Interesting review this weekend by Janet Maslin in the NYTimes of a book called Girls Like Us: Carole King, Joni Mitchell, Carly Simon — and the Journey of a Generation ,
by Sheila Weller. Maslin calls it “a strong amalgam of nostalgia, feminist history, astute insight, beautiful music and irresistible gossip about the common factors in the three women’s lives.” Most interesting to me of course:

[I]t also has a point to make about sexual inequality in the era when these three women came of age. The ambition and posturing that turned middle-class Robert Zimmerman of Minnesota into Bob Dylan, Ms. Weller argues, were much more costly for women, no matter how freewheeling those women seemed. This book illustrates how Ms. Mitchell’s long-held secret about the baby she gave up for adoption was infinitely more punishing than the rambling, gambling male singer-songwriter’s stock way of paying his dues.

And most amusing:

There is something irritating about the very premise of “Girls Like Us,” Sheila Weller’s three-headed biography of legendary singer-songwriters. Maybe it’s the instant-girlfriend tone of the title. Maybe it’s that at least one of Ms. Weller’s subjects, Joni Mitchell, objected to being lumped into the same book with the other two, Carole King and Carly Simon. Or maybe it’s the euphemism. Her book is about women whose musical careers took off in the 1960s, and all are now in their 60s. They aren’t girls. They’re grandmas.

Go grandmas 🙂

The following is a post from GWP’s newest regular, Elizabeth Curtis. I’m forever grateful to E, as we call her, for teaching me the latest tricks of the trade–in blogging, of course. I love E’s voice and I bet you will too! And btw, the new season of GossipGirl premieres April 21. – GWP

The Gossip About Those GossipGirl Ads

I was taking a leisurely jaunt in Manhattan when I first came across the controversial GossipGirl ads that have created so much buzz for this CW show. Promoting this TV series based on the popular teen books about an elite prep school, the advertisements I saw were poster-size and plastered all over a construction site. My response? OMFG, for sure. And WTF, too.

Now my reaction to these ads is not negative because I am prudish or “sex-shaming.” I’m just struck by how “soft-core” these mainstream images are. Like Ariel Levy, I’m concerned about how “pornified” society seems to be these days. But my take on the consequences of this “pop culture gone wild” is more in line with the views of Jessica Valenti. As Jessica smartly states in her book Full Frontal Feminism,

I think that while the fast-growing focus on sexuality [in popular culture] certainly has the potential to be dangerous for young women, it’s not necessarily all bad. What is bad is that young women seem to be confronted with too few choices and too many wagging fingers…We’re all trapped by the limiting version of sexuality that’s put out there – a sexuality that caters almost exclusively to men.

Jessica goes on to make a call for young women to critically engage with mainstream images promoting an impossible and often unattractive version of female sexuality and to then make informed decisions about their own sexual lives.

I think that the GossipGirl ad campaign is a perfect example of the type of analysis Jessica advocates. What is going on in these ads? Is it just a shameless use of sex to sell an already racy series? Is female pleasure exploited or privileged by featuring an actress’s “o-face”? What’s up with the social mores contradiction of this television show being marketed to the very same American teenagers who are being taught abstinence-only sex ed. in school? WTF, you know?

Luckily, feminist thinker/scholars like Levy, Valenti, and Kathleen Sweeney, and our very own Girl With Pen are writing about these issues – and bringing more to the conversation than just WTF.

Some Recommended Reads:
-On “raunch” culture: Ariel Levy’s Female Chauvinist Pigs
-On feminism and activism today: Jessica Valenti’s Full Frontal Feminism
-Girls, girls, girls: Kathleen Sweeney’s Maiden USA: Girl Icons Come of Age
-Blogging about girlhood: Patti Binder’s What’s Good for Girls
-For some female-friendly, sex-positive inspiration: Rachel Krammer Brussel’s Dirty Girls: Erotica for Women

Share your recs and takes in the comments section, too!

Cross-posted at A Blog Without a Bicycle

Image Cred

Quick note, late to the table: As Gordon E. Finley of the Washington Times reported a while back, a headline by Reuters on Nov. 7 was startling and certainly newsworthy: “Female U.S. corporate directors out-earn men: study.” And empirically incorrect. What gives? Read the rest.

This just in from the International Museum of Women:

Women, Power and Politics global online exhibition debuts its top 10-plus recommended films by and about powerful women. Through documentaries, features and even a TV miniseries, you’ll meet everyone from presidents to factory workers and show-stopping great-grandmothers. Grab some popcorn. Invite some friends. Start renting the top picks in our Film List.

If you love film, don’t miss the unprecedented footage of two Iron Ladies in action now playing in our April focus What does Power Look Like? Watch Chile’s Señora Presidenta Michelle Bachelet in Spanish as she puts critics in their place. Be inspired to Follow the Leader of Liberia: the no-nonsense Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf.

Let the inspiration continue through the stories of five women across the globe who gained First Money, Then Power with the assistance of CARE microcredit programs. CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty with a special focus on working alongside poor women. To learn just how economics affects women’s power, tour this month’s map Working for Wages.

I’m subverting blog post/comment convention in order to share the Q&A that’s been going on in comments on Laura’s inaugural post here this past week (Book Smarts), because the questions GWP readers posted so far are ones I hear a lot, and I know everyone’s going to benefit from Laura’s responses. Have at it! And please feel free to post in comments book publishing industry related topics you’d like to Laura to address in a future post. – GWP

Blogger Ralphie said…
That marketing thing is difficult. Is it really true that the authors of all those terrific, sensitive, gorgeous-writing-filled books I read were out there “selling themselves” to get their first book published? I guess so, but it all just seems so… sad.

Blogger LauraM said…
I entirely agree, Ralphie. Marketing CAN be hard, and luckily for all of us, there are still editors and agents in this industry who are committed to finding those terrific, sensitive, gorgeous-writing projects without needing all the buzz. But the reality of book publishing is that it’s a narrow-margin enterprise. Want to guess how many books actually earn a profit for the author and publisher? It’s fewer than you think, and the pressure is on editors to champion the books that will make money, not lose it. So if you can offer your editor terrific, sensitive, gorgeous writing AND a solid marketing pitch, then you’ll have a huge advantage. And take heart—these days, having a web presence is very easy, and that’s a great first start to creating a platform for yourself. Start a blog, post on others’ blogs, be active in your writing. Let the rest follow from there. —Laura

Blogger Jay said…
Great advice, thanks! It’s a bit daunting to go back to my proposal and give it the overhaul you suggest but I can see how your suggestions will make it so much better. Do you think it’s worth hiring a professional look over/edit the proposal before I submit it?

Blogger Ericka said…
My problem has been Right Freeway, Wrong Lane. I’ve been in the “industry” a long time, a solid midlist nonfiction writer. And, I’m good at the marketing thing — I have website, blog, lots of PR experience and reading experience and radio and even TV — but my career has largely been for my non-fiction. And now I’m about to send my LITERARY NOVEL out there (in a month or so) and I fear that all that experience in the non-fiction realm won’t translate to the literary world. My “platform” has been parenting writing, and my novel is not that. (Though it is family-based.) Suggestions for how to spin my experience? I’m afraid it will seem like Apples and Oranges.

Blogger Caroline said…
This is so helpful to read right now, Laura, and I’m sure I’ll have questions for your future posts! As you know, I sold (modestly) one book, but now I’m working on something I’m hoping will have a broader audience, and your tips about presenting the proposal are perfectly timed for me. I’ll keep checking in for more!

Blogger LauraM said…
Hi Caroline, I’m so happy you posted! How are you, and how is your book coming along? I’d love to hear. And do ask any questions, I promise I’ll answer them if I can.

Ericka, hi! You know, I think you’re underestimating the value of having had previously published books, even if they are in a different category. The trick is to use those books to show that you have a solid foundation as a publisher writer. Make sure that your bio includes any and all positive reviews, blurbs, and media coverage for anything you’ve published before. And keep in mind that unless it’s a very high-level editor who is looking at your work, it’s not likely anyone is going to expect you to have had previous bestsellers. Midlist is a good place to be … dependable, successful. Just replace “midlist” with “backlist” (read: My books are STILL selling even after several years!), and you’ll be surprised what kind of attention that can get you. —L

Image cred

Blogger Amy Tiemann (aka Mojo Mom) has an excellent piece up over at Women’s eNews this week, titled “Obama v. Clinton Puts Stretch Marks on Sisterhood”, which beings:

“Sisterhood” bound women together during the second wave of feminism in the 1970s.

Fast-forward three decades, and it is time to start asking ourselves what happens when you try to stretch sisterhood across a generational divide and then push and pull it between the campaigns of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Answer: serious stretch marks.

I couldn’t agree more (and kinda wish she had cited my book or Courtney and my WaPo oped somewhere–oops–down ego, down) when Amy writes:

Ten years from now we could look back on the arguments about Clinton v. Obama as the wedge that emphasized a generational divide, to the detriment of all women.

The Mother-Daughter dynamic illuminates a power differential. In many ways the Mothers have the upper hand. They control the largest established organizations, the purse strings of foundation grants. By excluding younger women’s definitions of feminism, however, the Mothers are short-circuiting their power.

The Mothers need to remember that they need the Daughters as well.

Gen-Xers such as myself are no longer children; we’re reaching our 40s now. Not only do we represent the future, we are the bridge to the millennial generation who will clean up after all of us.

And speaking of intergenerational, the WomenGirlsLadies crew can’t wait til tomorrow, when we’ll be conversing on this very topic and more over at Harvard, on the heels of that interesting conference on feminism over there the other week with Camille Paglia, Katie Roiphe, Christina Hoff Sommers and others. Perhaps we might all be together on a stage sometime cause that sure would be an interesting conversation.

(Thanks to Joanne over at PunditMom for the heads up on Amy’s piece!)

I’m posting this cause I dig the cover. It’s a book published in 2006 called A Woman for President: The Story of Victoria Woodhull, and it “brings a fascinating character from history to schoolchildren.” And in case folks are wondering who the Woodhull Institute is named for and all.

Check out this must-read piece from Marie Wilson over at HuffPo, called “Leading Like a Girl: For Men Only?”, which concludes:

I am on a crusade to have women risk revealing their authentic selves. As a group who bring important attributes to leadership, who can also be tough and in control, women’s leadership, having been honed at the foot on the table, has lessons and positive possibilities for us all. We have made it safe for men to play like the girls. Now is the time to claim our own ability to do the same.

Along the way, Marie touches on men’s and women’s investing styles and the gendering of political leadership styles. One of the smartest slants on these topics I’ve read in a while. Thank you Marie. (And thank you to Catalyst’s Laura Sabattini for the heads up!)

The Institute for Research on Women and Gender at Columbia University announces a fall conference:

“What is Feminist Politics Now? Local and Global, “19-20 September, 2008

The conference will explore:
– The changing meanings of feminism, and its goals (intellectual,social and political) in a global context: to examine whether these meanings can any longer be contained within the rubric of common social agendas.
– Emerging social movements within the United States and beyond, including those that foster the collective interests of women across national, class, religious, and racial borders; the common interests of women and men; and those that call for greater individual autonomy.
– Questions about how women within the post-industrial west can effectively relate to, and remain engaged with, issues that arise from diverse locations and affect differently situated women in different ways.

More info coming soon here.

Thanks to Broadsheet, I just discovered this new blog called Act Like a Man. by Edward Keenan, a writer for The Walrus (Canada’s New Yorker). Here’s his inaugural post, from March. And here’s what Jezebel has to say. Thoughts? And hey, I’m currently compiling a list of “man blogs”–blogs by men, exploring masculinity–so if you see one you think I might not know about, I’d be so grateful for the heads up!