feminism

Mr. Rostan at the Movies: The Burgundy and the Beautiful

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Andrew Rostan was a film student before he realized that making comics was his horrible destiny, but he’s never shaken his love of cinema. Every two weeks, he’ll opine on current pictures or important movies from the past.

This is a Great Chicagoan.

This is a Great Chicagoan.

In 1969, the directories of Chicago counseling services began including a group known only as “Jane.” Jane did not provide psychiatric help or twelve-step programs. Jane—organized by UChicago student Heather Booth—was a network of sympathetic doctors and trained women who provided safe abortions, operating in various apartments, ready to flee at a second’s notice. Jane performed 11,000 abortions, and potentially saved and improved as many lives, by the time of Roe v. Wade.

This was a story I’d never heard before.

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The Fall: The Most Feminist Show on Television

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the-fall-

“A woman, I forget who, once asked a male friend why men felt threatened by women. He replied that they were afraid that women might laugh at them. When she asked a group of women why women felt threatened by men, they said, ‘We’re afraid they might kill us.’” – DSI Stella Gibson, The Fall

Often when I’m watching a crime show on television, I worry that Gloria Steinem might swoop into my living room and snatch away my Official Feminist Card™. I’ve always been intrigued by solving mysteries, and am often drawn to television series of that genre. But the downside to this particular fascination is that these shows are not particularly kind to women. Best-case scenario, the fairer sex is depicted as the semi-competent and often imperiled sidekick to the macho male detective. Worst-case scenario, she is an anonymous and sexualized victim, merely a prop to move the story along or to make the killer look more powerful. Even on shows with a female lead who wields some actual authority, such as Olivia Benson on Law & Order: Special Victim’s Unit, the underlying (and very intentional) titillating nature of the crimes adds an ick factor I just can’t get past.

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Meryl and Christina Discuss Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist

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Image of Beyonce with 'Bad Feminist' written behind her

Meryl and I hung out, ate some soup and drank some wine while talking about Roxane Gay’s kickass essay collection, Bad Feminist. While discussing this book, we fell into many tangents about past relationships and dogs and humor. That’s the awesomeness of the book— it opens up doors and gets you talking.

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Roxane Gay On “Bad Feminism,” Beyoncé, & Blogging

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Roxane Gay

Roxane Gay, author of Bad Feminist, reads at Women & Children First Bookstore in Andersonvile.

What does it mean to be a “bad feminist”? Author Roxane Gay defines the term in the intro of her book of essays of the same title. She admits she may not be as up on feminist texts as she’d like and sometimes she finds herself singing along to pop music she knows is bad for women. But she also supports equal pay for equal work and a woman’s right to make decisions about her own health with unfettered access to health care. A “bad” feminist accepts that she or he cannot be a perfect ideal and example of feminism at all times.

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