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 reform, we were prepared, having just run Janet Mason’s sharp and heartfelt summary of the landscape of health-reform, especially for older women, in our new Hot Topics section. On June 28, the day of the ruling, our networks and social-media voices were clear on what we believe: that the ruling is a good first step, but only a partial one in the struggle for women’s health and autonomy. Hot Topics has also checked in on women’s activism during the Egyptian elections, and is brewing still more — including a report from abortion pioneer Bill Baird about this year’s National Right to Life Convention.
Olympic Achievements Abide
The approach of the London Summer Olympics is already raising some of the questions we’ve explored in depth in our Spring Issue, “Level the Playing Field.” Lindsay Parks Pieper, in “Rules Put Extreme Pressure on Transsexual Players,” offered some essential context for recent controversial rulings on gender from the International Olympic Committee, while recent media buzz about “Is there a Future for Women’s Soccer?” led many to Tim Grainey’s flagship essay “The Rise and Fall and Possible Rise of Women’s Pro Soccer.” Grainey, the author of Beyond Bend It Like Beckham: The Global Phenomenon of Women’s Soccer, goes deeper than this week’s discussions while adding important facts, including about the new Women’s Professional Soccer League: “The WPSL Elite league will allow players to keep pace with other countries that have launched top-tier loops in the past few years, including Australia, England, Ireland and the Netherlands.”
That Spring issue also keeps garnering lots of blog love and many social-media shares. Particularly popular lately: Laura Pappano’s “Athletes and Magazine Spreads: Does Sexy Mean Selling Out?”; “Becoming Glory: Kicking Goals to Transcend the Night,” Christine Stark’s transcendent memoir of transcending sexual abuse through soccer; Risa Isard’s musing “Opening Historic Trails” on hiking, Title IX and discrimination, and the bracing manifesto from British scholar (and martial artist!) Alex Channon, “Why Sex Discrimination is Bad for Society.” Which pieces are you sharing on Twitter, mentioning to others, emailing around? Let us know!
Meanwhile, at our always-simmering Cafe we observed the June 23rd anniversary of Title IX, by talking to Women’s Sports Foundation, the National Women’s Law Center and others about how to smash the barriers that are still left. We’ve also recently featured Joel Vig’s hilarious and stimulating team-naming proposition and a thoughtful reflection from Carolyn Gage on Olympic giant Babe Didrikson, “Me, Babe and Prying Open the Lesbian Closets of Women Athletes.” As we write, more are coming — especially as the Olympics kicks off.
Just a Reminder: On Wednesday, July 11, publisher Merle Hoffman will be reading from her memoir Intimate Wars at the Mid-Manhattan Library, at 6 p.m. Come to learn more about what NYPL calls “a memoir of a former classical pianist, a self-made millionaire, a feminist who found her life’s work providing abortions, and a fearless crusader for women’s right to choose.”
The Day After The Election: Standing Our Ground
That’s the title of our upcoming Fall issue, which we’re brewing (including recruiting writers) right now. The issue’s theme includes but is not limited to Fall 2012. Contact [email protected] if you’d like to hear more, and perhaps have some writers (maybe you?) in mind.