here." The caller, who spoke with a soft southern drawl, identified herself as a third -year divinity student at Cambridge. "I'm calling to tell you about a problem at Harvard and to ask for your advice and help." The year was 1973. After
- [Women Travelers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/women-travelers/) - by Willie Mao Kneupper A Victorian traveler, Marianne North, imposed on herself the task of painting all the world's tropical flora. In 1882, over 800 of her paintings were put on display. A man who accidentally saw her paintings became very interested and told her, "...it is lucky for you that you did not live
- [I Dream A World: Portraits of 75 Women Who Changed America Interview with Photographer Brian Lanker](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/i-dream-a-world-portraits-of-75-women-who-changed-america-interview-with-photographer-brian-lanker/) - by Eleanor J. Bader To some, no doubt, it is sheer fantasy to dream a world free of racism, classism, sexism and heterosexism. But to others it is a way to survive, a way to channel energy, creativity and love into a better tomorrow. For more than 200 years, American women, men and sometimes even
- [Hysterical Housewives (And Other Courageous Women)](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/hysterical-housewives-and-other-courageous-women/) - by Karen Jan Stults Women committed to a cause, especially one being fought at the grassroots level, are often labeled "hysterical". When Cora Tucker, a Black woman who's been organizing in the South for years, was called a hysterical housewife at the Virginia General Assembly, she said, "...You're exactly right. I'm hysterical. And when it
- [Following The Vision: 50 Years In The Nonviolent Movement How a Violent Childhood Created a Pacifist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/following-the-vision-50-years-in-the-nonviolent-movement-how-a-violent-childhood-created-a-pacifist/) - by Marjorie Swann My first arrest was for picketing in front of the British Embassy in support of freedom for India and for the release of Mahatma Gandhi from prison. El Salvador: Un Canto Por La Paz, A Festival of Music for Peace in Following the Vision: 50 Years in the Non-Violent Movement, Marjorie Swann,
- [Interview with Kate Millett : BREAKING THE BARRIERS](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/interview-with-kate-millett-breaking-the-barriers/) - Merle Hoffman Interviews Kate Millett "There is an enormous psychic rocket effect with coming out .. .you've broken the last barrier.. .there's nothing they can do to you anymore." "Our tire got busted and we need somebody who knows how to change a tire." "We should decriminalize prostitution because it is sexually more progressive than
- [The Teen Who Just Said "No!"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-teen-who-just-said-no/) - Interview by Roberta Kalechofky "...the silence of the students is hardly less ominous than the perversion of the professor." So wrote John Vyvyan, in his classic study of the Antivivisection Movement, The Dark Face of Science. It was a comment on a passage written by Carl Jung, reminiscing about his days as a medical student
- [The Invisible Woman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-invisible-woman/) - by Melody Anderson and Leora Magler In midlife. according to the Harvard Medical School Mental Health Letter, women experience more personal change than at any other time in their lives. "Middle-aged women are at risk for illness or death of a husband, divorce, separation, midlife crisis of a husband, unemployment, death of parents, caring for
- ["OUT OF THE CARING CLOSET": A Profile of Suzanne Gordon](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/out-of-the-caring-closet-a-profile-of-suzanne-gordon/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Writer Suzanne Gordon is a woman with a mission. Fiery though soft-spoken, angry yet pleasant, she wants people in the human services - counselors, nurses, social workers, teachers and therapists - to join with parents and those caring for elderly adults in putting forth a National Care Agenda. The agenda she
- [TO JAIL WITH LOVE An Interview with Linda Backiel](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/to-jail-with-love-an-interview-with-linda-backiel/) - By Patricia Lynden A radical defense lawyer describes her deep commitment to justice and why she went to prison to prove it. Last year, New York defense lawyer, Linda Backiel, was sent to jail for refusing to testify against a client who had jumped bail. The client, Elizabeth Duke, a self-described revolutionary, had fled five
- [Feminist Witchcraft In Today's World](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/feminist-witchcraft-in-todays-world/) - by Ann Forfreedom What is modern witchcraft, and why is a specifically feminist witchcraft needed? Many people who consider themselves to be contemporary "witches" or "pagans" feel they are reviving a millennia-old spirituality. Some harken back to cultures that worshipped Goddesses as well as Gods, and were led by priestesses and wise elder women. Others
- [A Survivor Remembers: America's Most Recent Major "Witch Hunt"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/a-survivor-remembers-americas-most-recent-major-witch-hunt/) - by Patricia Lynden The House Committee on UnAmerican Activities (HUAC) had been in existence since 1937, but it was not until 10 years later that it came into its own. World War II was over and the Soviet Union and the United States had begun their "cold war" for the rest of the world. In
- [Bitch Witches And Hysterical Girls](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/uncategorized/bitch-witches-and-hysterical-girls/) - by Fred Pelka Go to Gallows Hill Park in Salem and you will find no indication that 14 women and five men were hung there as witches. The rolling terrain is punctuated by gray boulders, covered with graffiti and the shards of broken beer bottles. An asphalt basketball court and a children's playground cover the
- [Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/deep-inside-annie-sprinkle/) - by Norine Dworkin Despite Western art's long tradition of the female nude, sex and art have, at best, an uneasy relationship. Traditional female nudes, styled by the male artist/creator to signify male pleasure and ownership, have taught women to view themselves as sexual commodities to be bought, sold and traded. But within a feminist context,
- [FUNNY FEMINISM : A TEEN PERSPECTIVE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/funny-feminism-a-teen-perspective/) - by Amy Wu Why is it that so many women love to be called "feminine," but cringe at the word "feminist"? What must a female do to prove that she is both a woman and a human being? Why is it that if a woman is pretty and wears skirts she is "feminine,'' if she
- [Stand-Up Feminism, The Subversive Power of Laughter](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/stand-up-feminism-the-subversive-power-of-laughter/) - by Norine Dworkin "It's not that I have penis envy. It's just that the people with them seem to go further in life. I wouldn't use it wantonly.. just when I wanted to be taken seriously."— Reno "Men love looking at pictures of two naked women together in their Penthouses but only f they're pretty.
- [Communiques from the Front: Young Activists Chart Feminism's Third Wave](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/communiques-from-the-front-young-activists-chart-feminisms-third-wave/) - by Bonnie Pfister From the loose coalition of punk rock teens calling themselves Riot Grrls to the recently reinvigorated Students Organizing Students, the past year has seen a parade of vibrant new young women's groups. Young women, it seems, are no longer afraid of the word "feminist": With the same spirit of gay activist groups
- [SHE JUST DOESN'T UNDERSTAND: The Feminist Face-Off on Pornography Legislation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1993fall/she-just-doesnt-understand-the-feminist-face-off-on-pornography-legislation/) - by Ellen Levy Listening to feminists wage war over anti-pornography legislation is a bit like watching characters face off in David Mamet's controversial new play "Oleanna," in which a student accuses her professor of sexual harassment: Plaintive and impassioned, both sides seem unable to understand each other. On one side are anti-pornography feminists who contend
- [HE SAID/ HE SAID](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/he-said-he-said/) - by John Stoltenberg This is written to men - but so that women can overhear every word. It discloses some things about intimate personal relationships that men are never really encouraged to understand, and that women are not supposed to know about at all. A man's internal conflicts can disrupt love and justice in male/female
- [The Mothers We Never Knew](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-mothers-we-never-knew/) - by Lynn Phillips We're supposed to revere our feminist foremothers, but most of us don't. One friend of mine describes the creators of American feminism as a bunch of "graham crackers - teetotaling, middle class goody-goodies on fad diets." I can't argue. Personally, I'd prefer foremothers with more screen presence, foremothers with killer haircuts like
- [Hair Daze : To Shave or Not to Shave?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/hair-daze-to-shave-or-not-to-shave/) - by Olivia James "IN MY DAY, IT ALL STARTED when you were fourteen. . .at Easter time," she says, pulling her long cotton skirt up to her thighs and scratching her upper leg above where it's socially acceptable to scratch. "You got high heels, pantyhose. . .it was a custom. I don't know how it
- [NADINE STROSSEN : The Pornography Industry's Wet Dream](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/nadine-strossen-the-pornography-industrys-wet-dream/) - By Diana E. H. Russell How many ACLU lawyers does it take to screw over women harmed by porn? Try this one. NADINE STROSSEN'S OBJECTIVE in Defending Pornography is to destroy the reputation and achievements of the feminist movement against pornography. To this end, she dishes up the same tired old caricature of us as anti-sex prudes, pro-censorship,
- [The Hillary Thing](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-hillary-thing/) - by Elayne Rapping In a review of the autobiography of Norma McCorvey—the Jane Roe of Roe v. Wade—in a recent issue of Tiie New York Times Book Review, novelist Susan Cheever bemoaned the feminist community's misfortune at having so faulty a heroine for so important a historic role. What were McCorvey s failings in Cheever
- [The Big Chill](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-big-chill/) - by Marlene C. Piturro Legal secretary Rena Weeks was astonished when a jury awarded her $7.1 million dollars for being forced to endure the gropings of Martin Greenstein, a partner at the world's largest law firm, Chicago-based Baker & McKenzie. Weeks and her lawyer had sought only $3.5 million. But several jurors, assessing the firm's
- [WHY HAVE A NOSE JOB? THE POWER OF BEAUTY By Nancy Friday](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/why-have-a-nose-job-the-power-of-beauty-by-nancy-friday/) - Reviewed By Lynn Wenzel WOMEN STILL STRUGGLE WITH BEAUTY and its power to shape our lives. In spite of some fine feminist writing on the subject over the past 20 years, women continue to pinch, cut, dye, run, starve, pluck, and reshape our bodies and faces to fit the prevailing standard. Beauty remains a subject
- [Fed Up with the Diet Industry](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/fed-up-with-the-diet-industry/) - by Dawn and Mary E. Atkins a daughter's story by Dawn E. Atkins I am the daughter of a fat woman... a wonderful, imaginative woman who raised four children in an often hostile world. When I was a teenager I helped her starve herself. One Mother's Day I gave her money to go to a
- [Ellen Snortland on the Chinese Peter Principle](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/ellen-snortland-on-the-chinese-peter-principle/) - The Chinese government did their best to see that we had as little contact as possible with the people of the People's Republic. Our tours were tightly guided by the government's own travel service. The guides were limited on how candid they could be about their own opinions on government policies, such as the one-child-per-family
- [The Appeal of Fundamentalism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-appeal-of-fundamentalism/) - by Frances Kissling Fundamentalism responds to people's fear of the modern world, and there are some very good reasons to be afraid. We are experiencing economic downturns and loss of security on a worldwide scale. In the developing world in the 1960s, '70s, and even the '80s, there was a sense of hopefulness about economic
- [The Kitchen Cabinet](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1995spring/the-kitchen-cabinet/) - by Julie Mertus News from the women's conference was dominated by matters of a more sensational sort: Would Hillary speak? Do the Chinese know how to run a world conference? Will women attending the meeting be harassed? Was there more? You better believe it. These were, after all, 30,000 women activists from around the world.
- [IS EQUALITY INDIGENOUS?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/is-equality-indigenous/) - by Sally Roesch Wagner The Untold Iroquois Influence on Early Radical Feminists: An intrepid historian tracks down the source of their revolutionary vision. I had been haunted by a question to the past, a mystery of feminist history: How did the radical suffragists come to their vision, a vision not of Band-Aid reform but of a
- [What Women Want by Patricia Ireland](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/what-women-want-by-patricia-ireland/) - Book Review by Carolyn G. Heilbrun Women's memoirs have been lavished upon us in recent years, and the genre, while at times overwhelming, is nonetheless welcome as endowing us with long-absent stories of women's lives and struggles. It is, however, important to note that Patricia Ireland's book, although a first-person narrative, is not a memoir;
- [Letter to an Older Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/letter-to-an-older-feminist/) - by Sanda Balaban Dear Phyllis: As you know, I was born in 1972, the same year as your book Women and Madness. In the twenty-six years since the so-called Second Wave of feminism flooded the world, doors have been flung open, and young women of my generation have passed through them. And this, perhaps, is the
- [My Body, My Choice, My Consent](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/my-body-my-choice-my-consent/) - by Eileen McDonagh CONSENT TO SEX IS NOT CONSENT TO PREGNANCY Nearly 25-years after feminists celebrated Roe v. Wade, many women still undergo pregnancy against their will. Their choice to have an abortion is blocked by the Supreme Court, which deemed it constitutional to prohibit federal funding or the use of public facilities for an
- [Who's Afraid of Feminism? Seeing Through the Backlash](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/whos-afraid-of-feminism-seeing-through-the-backlash/) - Book Review by Eleanor J. Bader So who's afraid of feminism? By the looks of it, just about everyone, including those of us who call ourselves feminists. But as this anthology reiterates, change is neither linear nor easy. Nearly 30 years ago, women began to enumerate the things that were wrong in their lives. From
- [H.O.M.E., One Woman's Approach to Society's Problems](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/h-o-m-e-one-womans-approach-to-societys-problems/) - by Helen M. Stummer Worrying about my tires seems appropriate, consistent. No matter what I do, if it is important or meaningful, my car runs badly. So here I am again, bumping and creeping along that rocky, rutted road to Mandala, worrying about getting a flat tire. Realistically, once off the main road, it is only
- [OKLAHOMA DIARY: Heartsick in the Heartland](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/oklahoma-diary-heartsick-in-the-heartland/) - by Andrea Peyser It took only minutes from the time some unseen hand blew a hole in the heart of this nation - killing nearly 200 children, women, and men while traumatizing an entire society - before the culprit was identified. Surely, the commentators soothed, this dastardly act was the work of Arab terrorists, or
- [How the Spirit Moves](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/how-the-spirit-moves/) - by Brenda & Wanda Henson At Mississippi's Camp Sister Spirit, survival is the best revenge. Here in the deep South, where you come from and who you belong to is everything. Folks will go to great lengths to find out who your people are and who belongs to you. What might be considered "nosy" in
- [Unfinished Business](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/unfinished-business/) - by Janice K. Bryant In the battle over a feminist monument, 150 years of racial tension resurfaces and a question reemerges: Is history written in stone? A statue of three suffragists, created more than 70 years ago, has been the focal point of anger, confusion and controversy since its conception. Now in the latest chapter
- [INTO YOUR HANDS ARE THEY DELIVERED:<br>A MEDITATION ON RIGHTS-TWO KINDS OR ONE?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/into-your-hands-are-they-delivereda-meditation-on-rights-two-kinds-or-one/) - by Julia Piggin In Circe, Giovanni Battista Gelli's famous 16th century series of fantasy-philosophical essays in the form of dialogues with enchanted animals, a deer complains of her treatment by men. "Your degrading us is impious and against the law of nature," she says. She accuses man of assuming tyrannical power and prerogatives, styling himself
- [Sex, Politics, and Psychology](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/sex-politics-and-psychology/) - by Raymond Rakow, M.D. The hallmark of any oppressive ideology is domination and subordination, viewed from a societal as well as an interpersonal perspective. From the standpoint of the oppressor, this refers to power over, as opposed to power shared, with another or others, with special attention to the marked inclination of victims to dump on
- [Metaphors of Nature: Vivisection and Pornography - The Manichean Machine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/metaphors-of-nature-vivisection-and-pornography-the-manichean-machine/) - by Roberta Kalechofsky 'The body has a sense of honor as well as the soul." - Thomas Mann Metaphors about nature are mirrors which reflect the human disposition in its relation to mysteries about the cosmos, reflections about human sexuality and the human presence in the universe. Our attitude towards nature is a building block
- [BREAKING BARRIERS<br>Women and Minorities in the Sciences](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/breaking-barrierswomen-and-minorities-in-the-sciences/) - Women and minorities are rare in the sciences. Why? And what can be done about it? On the Issues Interviews Paul E. Gray, President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Shirley M. McBay, Dean for Student Affairs, MIT On The Issues (OTI): What percent of the undergraduate population do women make up at MIT? Has
- [The Politics of Violence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/the-politics-of-violence/) - by Charlotte Bunch Global military spending has, for decades, consumed national and international resources desperately needed for human development. The state of permanent readiness for war between the U.S. and the Soviet Union and actual warfare in the Third World has permeated our globe with a militaristic atmosphere that glorifies violence and accepts domination by
- [Population Control – Out of Control?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/population-control-out-of-control/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Anything you can do to protect the future has to deal with population and its continued growth. "Seeing triple?" asks the ad from Zero Population Growth (ZPG). "World population, now at 5.4 billion, could nearly triple to 14 billion in the next century," it explains. "Yet, the impact of our present
- [Motherhood and Feminism, Feminist Writer Jane Lazarre](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/motherhood-and-feminism-feminist-writer-jane-lazarre/) - by Eleanor Bader One word comes to mind after a few minutes in the company of Jane Lazarre: Intense. She speaks slowly, weighing each thought carefully before giving voice to the ideas that inform her writing, her life. Forty-seven, married and the mother of two sons, she is the director of the writing program at
- [Building The Third Wave:<br>Reflections Of A Young Feminist](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/building-the-third-wavereflections-of-a-young-feminist/) - by Laurie Ouellette I am a member of the first generation of women to benefit from the gains of the 1970s' women's movement without having participated in its struggles. I grew up on the sidelines of feminism - too young to take part in those moments, debates and events that would define the women's movement,
- [Raising Sons as Allies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/feminism/raising-sons-as-allies/) - By Paul Kivel While Race and Gender Wars Rage, What Can Parents Do On The Home Front? FROM A VERY EARLY AGE BOYS ARE TOLD AND TRAINED TO "act like a man." To illustrate what that feels like, the Oakland Men's Project devised the "Act Like a Man" box on the opposite page. We know
- [Sharing the Wealth of Knowledge on Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/2012winter/sharing-the-wealth-of-knowledge-on-abortion/) - by Ria Sen and The Feminist Press The passionate writers who record stories of abortion -- personal memories, histories, theory -- make the language of the reproductive rights movement available, and, perhaps more importantly, keep it alive and flourishing. The seven books described below, selected by the staff of The Feminist Press, serve to supplement the
- [Nowhere to Hide: Everyday warrior Patricia Baird-Windle](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/nowhere-to-hide-everyday-warrior-patricia-baird-windle/) - by Eleanor J. Bader Like many survivors of war, 63-year-old Patricia Baird-Windle suffers from chronic Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome (PTSS). Acute sleep disorders, depression from repressed anger, difficulties concentrating, and short-term memory loss mark her every day. So does fatigue, resulting from constant infections caused by a severely compromised immune system. But Baird-Windle's war was
- [ATLANTA: WOMEN AND CHOICE UNDER ATTACK](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/atlanta-women-and-choice-under-attack/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Anti-abortion activists renew threats to reproductive freedom. THE NORTHSIDE FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES CLINIC is located on a small hill, just off a major highway interchange in an Atlanta suburb. When I drove by a few days after it had been demolished by a bomb on January 16, police crime-scene tape blocked
- [REFOCUSING CHOICE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/refocusing-choice/) - by Rosemary L. Bray It is the morning from hell. To my left, my 2-week-old son, screaming with hunger, roots wildly for my breast. At the foot of the bed, my 3-year-old son rocks forlornly in our glider, kicking the ottoman just hard enough to hurt my ears, and whines for his breakfast too. To
- [The International Conspiracy Against Abortion Rights](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/the-international-conspiracy-against-abortion-rights/) - What are politicians really talking about when they debate restrictions on a woman's right whether to carry through a pregnancy? Make no mistake. The highly organized -- and often devious -- worldwide campaign against abortion rights is a frontal assault upon every aspect of women's freedom and our very lives. "When an airplane crash kills
- [The Anti-Abortion Stealth Campaign](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/the-anti-abortion-stealth-campaign/) - by Jennifer Gonnerman IN THE POSH BALLROOM OF CINCINNATI'S OMNI Netherland Plaza hotel, a 69-year-old man with a white, wicker cowboy hat and tanned, leathery skin announces that he is a "human poster" for God. To prove this, he thrusts out his fists. Tattooed in blue across the back of his hands is his legal
- [Our Clinics/Ourselves: Defending Providers Is Up to Us](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/our-clinics-ourselves-defending-providers-is-up-to-us/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Levels of clinic violence in 1995 declined substantially, according to a recent report by the Feminist Majority Foundation. But I have visited and talked with many abortion providers in the past year who are living a very different reality. While the foundation report acknowledges that one third (!) of clinics are
- [For two women shot to death in Brookline, Massachusetts](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/for-two-women-shot-to-death-in-brookline-massachusetts/) - by Marge Piercy How dare a woman choose?Choose to be pregnant,choose to be childless,choose to be lesbian,choose to have two lovers or none,choose to abortchoose to live alonechoose to walk aloneat night,choose to come and to gowithout permissionwithout leavewithout a man. Consider a woman's bloodspilled on a desk,pooled on an office floor,an ordinary morning at
- [Confronting the Antis in Pensacola](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/confronting-the-antis-in-pensacola/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Anti-abortion leader and former Ku Klux Klan member John Burt and two of his associates called a press conference on the steps of the Pensacola courthouse two days after the July 29 murders of Dr. John Bayard Britton and [ames Barrett.The press conference didn't go down as planned. Members of Refuse
- [COUNTERFEIT CLINICS, GENUINE PAIN Deceptive Advertising Continues to Lure Unsuspecting Women into Phony Abortion Clinics](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/counterfeit-clinics-genuine-pain-deceptive-advertising-continues-to-lure-unsuspecting-women-into-phony-abortion-clinics/) - by Neil deMause It was September of 1991, and thing were looking up for foes of the bogus clinics that anti-abortion groups had set up by the thousands in the '70s and '80s. National media had sent reporters armed with hidden cameras into the fake clinics to record the gory videos and moralistic "counseling"; in
- [OVER THE COUNTER & INTO YOUR MOUTH... BUT WILL IT WORK?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/over-the-counter-into-your-mouth-but-will-it-work/) - by Maxine Lipner Imagine having oral contraceptives as available as aspirin - a steady supply no further away than the open shelf of your neighborhood drugstore. Teenagers, busy working mothers, all women could buy the contraceptives without having to pay for a doctor's visit or enduring a pelvic exam. Ironically, making birth control pills available
- [Fear, Fortitude and the FBI](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/fear-fortitude-and-the-fbi/) - by Ronni Sandroff AS THE DAUGHTER OF TWO LABOR ORGANIZERS, my early childhood education included how to spot FBI agents ("no one else in this neighborhood keeps their shoes shined") and how to answer their questions ("look dumb and slam the door"). So it was no problem for me to identify the stiff-jawed man in
- [If You Can't Beat 'Em, Shoot 'Em, the Murder of Dr. David Gunn](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/if-you-cant-beat-em-shoot-em-the-murder-of-dr-david-gunn/) - By Neil deMause The murder of David Gunn was just the warning shot in a right-wing campaign to cleanse America of "abortionists" The antiabortion protest was proceeding as usual, with a handful of demonstrators swarming the sidewalk in front of the clinic. Inside, neither the doctor nor clinic staff paid them much mind—they were by
- [THE ABORTION ISSUE: There Is No Choice Without Providers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/the-abortion-issue-there-is-no-choice-without-providers/) - by Norine Dworhin For a moment, after 12 years of Ronald Reagan and George Bush's antiabortion policies and their winking, indulgent attitude toward antiabortion groups' violence against abortion providers, it looked like the prochoice community had finally gotten a break with the Clinton administration. Just moments into office, Bill Clinton repealed the Title X "gag
- [CLINICS UNDER THE GUN](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/clinics-under-the-gun/) - Blockades, Firebombs, Murder - A frontline report by Mary Lou Greenberg In Pensacola, Florida March 10, for the "crime" of providing abortions for women, antiabortion protestor Michael Griffith shot Dr. David Gunn in the back as he was about to enter the Pensacola Medical Services Clinic. Gunn's murder, while a leap in the level of
- [The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Can Also Rock the Boat, How Prochoice Activists Turned Around the Dayton Foundation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/the-hand-that-rocks-the-cradle-can-also-rock-the-boat-how-prochoice-activists-turned-around-the-dayton-foundation/) - by Irene Davall The Dayton Foundation — the giving arm of Dayton Hudson Corporation — announced last summer that its annual grant to Planned Parenthood was being withheld for the first time in 22 years. Executives said the decision stemmed from the foundation's desire not to take sides in the national debate over abortion. The
- [The Chilling Of Reproductive Choice](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/the-chilling-of-reproductive-choice/) - by Janice Raymond To argue for fetal status and rights is much more winnable than to argue for women on their own behalf The summer of 1989 was one big chill for women's reproductive equality in North America. In July, a U.S. Supreme Court decision provided the ice for the future freezing of women's right
- [MARGARET SANGER: An Alternate View](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/margaret-sanger-an-alternate-view/) - by Jill Benderly Margaret Sanger certainly led the struggle for birth control. In the process, she also set the course for the two main problems with the way contraceptives are provided today: The Third World get population control, not birth control; and physicians, not women, control the means of contraception. Arguments in favor of birth
- [Saving Choice:Youth Organizes to Oppose Parental Consent and Notification](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/saving-choiceyouth-organizes-to-oppose-parental-consent-and-notification/) - As the U.S. Supreme Court was listening to lofty legal arguments about teenager's rights to abortion without parental consent or notification, more than 100 New York teens, their teachers, advocates and allies discussed a wide range of topics pertaining to both choice and adolescent sexuality. Sponsored by the New York ProChoice Coalition, the Teen Speak-Out
- [WHICH WAY AFTER WEBSTER?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/which-way-after-webster/) - by Irene Davall Donna Jean pulled into the parking lot as her dashboard clock clicked over to 7:10. The lot was already more than half full. Donna Jean and her friend had left home at 1:30 that morning. With only a couple of coffee stops, they had driven 300 miles from Scottsluff to Omaha. It
- [Another American Tragedy, The Death of Becky Bell, Interview with Bill and Karen Bell](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/another-american-tragedy-the-death-of-becky-bell-interview-with-bill-and-karen-bell/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg On June 25, 1990 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can require teenaged women to either notify one or both parents or get permission from a judge before having an abortion. Thirtythree states previously had laws in place that required parental notification or consent prior to a young woman getting
- [American Fantasies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/american-fantasies/) - by Merle Hoffman I am going to miss Ronald Reagan. Miss him in places of personal history and political passion. Miss him in a very special way because of the unique place he holds in my life, both objectively and in comparison to other men in the public arena who have entered uninvited to mine.
- [The Unfinished Mandate: Addressing the Issue of Infertility](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/the-unfinished-mandate-addressing-the-issue-of-infertility/) - by Congresswoman Pat Schroeder "They get about as much sympathy as an 83-pound woman who is trying to gain weight. We live in an ignorant world where people feel if you can drive a car you can have a baby... ." - Erma Bombeck Taken from the RESOLVE Newsletter January 1987. As children, most of us
- [Abortion and the Monk's Mistress](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/abortion/abortion-and-the-monks-mistress/) - by Irene Davall Early in the 13th Century there lived a monk whose mistress got pregnant. It must have been accidental as she could hardly have hoped to trap a monk into marriage. Apparently wanting to retain the best of all possible worlds - his monkhood and his mistress - the monk aborted the lady.
- [ARE YOU READY FOR THIS? Critiques of the new contraceptives AFTER NORPLANT, WHAT'S NEXT?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/are-you-ready-for-this-critiques-of-the-new-contraceptives-after-norplant-whats-next/) - by Jill Benderly Q: Why is a bikini like a doughnut? A: Because they're both new contraceptives about to come on the market. Norplant is the first new U.S. birth control method since the cervical sponge arrived in 1983. The coercive uses of the new five-year levonorgestrol implants have been widely and well discussed. To recap: a
- [EVERY CHILD A WANTED CHILD: A Conversation With Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/every-child-a-wanted-child-a-conversation-with-surgeon-general-dr-joycelyn-elders/) - by Elayne Clift The controversial Arkansas physician answered questions from ON THE ISSUES contributing editor Elayne Clift in November, 1993. OTI: The offices of population affairs, minority health, women's health, and disease prevention are all part of the The Public Health Service, which you head. How do you prioritize and ensure that things get done in
- [A Simple Human Right; The History Of Black Women And Abortion](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/race/a-simple-human-right-the-history-of-black-women-and-abortion/) - by Loretta J. Ross Dorothy Brown, MD, the first black female surgeon in the U.S., was also the first American state legislator to attempt to legalize abortion. As a member of the Tennessee state legislature in 1967, she proposed a bill to that effect and her commitment to reproductive rights remained strong in the decades
- [POLAND'S MORNING AFTER](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/polands-morning-after/) - by Peggy Simpson The fight to regain reproductive rights The scaffolding covering the Chopin Palace in Warsaw didn't hide the electricity inside, as reproductive rights activist Wanda Nowicka was nominated as Poland's Woman of Europe, contending for a Brussels-based European Community prize. The moderator, Krystyna Kofta, a novelist and magazine writer, professed amazement: "You have
- [Prisoners: Loving Babies, Hating Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/prisoners-loving-babies-hating-women/) - by Jan Goodwin THIRTHA MAYA BARAL, 29, is CLEARLY ILL. Her skin has an unhealthy yellow tinge, her hair falls lank and greasy around her face, and she complains of headache, chills, body aches. Severely depressed, she weeps easily as she recounts how she has spent two years and three months in jail and has
- [Books in Brief](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/money/books-in-brief/) - Reviewed by Lisa Vincenti and Patricia Baird-Windle The Wrath of Angels: The American Abortion War by Jim Risen and Judy Thomas.Basic Books, a subsidiary of Perseus Books Written by two of this nation's top reporters covering abortion, Wrath of Angels is at once a substantial contribution to the historical record and a painful disappointment. While the authors
- [What Every Woman Should Know](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/what-every-woman-should-know/) - by Susie Cagle Graphic journalist Susie Cagle researched anti-abortion Crisis Pregnancy Centers by visiting several in the Bay Area "pretending to be naïve and knocked up." What she found "wasn't what I was expecting," she says. "The brilliance and danger of First Resort and other clinics like them is that they do not fit the
- [TALKING FEMINIST: WOMEN WHO LOVE SEX](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/talking-feminist-women-who-love-sex/) - by Gina Ogden Women who what?" "Women Who Love Sex," I repeat to the interviewer on the telephone. "That's what I call my latest book." The title seems to serve as a kind of Rorschach for the way people relate to their own sexuality. Responses may range from cheers, to titters, wolf whistles, and groans
- [SWEPT AWAKE! Negotiating Passion on Campus](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/swept-awake-negotiating-passion-on-campus/) - by Bonnie Pfister What's an activist to do when everyone from George Will to "Saturday Night Live" satirizes your work and accuses you of infantilizing women and taking the fun out of sex? "I find it exciting," says Jodi Gold, coordinator of STAAR, Students Together Against Acquaintance Rape at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
- [What's Left of Sex?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/whats-left-of-sex/) - by Elaine Rapping As everyone must surely have been reminded more than once by now, this summer marks the 25th anniversary of Woodstock. The four-day rock concert phenomenon has come to signify the very essence of that nationshaking, if not actually revolutionary, decade "The Sixties" to those too young or unhip to have participated. The
- [Dr Freud Was Wrong! A Re-Evaluation of Depression in Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/dr-freud-was-wrong-a-re-evaluation-of-depression-in-women/) - by Alexandra Symonds, M.D. "Blue, sad, morose, down" - just a few of the words used to describe depression, a state that can be transitory or that can last for years. Depressions are more common in women than in men. In fact, statistics show that depression in women is two to three times as common
- [Lesbian Health Care: The Forgotten Area of Medicine](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/lesbian-health-care-the-forgotten-area-of-medicine/) - by Virginia Apuzzo Lesbian health care, in the course of the past fifteen years, has progressed from a state of total neglect to a state of almost total neglect. Like the medical problems of women in general, and such specific groups as older women and women of color, health care for lesbians is a subject
- [The Danger from Within & Out, When not following a doctor's orders may result in criminal prosecution](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-danger-from-within-out-when-not-following-a-doctors-orders-may-result-in-criminal-prosecution/) - by Merle Hoffman Pamela Raie Steward Monson is a 27-year-old woman from San Diego, California, who has the dubious honour of being a "first". She is one of the first women in the nation to be criminally charged for "fetal abuse". It seems that during her pregnancy, Pamela lived in a trailer camp with her
- [AIDS IS A WOMEN'S ISSUE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/aids-is-a-womens-issue/) - by Merle Hoffman An ON THE ISSUES Exclusive Interview with an Introduction by Dr. Mathilde Krim, Co-Chair American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR) OTI: What was your first connection with AIDS? MD: As an internist with a subspecialty in STDs; I began seeing immunologically unusual patients in 1980, and in 1981 I was one of the many
- [HIV-POSITIVE WOMEN HAVE RIGHTS TOO and They're Often Denied](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/hiv-positive-women-have-rights-too-and-theyre-often-denied/) - by Barbara Santee, Ph.D IDS and reproductive rights. Many people do not see the connection between the two issues, but there is one a very strong one and we must be prepared to confront the challenges which will be thrown at reproductive freedom in the guise of "protecting the public good from the threat of
- [NO MANDATORY TESTING! A Feminist Prostitute Speaks Out](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/no-mandatory-testing-a-feminist-prostitute-speaks-out/) - by Carol Leigh As a prostitute and activist, I am deeply disturbed by the current and proposed legislation establishing mandatory HIV testing of prostitutes. Although gay activists have been diligently supportive of us, the prostitutes' rights movement must secure a broader base of active support from other feminist rights activists. The urgency of our situation
- [Sexual Malpractice: Therapists Who Seduce their Patients](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/sexual-malpractice-therapists-who-seduce-their-patients/) - by Fred Pelka Judith Daire began therapy in 1971 with a psychiatrist who ended sessions with "a light embrace, and a kiss on the cheek". By 1975 he was kissing her on the lips. By 1976 they were having sex. Carolyn M. Bates had been seeing her therapist for nine months when he began to
- [ON DONOR BABIES - A Guest Editorial](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/on-donor-babies-a-guest-editorial/) - by Dr. Barbara Katz Rothman So now there's a need for baby parts. Imagine that. Another miracle of modern science. It seems that transplants of the bone marrow of a sibling can sometimes be the only real hope for children otherwise dying of leukemia and some other cancers. It starts off simple. A family has
- [Goodbye To White Male Privilege: Women Challenge Health Care Research](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/goodbye-to-white-male-privilege-women-challenge-health-care-research/) - by Elayne Clift The National Institutes of Health (NIH), America's premier institution for health research, is having its own pulse taken these days. Under pressure from the Congressional Caucus for Women's Issues, women scientists and others, the complex of institutes is being scrutinized for its treatment of women as research subjects and researchers. NIH, which
- [Women Healers Past & Present: An Historical View of Women in Medicine from Earliest Times to Today](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/women-healers-past-present-an-historical-view-of-women-in-medicine-from-earliest-times-to-today/) - by Beatrice Levin WHEN COMPASSION WAS THE ONLY MEDICINE From earliest times, women have nursed the sick and cared for newborns and the elderly in their homes. Childbirth was entirely in the hands of trained midwives. From the 13th to 1 5th century, women were responsible for most of the doctoring in hospices, such as
- [A 34-Year Problem Was Treated (by male physicians) With Pats On The Head](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/a-34-year-problem-was-treated-by-male-physicians-with-pats-on-the-head/) - by Lois Greene Stone How does this remark grab you? "Myomectomy is the operation of choice when it is necessary to save the uterus for reproduction, or for sentiment." (Textbook of Surgery, 6th Edition, 1956) Okay, men can't really understand why some women are reluctant to have a hysterectomy, but why make female feelings seem
- [Paying the Price in the Politics of Breast Cancer](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/paying-the-price-in-the-politics-of-breast-cancer/) - by Neal Barnard, M.D In 1991, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine commissioned a survey asking how many women were not yet aware of the connection between diet and breast cancer. The results were dismal: Eighty percent of women had no idea there was any link. Although the federal government funds research on how diet
- [THE WHATS HOWS AND WHYS OF MENSTRUAL EXTRACTION](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-whats-hows-and-whys-of-menstrual-extraction/) - by Rebecca Chalker In Los Angeles in 1971, before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion, a small group of women began observing abortions in an underground clinic. Carol Downer, then a housewife with six young children, was one of those women. "We quickly saw that early pregnancies could be terminated safely and simply," Downer remembers. "We
- [The Case Against Menstrual Extraction](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-case-against-menstrual-extraction/) - by Louise Tyrer With abortion debates escalating, "self-help" menstrual extraction (M.E.) has been promoted as a way for women to exercise full control over their reproductive options. While all women should be actively involved in all matters related to their healthcare, the health dangers and political risks associated with this unsupervised medical procedure far outweigh
- [WHY MENSTRUAL EXTRACTION IS A GOOD IDEA](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/why-menstrual-extraction-is-a-good-idea/) - by Rebecca Chalker Menstrual extraction (M.E.), a technique that can remove the contents of the uterus safely with a hand-held suction device, was developed in the days before abortion was legal by women who grew tired of waiting for the Supreme Court to legalize abortion. In those heady years of the emergence of the modern
- [Making babies, Miracle or Marketing Hype?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/making-babies-miracle-or-marketing-hype/) - by Elayne Clift The hype is that women are frivolous, if not downright evil, frittering their time away in law school and then demanding fertility treatment News stories call them "a worldwide epidemic," "a public health problem," and "an economic issue." Successful parents call them "a dream come true." They are the babies — often
- [Healthcare for All - Will It Be Good for Women?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/healthcare-for-all-will-it-be-good-for-women/) - by Elayne Clift "If I could have a magic wand tomorrow and do one thing for this economy," then President-elect Bill Clinton said last December, "I would bring health costs in line with inflation and provide a basic insurance package to everybody." It will take more than a magic wand to resolve America's healthcare crisis;
- [SICK? "It's Your Own Damn Fault!"](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/sick-its-your-own-damn-fault/) - by Fred Pelka EXPOSING HEALTH CHAUVINISM "Nothing comes to an individual that he has not...summoned.... A person's external circumstances do fit his level of internal spiritual development."- Eileen Gardner, nominee for special assistant to the Department of Education under the Reagan administration, explaining her theory as to why people become ill or disabled. "And remember
- [The Good News About Hysterectomy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-good-news-about-hysterectomy/) - by Elayne Clift "You'll have to have a hysterectomy, of course," my doctor said nearly three years ago. Maybe, I thought. And maybe not. I had no intention of casually parting with my uterus. Maybe this episode of cramps and heavy bleeding was simply the result of a hormonal quirk, a perimenopausal blip. I knew
- [Smoke Yourself Thin](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/smoke-yourself-thin/) - by Suzanne Levine Longing to be independent, exuberant, popular, sexy, and slim? The tobacco industry spends more than $4 billion dollars a year in advertising to show you the way. Advertising has turned the cigarette into one of the most popular products of the 20th century. The method sophisticated marketers use is called "image-based advertising,"
- [Foal Play](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/foal-play/) - by Dot Hayes Chances are that if you are seeking relief from menopausal symptoms, your doctor will suggest Premarin, a "natural" estrogen substitute. The drug, which doctors have been prescribing for 50 years, is extracted from the urine of pregnant mares. It's recently come to light that an estimated 75,000 foals a year are slaughtered
- [Natural Childbirth: From Option to Orthodoxy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/natural-childbirth-from-option-to-orthodoxy/) - by Nicole Bokat "I did it!" a beaming Elizabeth announced to our mother's group. "Chloe was born naturally" The other women clustered around mother and baby, nodding in approval that Elizabeth had passed the childbirth test with flying colors. Once again, a feeling of alienation crept over me. Pregnant with my second child, I planned
- [Breast Intentions: Enlightening medical students about the female body](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/breast-intentions-enlightening-medical-students-about-the-female-body/) - by Jeannette Batz "Basically, you'll learn how breast examinations should be done, then you'll teach and evaluate the medical students," Dr. Tuteur tells me. I nod intelligently and recross my legs, trying to look astute. "They used to use prostitutes for this," he adds. That evening I mention the part-time job casually on the phone
- [Why Change the World . . . When You Can Have a Prozac Moment?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/why-change-the-world-when-you-can-have-a-prozac-moment/) - by Mahin Hassibi No need for a revolution from within -- or without. Let them eat Prozac. LIKE MANY PSYCHIATRISTS, I GREET the introduction of new psycho-active medications with cautious optimism. I'm hopeful that the new drug will benefit some patients, but my clinical experience dictates caution. Historically, practitioners have been warned to hurry to treat
- [WOMEN WHO TRUST TOO MUCH - What AIDS commercials don't tell you](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/women-who-trust-too-much-what-aids-commercials-dont-tell-you/) - By Deborah Johnson SHE'S 48 YEARS OLD WITH TIGHT RED CURLS AND BAGS BEneath her eyes. She slouches slightly in the orange office chair, stretching out her feet. From her eye shadow to her sneakers, everything she wears is blue. Married to one husband for 28 years, she has children and grandchildren. She also has
- [The Mystery and Tragedy of Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-mystery-and-tragedy-of-chronic-fatigue-immune-dysfunction-syndrome/) - by Phyllis Chesler Once asthma, arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Lyme's disease and allergies were dismissed as primarily psychiatric in nature. These are plague years. Governments, insurance companies, even scientists -- we, the people, too -- are scared. Who'll fall ill next, who'll have to pay? What if the burden of caregiving is insupportable? What if
- [Beyond the Halsted Radical<br><em>Book Reviews by Barbara Seaman</em>](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/beyond-the-halsted-radicalbook-reviews-by-barbara-seaman/) - Always a Woman: What Every Woman Should Know About Breast SurgeryPatient No More: The Politics of Breast CancerTo Dance With the Devil: The New War on Breast CancerLiving Downstream: An Ecologist Looks at Cancer and the EnvironmentBreast Cancer: Poisons, Profits and PreventionThe Breast Cancer Prevention Program Breast-cancer books written by patients are not entirely new, nor is breast-cancer activism. I
- [The Bitter Pill](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/the-bitter-pill/) - by Leora Tanenbaum BOMBARDED BY PROPAGANDA ON PREMARIN, WE CAN'T TRUST OUR DOCTOR'S AND WE CAN'T TRUST OURSELVES Barbara Dworkin, 61, is one of eight million American women taking Premarin, an estrogen replacement that eases menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes and dry skin. Dworkin started on Premarin 15 years ago and plans to take
- [RESEARCH FOR YOUR LIFE : Investigating your own health care](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/research-for-your-life-investigating-your-own-health-care/) - by Katherine Eban Finkelstein ...many sick people consider research the only way to keep tabs on the doctors they don't trust to tell them about treatments their HMOs might not cover. Ihad only nine-tenths of a centimeter tumor. All my lymph nodes were clear," Myra Finklestein whispers conspiratorially. "I had a good prognosis." She almost
- [Stop the Pain](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/stop-the-pain/) - by Penney Kome All day long she twists and flexes her wrist to scan products, lifts bags that can total thousands of pounds per shift, pushes items along a counter and hoists produce onto scales. like many women, she is in a job where the pay is low, and the benefits paltry or even nonexistent.
- [CRAZY IN AMERICA: National Failure, Family Tragedy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/ourbodies/crazy-in-america-national-failure-family-tragedy/) - by Bill Weiner I must be crazy. I'm one of those social worker types, and the folks I run into just aren't doing so hot: the old and young ones, the sick, the maimed, the slow and the crazy ones. Maniacs, the demented, depressives. obsessive-compulsives, schizophrenics, and their families - these are the ones I
- [An Update on Baby Jane Doe](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/an-update-on-baby-jane-doe/) - In On the Issues Vol. II, Merle Hoffman wrote of "Baby Jane Doe," an infant born with severe multiple handicaps, whose parents were being hounded unmercifully by the Right-To-Lifers and the Reagan administration because, under the best medical advice, they refused to permit surgery on the infant. "Baby Jane Doe," whose real name is Kerri
- [NOT ALL WOMEN ARE FOR WOMEN](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/not-all-women-are-for-women/) - The National Women's Coalition, a group of some 70 business and professional women, has been assembled by the Republican National Committee to persuade women voters that Reagonomics is good for them. According to Susan Fisher, a senior vice president of the Marine Midland Bank, (who claims she disagrees with Reagan's stand on the equal rights
- [WARNING: Women's Magazines Can Be Dangerous To Your Health!](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/warning-womens-magazines-can-be-dangerous-to-your-health/) - by Ellen R. Gritz, Ph.D As a result of sweeping changes in social forces during this century, cigarette smoking has become acceptable behavior for females as well as males. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a major national health problem. Women's smoking has increased from 18 percent in 1935 to 33 percent
- [Robert Bly and Iron John](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/robert-bly-and-iron-john/) - by Fred Pelka "For generations our institutions, and our parents, have warned us and shamed us away from our wildness - Our intuition, exuberance, and tears. Now, soul and spirit suffer in great measure. At gatherings of men...the healing often begins with the telling of ancient stories of male initiation..." So says a flyer for
- [By Peaceful Means, Interview with Activist Ellen Moore](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/by-peaceful-means-interview-with-activist-ellen-moore/) - by Susan Bristol-Howard Sixteen years ago Ellen Moore traveled to California to visit friends and recover from a painful divorce. The morning after she arrived, she and her friends went out with the United Farm Workers to picket a mushroom grower. It was that event that helped her realize, and set the course for, her
- ["RACIST, SEXIST, ANTI-GAY" : How the Religious Right helped defeat Iowa's ERA](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/racist-sexist-anti-gay-how-the-religious-right-helped-defeat-iowas-era/) - by Heather Rhoads Arch-conservative Phyllis Schlafly and long-time ERA proponent Ellie Smeal came head-to-head in Iowa last year, where "shocking" commercials of gay men embracing marked the shifting landscape in the century-old struggle for women's equality. "Homophobia defeated us," concedes Harriet Trudell of the Feminist Majority Foundation, one of the several women's organizations campaigning for
- [THE POLITICS OF THE POSSIBLE: What Women Can Gain Under Clinton](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/the-politics-of-the-possible-what-women-can-gain-under-clinton/) - by Katherine Eban Finkelstein Under George Bush, the halls and rooms of the White House were closed to us. We were always in a defensive mode, struggling to hold on to what we had," recalls Julia Scott, Director of the National Black Women's Health Project. The 1992 elections brought the need for a defensive feminist
- [Needed: A Feminist Immigration Policy](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/needed-a-feminist-immigration-policy/) - by Eleanor Pam When Lawton Chiles, Governor of Florida, recently announced that his state would deny foster care to undocumented immigrant children, he became one of a growing number of public officials to confront the federal government over cost issues involving illegal aliens. Chiles is now suing the Federal Government for more than $1 billion
- [Godfathers on Campus](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/godfathers-on-campus/) - by Suzanne Levine Ever wonder how the term "politically correct" became a fashionable assault weapon against progressive thinking on college campuses? It's no accident. It's part of a well-funded conservative marketing campaign to "win the next generation" and stigmatize, and redefine as bigotry, the academic inclusion of non-Western ideas, historically disenfranchised groups, environmental responsibility and
- [Phyllis Schlafly's Ancestors](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/phyllis-schlaflys-ancestors/) - by Patricia Riley Dunlap Mocking poetry graced each issue of the The Reply. The 1913 "A Dream of Fair Women" begins: One more unfortunate man of some note,Rashly objected to let women vote.So, lovely woman, this man did annoy,Using a horse whip, nice, feminine toy. Then a fair damsel with infinite grace,Hurled both her shoes
- [The Bill of Whose Rights?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/the-bill-of-whose-rights/) - by Andrea Dworkin Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and the Real Story of the Bill of Rights Why isn't the Constitution working for women and African Americans? Did the Founding Fathers guarantee that equality would be against the law? Amerika Now: The Eternal Present The mental geography of Amerika is a landscape of forgetfulness, useful in
- [E l e c t i o n ' 9 6 : RUNNING SCARED](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/e-l-e-c-t-i-o-n-9-6-running-scared/) - by Kay Mills In these anxious times, will women make a difference?Only if they're on the ballot. Congresswoman Patricia Schroeder's Christmas card said it all: "Not being a 'femiNewtie,' I'm not excited about this holiday season. Give the season back, Gingrich!" Schroeder's decision to retire from the House, where she has served for 24 years,
- [Irene Pivetti: The Hot Politics of Italy's Ice Maiden](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/irene-pivetti-the-hot-politics-of-italys-ice-maiden/) - by Peggy Simpson At 32, Irene Pivetti is the youngest speaker of the Italian Parliament in history. Irene Pivetti has a reputation as an antifeminist. She earned the nickname "ice maiden" early in her tenure as the youngest president of the Chamber of Deputies - the Italian equivalent of Speaker of the House - because
- [ATTACK OF THE MORALLY CHALLENGED Congress goes after the disabled](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/attack-of-the-morally-challenged-congress-goes-after-the-disabled/) - By Fred Pelka PSYCHOLOGIST CAROL GlLL KNOWS THE VALUE OF HAVING federal civil rights law on your side. "When I called one of Chicago's major teaching hospitals to make an appointment at the women's health clinic, I was told that I couldn't be seen unless I could get myself onto and off the examining table."
- [Election '96: Don't Stay Home](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/election-96-dont-stay-home/) - by Julia Kagan ALL PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS ARE IMPORTANT, but some stand out as turning points, historic markers when the nation made a clear choice to take one path and not another. Think back to Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal victory in 1932, Kennedy's in 1960, Nixon's in '68, Reagan's in 1980. This fall is another such
- [WHY FIGHT THE RIGHT? EYES RIGHT! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash edited by Chip Berlet (South End Press, Boston, $17, paper)](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/why-fight-the-right-eyes-right-challenging-the-right-wing-backlash-edited-by-chip-berlet-south-end-press-boston-17-paper/) - By Eleanor Bader THESE 38 ESSAYS START WITH A BLUNT and terrifying reminder, at least for those of us on the progressive end of the political spectrum: "The major mass movements challenging the bipartisan status quo are not found on the left, but on the right." The authors put anomalous actions - like the bombing
- [United States: Don't Blame Me, I Voted for Myself!](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/united-states-dont-blame-me-i-voted-for-myself/) - by Judith K. Witherow On November 5, 1996, I did not vote for Bill C, Ross P., Bob D. or any other Guy running for president. Nor did I cast my ballot for the various secondary parties at the bottom of the wannabe list, parties also led by Guys trying to separate me from my
- [United States: Ain't I a Voter?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/united-states-aint-i-a-voter/) - by Wilma Rule and Stephen Hill More than 75 years ago, the Nineteenth Amendment gave American women the right to vote. Three quarters of a century later, women remain - by far - the most underrepresented "minority" group in the United States. Women are actually the majority, comprising more than 50 percent of the population,
- [United Kingdom: New Labour, New Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/united-kingdom-new-labour-new-women/) - by Kelly Candaele At five o'clock A.M. on May 2, newly elected British Prime Minister Tony Blair climbed atop a stage to face the glistening Thames River, a phalanx of television cameras and several thousand weary but excited supporters. Blair paused briefly, letting the blasting music of a popular rock band subside before uttering the
- [DIRTY DANCING: It was another two-party tango, and feminists did not lead](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/dirty-dancing-it-was-another-two-party-tango-and-feminists-did-not-lead/) - by Jennifer Gonnerman "WHEN WOMEN VOTE, WOMEN WIN." THAT'S THE slogan on the buttons EMILY's List was handing out in the months leading up to the presidential election. And unlike 1994, this time women were a clear political force. Bill Clinton could not have won reelection without them. While men were split evenly between Clinton
- [Patterns of Power: How Women Vote, Run and Win](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/patterns-of-power-how-women-vote-run-and-win/) - by the Editors We, the people of the United States, talk a good game about the blessings of liberty. But when it comes to the ways in which we utilize one of those blessings - the right to vote - the figures are nothing short of scandalous. The national voter turnout in the 1996 federal
- [Today Harvard Tomorrow The World](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/today-harvard-tomorrow-the-world/) - by Swanee Hunt Change never travels in a straight line, so when Harvard's Kennedy School of Government asked me to create a center for women and public policy, I was at once surprised and not surprised. As a teenager I'd been denied Radcliffe/Harvard by a father convinced the institution was run by communists, and ever
- [Place At The Table: Woman At The Un](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/place-at-the-table-woman-at-the-un/) - by Jennifer Tierney The colossal bureaucracy of the United Nations, with its bloated underbelly of agencies, commissions and special advisors on the most pressing international problems, is arguably the greatest Good Old Boys Club in the world. Looking at the global representatives gathered at this venerable institution, one would find it hard to believe that
- [America's Political Prisoners](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/americas-political-prisoners/) - by Mary Lou Greenberg Glaring artificial light 24 hours a day, no sense of time, constant surveillance, every remark recorded, better conditions promised only upon "confession" or renunciation of political beliefs. A torture chamber in some faraway despotic regime? No. The U.S. today. Such prison conditions exist in this country, and are used against political
- [Layli Bashir Unexpected Crusader](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/layli-bashir-unexpected-crusader/) - by Kavita Menon ...She said she would keep fighting for me until I was free. She was like an angel, someone who had come in rescue me from the living hell I had endured since coming to the United States."- from Fauziya Kassindja's Do They Hear You When You Cry? She must have looked like
- [Aung San Suu Kyi: Burma's Gandhi](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/aung-san-suu-kyi-burmas-gandhi/) - by Alan Clements ...it is more important to understand the mentality of torturers than just to concentrate on what kind of torture goes on, if you want to improve the situation. Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, was the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize and the first person to win it while
- [Turnout Or Turnoff Women's Vote is Key in 1998](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/turnout-or-turnoff-womens-vote-is-key-in-1998/) - by Tanya Melich For both parties, the stakes in this November's off-year election are higher than usual. The 11-vote Republican majority in the House of Representatives is the narrowest margin in half a century. Republicans control the Senate by 10 votes, but don't have the numbers to break a filibuster. Polls and pundits predict the
- [War On Drugs, War On Women](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/war-on-drugs-war-on-women/) - by Maia Szalavitz "Female addicts are seen as doubly deviant. A drunk man is one thing, but a drunken woman is considered disgusting" When President Clinton announced this year that he would spend $1 billion on anti-drug advertising, not everyone saw it as occasion for celebration. Buoyed by the Presidents earlier promises that he would
- [Letter to a Young Activist: Left to Learn from the ‘60s](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/uncategorized/letter-to-a-young-activist-left-to-learn-from-the-60s/) - by Laura Whitehorn If you saw the film The Weather Underground, you saw about three minutes of me. The film, through interviews, narration and clips, describes the genesis and decline of the radical activist group by that name from 1969 to the mid-'70s. I gave some reflections from my participation in it. Learning about the sixties
- [INNOCENT CASUALTIES IN THE WAR ON DRUGS](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/activism/innocent-casualties-in-the-war-on-drugs/) - by Betsy Swart There are nearly 10 million addicts in the United States today but only about 338,000 slots in treatment centers. Federal agencies like the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA), whose annual budgets are in the hundreds of millions of dollars, are supposedly waging a war on drugs. But, unfortunately, their
- [Will Paternal Paranoia Triumph?<br>The organization of angry dads](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/love/will-paternal-paranoia-triumphthe-organization-of-angry-dads/) - by Trish Wilson ven as fathers are disappearing from the lives of millions of women and children, they're turning up in newsletters, local activist groups, and cyberspace as members of an outspoken movement for "fathers' rights" whose declared purpose is to "fight back." Fight back against what? Against the power of women and children, of
- [Bad Thoughts: Right Wing on HIV/AIDS](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/gender/bad-thoughts-right-wing-on-hiv-aids/) - Over the years, HIV-AIDS has been demonized and stigmatized, especially by religious reactionaries. Family “values” conservatives oppose condom use, even though it could save women’s lives, and the persistent use of HIV-AIDS in anti-gay propaganda makes women completely invisible. The theme of a “homosexual plague” has always skimmed over gay women, who have the lowest
- [Algeria Examined:Tens of Thousands Dead and It's Barely News](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/algeria-examinedtens-of-thousands-dead-and-its-barely-news/) - by Laura Flanders There's a crime against humanity being committed in Algeria, but you wouldn't get that impression from reading American newspapers or switching on television or radio news. An October issue of Time magazine featured a spread on Algeria stuck between an ad for Virginia Slims and an article on Martha Stewart; titled "Drumbeat of Death,"
- [Outsiders In Their Own Land; Apartheid in South Africa and New Caledonia](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/outsiders-in-their-own-land-apartheid-in-south-africa-and-new-caledonia/) - by Vinie Burrows It is not an exaggeration to say that there can be no successful liberation struggle without the contribution of women and there can be no free society without the emancipation of women. Women are more than half the world and, being the most downtrodden, their priorities are fundamentally directed toward the eradication
- [Un Canto Por La Paz—el Salvador: A Festival of Music for Peace in a Country of Death Squads and Disappearances](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/un-canto-por-la-paz-el-salvador-a-festival-of-music-for-peace-in-a-country-of-death-squads-and-disappearances/) - by Ann Near A cocktail party, conversation soon after Reagan's ascension revealed that even my Democratic/Liberal colleagues were swept up by the general euphoria of his election. "Well, we have to give the man a chance... People change once they're in office, " etc., etc. But I knew differently. No, I felt differently. The feelings
- [Africa: America's Secret African War in the Western Sahara](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/africa-americas-secret-african-war-in-the-western-sahara/) - by Major Carlos Wilson To date, U.S. arms sales and military aid to Morocco have amounted to just under $2 billion. This has been one of Washington's best kept secrets. While vacationers are concerned with what daily play activities will be offered by the seven Club Med facilities located in Morocco, an entirely different set
- [The Walls Came Tumbling Down: How Jewish Feminists Made History](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-walls-came-tumbling-down-how-jewish-feminists-made-history/) - by Phyllis Chesler "Two things moved me: The experience of seeing secular and assimilated women —who may not otherwise have gone to the kotel—moved to tears. This touched me very deeply. Secondly, there is a yawning gap between a PR. event and a spiritual experience. This had all the earmarks of a media event, cameras
- [Cambodia: Interview with refugee Diane Kaav](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/cambodia-interview-with-refugee-diane-kaav/) - by Esty Dinur A Wish for Cambodia: The Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia spelled an end to the good life and the beginning of what is now known as "the Cambodian holocaust" As Diane Kaav watches events in Cambodia, she laments the failure of the August 1989 Paris conference about the fate of that country. Formerly
- [A SONG SO BRAVE — PHOTO ESSAY](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/a-song-so-brave-photo-essay/) - by Phyllis Chesler On December 1,1988 I was one of the women who prayed aloud with a Torah at the Western Wall for the first time in history. (On the lssues, Volume XI-1989). On November 25, 1989 I returned to Jerusalem as part of a mission to present a Torah to the women of Jerusalem from
- [Women in Black: Weekly Vigils Against the Israeli Occupation](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/women-in-black-weekly-vigils-against-the-israeli-occupation/) - by Bill Strubbe Every Friday afternoon at 1:00, while most Jerusalem residents are caught in the throes of their preparations for the onset of Shabbat (Sabbath), scores of Jewish women dressed in black stand in silent vigil. Each woman holds a sign written in either Hebrew, English, or Arabic reading: "No More Occupation." As busy
- [Palestine/Israel: Another View of the Middle East](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/palestine-israel-another-view-of-the-middle-east/) - by Roberta Kalechofsky Contrary to popular conception, the identity of the Palestinian Arabs as a nationality is a recent phenomenon. As has often been observed, it was ironically the creation of the state of Israel which created Palestinian Arab nationalism. As recently as 1967, United Nations article 242, pertaining to the disposition of borders in Israel,
- [Palestine/Israel: From Stones to Statehood](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/palestine-israel-from-stones-to-statehood/) - by Eleanor J. Bader One afternoon in October, in the tiny village ofHawwara, off the Nablus Road, American visitors found two she-goats, two kids and five chickens that had been shot by Israeli settlers only moments earlier. The youngest child in the family, about six years old, had thrown a small stone at the settler's car
- [Romania, A State of Shock, Babies with AIDS in post-Ceausescu Romania](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/romania-a-state-of-shock-babies-with-aids-in-post-ceausescu-romania/) - by Darrell L. Paster ince 1969, Darrell L. Paster has been concerned with health issues involving poor people. He helped set up the Appalachian Health Project which established and ran seven health care clinics in remote areas from Tennessee to West Virginia. After that, Paster worked for a labor union, organizing hospital and public service workers
- [Sweden: Mothers on the Run and Other Atrocities, Sweden 1990](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/sweden-mothers-on-the-run-and-other-atrocities-sweden-1990/) - by Phyllis Chesler SWEDEN: October 1,1990. The flight is uneventful — except that somewhere over the Atlantic I turn 50.1 arrive in Stockholm almost "as naked as the day I was born," i.e., they've lost my luggage. It's chilly, I'm wearing summer clothes, but SAS agrees to give me a clothing allowance. The Hotel Oden:
- [Poland, New Poland, Old Problems, still-flourishing anti-semitism](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/poland-new-poland-old-problems-still-flourishing-anti-semitism/) - by Susan Cahn How could there be anti-Semitism when there were so few Jews? There are not many Jews left in Poland. Maybe 10,000. There used to be more than three million. The secular American Jews with whom I traveled to Poland in June, 1990, predicted that Polish antiSemitism would be as weakened and diminished
- [The Uncommon Women of Greenham](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-uncommon-women-of-greenham/) - As told by Leslie Webster and written by Ginna D. Rose I first heard about the women's Peace Camp at Britain's Greenham Common years ago, when National Public Radio interviewed a "Common woman" named Simone. She spoke of a group of women from the Camp who walked across Salisbury Plain, which is used as an
- [WHEN TERROR STRIKES                                                    The Six-Week War: A Reporter's Notebook](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/when-terror-strikes-the-six-week-war-a-reporters-notebook/) - by Patricia Golan The only time in 15 years of marriage my husband ever hit me was the first time we ran into our sealed room. Weeks before the Gulf war, Israelis had been instructed to prepare a gas-proof room by covering windows with plastic sheeting. We had been out of the country for the
- [Czechoslovakia: Velvet Intuition, Interview with Eda Kriseova, Advisor to Vaclav Havel](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/czechoslovakia-velvet-intuition-interview-with-eda-kriseova-advisor-to-vaclav-havel/) - by Jill Benderly PRAGUE — I'm in the waiting room of Czechoslovakia's Royal Palace, a lavender Baroque edifice perched above the city on Castle Hill. Eda Kriseova dashes in to greet me, her red hair flying. The last time I stood on Castle Hill, three years ago, I felt I was in the palace of
- [The Bahamas: A Nice Place to Visit, but…](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-bahamas-a-nice-place-to-visit-but/) - by Irene Davall Jill was four months pregnant when she and Alex arrived in The Bahamas for a winter vacation. The Islands, a mere 50 miles off Florida's east coast, provide an almost picture-perfect vacation milieu: Radiant sun, sparkling water, glistening beaches, an incredible choice of activities. The first few days couldn't have been better,
- ["We Don't Want a Country of Invalids and Fresh Graves" Yugoslav Women Against War](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/we-dont-want-a-country-of-invalids-and-fresh-graves-yugoslav-women-against-war/) - by Jill Benderly In July, I received this letter from my best friend from Yugoslavia, a lesbian feminist activist from Belgrade (the capital city of both the republic of Serbia and the Yugoslav federation): Dear Jill, The situation here is hell. I don't know any more which is better or worse: Political campaigns like Bush's,
- [Invasion & Resistance: Guatemalan Women Speak Photos and Text](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/invasion-resistance-guatemalan-women-speak-photos-and-text/) - by Margaret Randall I lean over the developing tray, agitating a print with bamboo tongs. Slowly, two figures darken on the paper. A woman, her back to me, walks towards the door of a church. Behind the woman walks a small girl. They are mother and daughter. Both are wearing the wrap-around hand woven corte
- [Zimbabwe Women Negotiate Their Roles](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/zimbabwe-women-negotiate-their-roles/) - by Faith Fungayi Chimanda It is no longer a common sight in Zimbabwean cities to come across women with head covers. Many women have turned from this tradition to view life from a more westernized way. The few "cultured" [traditional] women in cities can be easily spotted by their head covers, called dhuku in Shona.
- [Damn Breaks On The Long, Dark Night Of The Russian Soul](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/damn-breaks-on-the-long-dark-night-of-the-russian-soul/) - by Nancy Seifer On Monday morning, August 19, 1991, I was awakened from a deep sleep by my Moscow hostess and her neighbor. With tears in their eyes, they broke the news of the coup, informing me of Gorbachev's "disappearance" and the state of emergency declared by the junta. As I struggled to prepare myself
- [Eastern European Feminism: No Room of One's Own](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/eastern-european-feminism-no-room-of-ones-own/) - by Jill Benderly I am obsessed by the small feminist movement in Eastern Europe. I feel the most alive when I'm over there learning from them, or working on their behalf from this side of the Atlantic. At home, I'm often asked to address the question: "Why hasn't feminism taken off in Eastern Europe? All
- [Suffer the Little Children and Their Mothers](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/suffer-the-little-children-and-their-mothers/) - by Michael Myerson With the collapse of Communist rule in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, our mass media waxed triumphant. We "won" the Cold War, we were told. But what about the "vanquished?" A heavy cost is being exacted from those people - particularly from the ones that the United Nations calls the
- [Northern Ireland: Oppression, Struggle and Outright Murder](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/northern-ireland-oppression-struggle-and-outright-murder/) - by Betsy Swart Bernadette Devlin McAliskey is a pioneer in the campaign for civil rights in the North of Ireland. Seeing herself as a "community activist," since 1969 she has consistently worked against discrimination and oppression in the North of Ireland and at the age of 21 was elected MP for Mid-Ulster. Her term lasted
- [East Timor: Blood on Our Hands, The US Abets Mass Murder](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/east-timor-blood-on-our-hands-the-us-abets-mass-murder/) - by John W. Bartlett "The Indonesians set fire to the dwellings of East Timorese... When [they] protested, the Indonesians turned their guns on them...the troops shot..2000 of the Timorese, some on their knees, others with their hands raised. The victims ...included women and children." - John G. Taylor Indonesia's Forgotten War: The Hidden History of
- [BOSNIA: NO PLACE TO HIDE-NO PLACE TO RUN: The Balkanization of Women's Bodies](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/bosnia-no-place-to-hide-no-place-to-run-the-balkanization-of-womens-bodies/) - by Jill Benderly Horror and outrage have been the world's response to systematic mass rape and forced pregnancy of Bosnian women by the "Yugoslav" (Serbian) Army and Bosnian Serb militias. Feminists, human rights groups, Muslims and others have sought ways to document abuses, help survivors and prosecute the war criminals. In this war, with its
- [LIKE THE PHOENIX, WE RISE: A Conversation With Irish POW Bronwyn McGahan](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/like-the-phoenix-we-rise-a-conversation-with-irish-pow-bronwyn-mcgahan/) - by Betsy Swart The first tiling I noticed about Bronwyn was the gold charm around her neck - a phoenix rising from the flames. Against her plain blue denim shirt and pants, the phoenix stood out brightly - a small but significant symbol of hope inside the otherwise oppressive walls of Maghaberry Female Prison in
- [Ireland: For Irish Feminists: Activism = Imprisonment, Strip Search and Death; THE MURDER OF SHEENA CAMPBELL](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/ireland-for-irish-feminists-activism-imprisonment-strip-search-and-death-the-murder-of-sheena-campbell/) - by Betsy Swart On October 16,1992, Sheena Campbell, a 29-year-old activist and feminist, was wantonly murdered by a masked gunman who singled her out as she sat with friends at a restaurant in the Queens University area of Belfast. Sheena, a law student at Queens University and the mother of a 10-year-old son, was a
- [HEALING American Rape Crisis Counselors in Bosnia](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/healing-american-rape-crisis-counselors-in-bosnia/) - by Andrea Wolper Resort hotels should be filled with laughter, but in March 1993 the atmosphere at this one in Makarska on the Dalmation Coast is tense and unsettling. Outside, a stiff Adriatic wind makes the air too chilly for beach-going. Inside, the bar is thick with cigarette smoke but, little conversation goes on. Children
- [Iran: Sexual Apartheid in Iran](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/iran-sexual-apartheid-in-iran/) - by Mahin Hassibi The repression of women is the only visible "accomplishment" of the fundamentalist regime. Sixteen years ago, the Iranian revolution unleashed a puritanical impulse in Iran—fueled by popular indignation in the face of official corruption, excessive consumerism, and the imported ideas and values of other cultures. Ayatollah Khomeini offered an idealized blueprint of
- [J'ACCUSE!](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/jaccuse/) - by Laura Flanders One week after Aristide's return to Haiti, ON THE ISSUES sent journalist Laura Flanders to Port-au-Prince to hear Haitian women testify against military rapists. Her special report is moving, inspiring, and, surprisingly, full of joy. THE WOMAN IN THE TIGHT, red kerchief opens her eyes wide and spreads her palms across the kneecaps
- [Anson Chan, Hong Kong's First Elected Governor](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/anson-chan-hong-kongs-first-elected-governor/) - by Marlene C. Piturro "I don't regard Mrs. Chan as a woman. She's far too forceful and inflexible in her ways," said one member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council, reacting to the governing style of Anson Chan Fang On-sang, the colony's first female and first Chinese chief secretary. Mrs. Chan could have stayed home as
- [Claiming Sacred Ground](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/claiming-sacred-ground/) - by Phyllis Chesler Women's eight-year struggle to pray out loud at "the Wailing Wall" Once upon a time, in 1948, there was an eight-year-old Jewish girl who loved to study Torah. Her teachers said she was the smartest "boy" in her class, but, because she was a girl and came from an Orthodox family, everyone
- [Palestine at the Crossroads](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/palestine-at-the-crossroads/) - by Deborah Horan As Daniela Khalaf sits in the air-conditioned studio of the nascent Palestine Broadcast Corp. where she anchors the first ever Palestinian news broadcast, she speaks of the awakening Palestinian women went through during the intifada, the seven year uprising against Israeli occupation. One of several women working with the television and radio
- [Bosnia: A Nation of Widows](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/bosnia-a-nation-of-widows/) - by Jan Goodwin The adult population of Bosnia is now 70 percent female, but women are being shortchanged in the reconstruction Bosnia, November 1996: In the hardscrabble yard, the small group of women and children are catching the last vestige of the day's weak sunshine. By afternoon's end, when the late autumn chill sets in,
- [Israel: Wailing at the Wall](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/israel-wailing-at-the-wall/) - by Phyllis Chesler According to those who slander them, women cannot be counted as Jews in a prayer quorum. Women are separate and unequal. Simultaneously, women are routinely idealized as superior, as long as they confine themselves to their proper, subordinate places -- away from the Kotel. In 1989, for a period of nearly eight
- [Rwanda: JUSTICE DENIED](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/rwanda-justice-denied/) - by Jan Goodwin February 1997: The heat, the fear and the sour smell of sweat that they triggered hung heavy in the stale air of the courtroom. Every window had been bricked over because of the security risk. Witnesses and judges alike knew they risked their lives by their very presence. There was no air-conditioning,
- [WAY OFF BASE: The shameful history of military rape in Okinawa](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/way-off-base-the-shameful-history-of-military-rape-in-okinawa/) - by Rick Mercier AS I STROLL DOWN KOKUSAI STREET IN DOWNTOWN Naha, Okinawa, there's no escaping the fact that I am on an island dominated by the United States military. The abundance of military-surplus stores and souvenir shops selling camouflage clothing (including outfits for tots) calls obvious attention to the bases that lie a little
- [Fidelistas and Feministas: Cuban women in crisis](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/fidelistas-and-feministas-cuban-women-in-crisis/) - by Amy Martin Caridad walks Havana's famous sea wall, the Malecon, in tall orange pumps. She has squeezed her skinny body into an electric-blue spandex body suit. Her arm is raised, her hip turned out provocatively. She scans the oncoming traffic, ignoring the 40-year-old Fords, Chevys, and Dodges puttering off into the sunset, crammed full
- [No Place Left to Bury the Dead: Denial, Despair, and Hope in the African AIDS Pandemic](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/book-review-aids-women-africa/) - Reviewed by Eleanor J. Bader Nicole Itano’s No Place Left to Bury the Dead zeroes in on three communities in Botswana, Lesotho and South Africa and scrutinizes the dynamics that make females vulnerable to the AIDS virus. Her findings are gripping. A professional journalist, Itano spent years with the women she profiles and confesses that she often
- [The Welfare Bill is Our Bosnia: An Interview with Elizabeth Holtzman](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/international/the-welfare-bill-is-our-bosnia-an-interview-with-elizabeth-holtzman/) - by Rosemary L. Bray About Elizabeth Holtzman:Liz Holtzman burst into public view at age 30, when she won an upset congressional primary victory against longtime Democratic-machine politician Emmanual Cellar of Brooklyn. She went on to serve three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives and was a member of the House Judiciary Committee that investigated
- [When Someone You Love "Does That" To You: Preventing Child Sexual Abuse](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/when-someone-you-love-does-that-to-you-preventing-child-sexual-abuse/) - by Oralee Wachter Child sexual abuse. Incest. Just a few years ago these were words hidden deep in the closet. Today they are splashed in the headlines of newspapers throughout the country. They are the topics of "talk shows," hearings and conferences. The case of the alleged sexual abuse of possibly hundreds of children over
- [Rape and Child Sex Abuse](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/rape-and-child-sex-abuse/) - by Elizabeth Holtzman The pain and horror of sexual assault touches women of all ages, all colors, all classes, and all positions. Yet until recently, the criminal justice system, instead of viewing the women as victims of crime, treated them as though they were responsible for the crimes against them. The same problem existed with
- [The Strange Case of Mark Curtis, Victim or Victimizer?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/the-strange-case-of-mark-curtis-victim-or-victimizer/) - by Fred Pelka Five months after Mark Stanton Curtis was arrested in Des Moines on charges of sexual abuse and burglary, Detroit Mayor Coleman A. Young sent a letter to the authorities in Iowa charging frameup and police brutality. "As an early union organizer," Young wrote on August 18, 1988, "I am concerned that Mr.
- [Healing Ourselves, Healing the World, Interview with Laura Davis](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/healing-ourselves-healing-the-world-interview-with-laura-davis/) - by Barbara Bolz A large woman clutches a ragged teddy bear to her chest. An older woman caresses the arm of a man who watches his tears fall to the floor. A college-age woman sits alone, trying to calm herself with deep breaths. These people and hundreds of others have gathered in a midwestern high
- [RAPED: A Male Survivor Breaks His Silence](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/raped-a-male-survivor-breaks-his-silence/) - By Fred Pelka It was obvious to me at the police station that I was held in contempt because I was a victim. And we learn that blaming the victim is not for women only. The man who raped me had a remarkable selfassurance which could only have come from practice. He picked me up
- [LETHAL CIRCLE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/lethal-circle/) - by Paola D'Ellesio Although I didn't realize it at the time, for me the destructive, generational, abusive cycle that was our family heritage began to rupture that day I phoned my mother. Phoning her is itself a noteworthy event, given the nature of our relationship and the way we communicate. In the past 12 years
- [LET'S MAKE RAPE AN ELECTION ISSUE](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/lets-make-rape-an-election-issue/) - by John Stoltenberg IN 1988 MICHAEL DUKAKIS,THEN DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT, BLUNDERED INTO HIS THIRD TELEVISED DEBATE AGAINST REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE GEORGE BUSH WHEN ASKED: "IF KITTY DUKAKIS WERE RAPED AND MURDERED, WOULD YOU FAVOR AN IRREVOCABLE DEATH PENALTY FOR THE KILLER?" DUKAKIS GAVE A RAMBLING AND IRRELEVANT REPLY - ABOUT THE CRIME RATE IN MASSACHUSETTS
- [When "Regular Guys" Rape, the Trial of the Glen Ridge Four](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/when-regular-guys-rape-the-trial-of-the-glen-ridge-four/) - by Christine Schaack McGoey When the trial of four of those men began on September 21, 1992 nobody guessed that the "Glen Ridge case" would run six months to verdict. Nobody would have wanted to believe that the case would be tried on rape myth or that the prosecution's hard-won convictions would be gutted by
- [Who Stole Incest?](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/who-stole-incest/) - by Louise Armstrong IN 1978, WHEN PEOPLE ASKED WHAT I'D WRITTEN ABOUT, I'd say "incest." And they would then most often ask, "Oh? Are you a feminist?" Now, when I say (with some reticence) that I have written about incest, people ask, "Oh? Are you a psychologist?" Incest, the sexualization of children cast in Procrustean
- [The Dead Man Is Not on Trial](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/the-dead-man-is-not-on-trial/) - by Phyllis Chesler It's almost as if people expect men to rape, beat, and murder women and children. No one's surprised when they do, and society tends not to punish them too harshly, if at all. But we don't expect women to kill, not even in self-defense, and when they do, watch out! The judicial
- [Confessions of a Child Molester](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/confessions-of-a-child-molester/) - By Anonymous EDITOR'S NOTE: The author of this true account led an apparently respectable life for over 20 years while secretly exposing himself to and fondling young girls. ON THE ISSUES solicited this article to increase awareness of how some men get away with—and rationalize— pedophilic behavior. With the understanding that the author no longer
- [Rape in High Places](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/__trashed/) - by Phyllis Chesler Like most women, I've been sexually harassed by my professors, employers, boyfriends, and husbands - and by utter strangers on street corners too. Like others of my generation, I was bred to accept and enjoy it; above all, to keep quiet about it, forget it, and to blame myself if something about
- [Unclear and Present Danger: Self-Defense Laws](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/violence/unclear-and-present-danger-self-defense-laws/) - by Leah Rose Was it murder or self-defense? Some legal experts and activists in Ulster County, N.Y. say the jurors couldn't fairly decide because they didn't get to hear all the relevant evidence. In February 1995, Iris Pyne, 54, was convicted of second degree murder and later sentenced to 15 years to life in state

## Pages

- [Home](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/) - Winter 1999 Winter 1998 Fall 1998 Summer 1998 Spring 1998 Winter 1997 Fall 1997 Summer 1997 Spring 1997 Winter 1996 Fall 1996 Summer 1996 Spring 1996 Winter 1995 Fall 1995 Summer 1995 Spring 1995 Winter 1994 Fall 1994 Summer 1994 Spring 1994 Fall 1993 Summer 1993 Spring 1993 Winter 1992 Fall 1992 Summer 1992 Spring
- [Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/choices-a-post-roe-abortion-rights-manifesto/) - Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto Merle Hoffman's Choices: A Post-Roe Abortion Rights Manifesto Secure Your Copy, Order Now! “Merle Hoffman has always known that in a democracy, we each have decision-making power over the fate of our own bodies. She is a national hero for us all.” ​—Gloria Steinem In the wake of the
- [Pre-Order](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/pre-order/) - email : Webview : Pre-Order Your Copy Now! “Merle Hoffman has always known that in a democracy, we each have decision-making power over the fate of our own bodies. She is a national hero for us all.” —Gloria Steinem In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade and a country divided, a
- [Pre-Order 2](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/pre-order-2/) - email : Webview : Pre-Order Your Copy Now! “Merle Hoffman has always known that in a democracy, we each have decision-making power over the fate of our own bodies. She is a national hero for us all.” ​—Gloria Steinem In the wake of the Supreme Court overturning Roe V. Wade and a country divided, a
- [Author List](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/author-list/) - Author List Authors of Articles in the Online Edition of On The Issues Magazine (alphabetically by last name). All A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z All All A B C D E F G H I J
- [Contact](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/contact/) - Contact On The Issues Magazine View Our Youtube Channel For press inquires, please reach out to outreach@choicesmedical.com. For general messages, please use the form below.
- [Online Archive](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/online-archive/) - Online Archive All 2013 Winter 2012 Winter 2012 Spring 2012 Fall 2011 Winter 2011 Summer 2011 Spring 2011 Fall 2010 Winter 2010 Summer 2010 Spring 2009 Winter 2009 Summer 2009 Spring 2009 Fall 2008 Summer 2008 Spring, Our Return 2008 Spring, First Full Online Edition 2008 Fall All All 2013 Winter 2012 Winter 2012 Spring
- [Artist & Poet List](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/artist-poet-list/) - Artist & Poet List Original Art in the Online Editions (alphabetically by last name of Artist) Emma Amos Spring/Summer 2012 Spring/Summer 2012 Fall 2009 “Identity” Fall 2009 “Curly Topsy, Topsy Curly” Fall 2009 “All I know of Wonder” Audrey Anastasi Spring/Summer 2012 Spring/Summer 2012 Summer 2008 Heather Ault Fall 2011 Fall 2011 Helène Aylon Fall
- [Complete Story List](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/complete-story-list/) - Complete Table of Contents All Violence Race Our Bodies Money Love International Reports Gender and Sexuality Feminism Earth Culture Activism and Politics in the US Abortion All All Violence Race Our Bodies Money Love International Reports Gender and Sexuality Feminism Earth Culture Activism and Politics in the US Abortion 1998 Summer The Tyranny of the
- [Editorial Archive](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/editorial-archive/) - Merle Hoffman Editorial Archive 2013 The Love of Strangers by Merle Hoffman “Patient #4 in recovery was moved by your work and wants to see you.” When my assistant’s ... Read More 2012 Where the Reality of Abortion Resides: Intimate Wars by Merle Hoffman When I first opened a clinic for women’s abortion care in
- [1983-1999 Archive](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/1983-1999-archive/) - 1983-1999 Archive All 1999 Winter 1998 Winter 1998 Summer 1998 Spring 1998 Fall 1997 Winter 1997 Summer 1997 Spring 1997 Fall 1996 Winter 1996 Summer 1996 Spring 1996 Fall 1995 Winter 1995 Summer 1995 Spring 1995 Fall 1994 Winter 1994 Summer 1994 Spring 1994 Fall 1993 Summer 1993 Spring 1993 Fall 1992 Winter 1992 Summer
- [Café](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/cafe/) - The Café The Cafe at On The Issues Online Magazine is deepening the conversations by continually adding the insights of progressive writers, thinkers and artists on the topics we address. All 2008 Fall Café 2008 Spring Café 2008 Summer Café 2009 Fall Café 2009 Spring Café 2009 Summer Café 2009 Winter Café 2010 Spring Café
- [Kudos & Awards](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/kudos-awards/) - Kudos & Awards All 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 All All 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2012 Kudos & Awards – Power Oppression Privilege in Sport “Level the Playing Field: Girls, Women and Sports” was recently launched by “On The Issues: A Magazine of Feminist Progressive ... Read More 2011 Kudos & Awards – Phoenix
- [OTI Newsletter](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/oti-newsletter/) - OTI Newsletter All 2012 2011 All All 2012 2011 2012 OTI Newsletter – October 22, 2012 Malala was the name on our minds over the past two weeks. The Taliban’s shooting of this 15-year-old who spoke ... Read More 2012 OTI Newsletter – October 4, 2012 It’s the day after the first presidential debate, and
- [Press Releases](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/press-releases/) - Press Releases All 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 All All 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2012 The Day After: Feminist Leaders and Writers On The Issues That Will Remain After the Elections by Editors NEW YORK (September 12, 2012) – Between political convention battles, the war on women, and a pivotal presidential ... Read More
- [Letters To The Editor](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/letters-to-the-editor/) - Letters to the Editor 2010 Letters to the Editor: Joan Michel Marge Piercy Pens Poem on Heroines for New Issue It’s a great story, but I’m bothered by the fact that ... Read More 2009 Letters to the Editor: Philip Cafaro Thursday, November 19, 2009 Betsy Hartmann’s “The ‘New’ Population Control Craze: Retro, Racist, Wrong
- [Update Browser](https://ontheissuesmagazine.com/update-browser-2/) - Please update your browser This website requires a modern browser to look and function well. Internet Explorer is no longer supported or recommended by Microsoft. Browse in a secure environment by downloaded one of the following browsers below: Chrome Firefox Edge