media

Slate’s new online magazine “written mostly by women, but not just for them,” Double X, is launched!  Do check it out:

http://www.doublex.com/

An article in the Business section of today’s NYTimes notes that “Although the editors describe the site as a savvy, intellectual, feminist antidote to glossy, celebrity-obsessed women’s magazines, it will not turn away male readers, which they say have made up 40 percent of the blog’s readership.”

Um, maybe that’s because men can be feminists too?  For more on THAT topic, run, don’t walk, to go get your copy of our very own Shira Tarrant’s Men and Feminism, hot off of Seal Press (and part of the Seal Studies series)!

Happy reading, all around 🙂

This month is a double hitter for me: I’ve got bits in the current issues of Ms. and Psychology Today.

The Spring 2009 issue of Ms.— just about to hit the newsstands if not already there– features an article I wrote on the history and funding of women’s studies programs for the special Ms. “2009 Guide to Women’s Studies.”  The first in a planned annual series, the guide—done in collaboration with the National Women’s Studies Association—provides details on 196 undergraduate and 47 post-graduate women’s studies programs, with data on additional undergraduate programs here and here.  Very cool tool for promoting women’s studies as a college major.  And the best part was that I had another reason to call up Mariam Chamberlain, founding president of the National Council for Research on Women, who was at the Ford Foundation when women’s studies began. Mariam–who just celebrated her 91st birthday, in great style–was responsible for funding women’s studies research from the get go, and for many reasons, I owe her a ton.

The June 2009 issue of Psychology Today has a bit not by me, but, well, about me.  Or rather, about Marco and me.  Seems we’re fast becoming the postercouple for laidoff men and breadwinning wives.  Ok, I know, I started it by writing about it at Recessionwire.  But we just said “no” to a very nice invitation to appear on one of the national morning shows, because we’re feeling a little reticent.  I mean, I’m all for going on tv to speak as “the expert,” but we’re starting to feel like a human interest story, and well, that’s just not in our interest, if you know what I mean.  (But thanks for the interest, morning show!  And I’m still happy to come on as an expert on gender and recession over there!)

The funniest part of it all, however, was that I had forgotten I’d done this interview and photoshoot for Psychology Today (magazine lead time is generally 3 months, so it took place in the winter).  I was reminded on the airplane, while sitting next to Courtney Martin on our way down to Atlanta last week.

I was reading (this is embarrassing) Star, and Courtney was reading Psychology Today.  I was just saying how fed up I was getting with Star (I’m a glutton for punishment) when Courtney shouted something like “Hey, it’s you!”  And there I was, photographed with Marco in a full page spread with a little blurb about our situation.

I think I shouted “Get! Out!” just as everyone got quiet for takeoff.  Ah well.

Seriously.  I kid thee not.  In the May 18th issue currently on the stands, two members of my writers group have features!

For an adaptation from a chapter of her forthcoming book, In Her Own Sweet Time: Unexpected Adventures in Finding Love, Commitment, and Motherhood (Basic, May 11), see “Why I Froze My Eggs” by our very own Rachel Lehmann-Haupt.

Four pages later comes “Listening to Madness” by our Alissa Quart–also part of chapter of a forthcoming book.  The article looks at “why some mentally ill patients are rejecting their medication and making the case for ‘mad pride'” and is, like Alissa, rather brilliant.

It’s been humbling and inspiring and instructive to be part of this writers group, which we affectionately call Matilda, after the cat who lives at the Algonquin Hotel where we first met.  Rachel’s book in particular has paralleled aspects of my life–as it will the lives of many of us living on, as she calls it, the edge of our fertility.

For more on In Her Own Sweet Time, which should be available in bookstores asap, check out this interview with Rachel over at YourTango.

I got lots more to say on the whole fertility front, but I leave that for another post…

Our very own Shira Tarrant, of The Man Files here at GWP, was speaking on WBAI radio today about her awesome anthology Men Speak Out: Views on Gender, Sex and Power. Joining Shira were filmmaker Byron Hurt, author Jeremy Adam Smith (who I met last weekend at CCF!) and author Jacob Anderson-Minshall. The group chatted about some of our favorite topics over here: men, masculinity, sex, relationships, violence prevention, and positive change. Check out the MP3 version here.

Hiya from the Council on Contemporary Families conference in my hometown Chicago.  It’s 70 degrees and sunny, and only a gathering like this one could keep me inside.

This morning Virginia Rutter, Stephanie Coontz, and I offered a media workshop, where I heard some of the best ever rationale for why “popping it up” (meaning, learning to write/communicate your complex and researched ideas for a broader audience) is not “dumbing it down”:

Barbara Risman: “If your idea is truly smart, it can be conveyed without jargon.  It’s laziness to think otherwise.”

Josh Coleman: “Reducing a complex idea to a soundbyte is a form of wisdom in itself.”

Stephanie Coontz: “It’s not a compromise to your intellectual integrity.  If you can’t reduce your complex idea to one or two sentences, it may be because there’s a hole in your argument.  It’s not merely a matter of laziness but intellectual self-deception.”

Virginia Rutter: “If you can’t boil it down, maybe media isn’t the medium for you.  Maybe it’s meant for a smaller discussion.”

!!!

SO EXCITED bout this: Girls Write Now will be featured some time this week on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams reported by national correspondent Amy Robach.  Tune in or set your DVRs to see some familiar faces! And please spread the word!

NBC Nightly News airs daily at 6:30 PM Eastern/Pacific, 5:30 PM Central. Check out your state’s local listings.

Time for some serious talk about men’s violence. I’ll break it down to make a difficult point really simple.

Number one: Men’s violence against women is a men’s issue.
Number two: Prevention is the best solution.

It’s been almost two months since Chris Brown’s infamous and brutal attack on Rihanna. With our three-second Twitters, four-second sound bites, and a five-second news story shelf lives, it’s like this assault happened a million years ago. It’s so easy to collectively forget and move on to the Next Big Story.

But think back to the leaked police photos of 21-year-old popstar Rihanna’s bruised and swollen face. Although her bruises may have faded along with our collective voyeurism, a crucial issue remains.

The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence reports that 1.3 million women are victims of assault by an intimate partner each year. Do the math. That works out to nearly two-and-a-half women assaulted every minute, typically by a boyfriend or husband.
We live in a culture that shrouds these facts of violence in secrecy, silence, and misunderstanding. We’re taught to confuse abuse with passionate love. Our culture links violence with romance with lines like, “Baby, I only hit you because I love you” — the kind of relentless refrain we see repeated in mainstream movies, TV, magazines, and music.

If a celebrity woman stays in a violent relationship, or gets back with an abusive guy, the takeaway for most people is that that male violence is not so bad. This insidious message, comments journalist Katha Pollitt, reinforces ideas that male violence is a natural part of life, and something in which women are complicit by provoking it, using it, even liking it.

This is dangerous misinformation. It contributes to a culture that normalizes violence and is accustomed to looking the other way, even with the rates of abuse so astronomically high.

But here’s the thing. Whether we’re talking about two megastars in Hollywood or the couple living right next door, we might scratch our heads and ask, “If he’s abusive then why does she stay?”

It’s a fair question. But the wrong one. The question that goes to the heart of the matter is Why does he hit?

Men are certainly victims of domestic assault. But the vast majority of cases are women hurt by men’s hands, words, and control. Direct service agencies and hospital samples indicate that men commit nearly 90 percent of domestic abuse. Yet, ironically, we’re trained to think of abuse as a woman’s issue. When we’re talking about male violence against women, says violence-prevention educator Jackson Katz, we’re really talking about a men’s issue.

This isn’t about blaming men. The point is more profound and the goal more constructive than that. The most effective way to end violence against women is to stop the problem before it happens. Doing so means we need men on board. We need men taking responsibility, getting in on the conversations about male violence, and refusing to be silent bystanders to the problem.

Rihanna and Chris Brown are high-profile cultural icons. Millions of fans look to them as trendsetters and culture creators. With media giving so much attention to their personal lives, the couple’s private relationship has powerful public impact.

The Rihanna-Chris Brown fan base skews young. So does abuse. Girls and women between the ages of 16 and 24 are more likely than any other group to be in abusive relationships. The NCADV reports teen dating violence is one of the major sources of violence in adolescents’ lives. A full 20 percent of dating couples report some type of violence in their relationship. Teen dating violence is particularly insidious because it happens at a time when young people are navigating intense relationships, sorting out their values, and laying emotional roadmaps for their futures.

A recent study of Boston teens that found nearly 50 percent of the 12-to-19-year-olds surveyed blamed Rihanna for getting hit. But this isn’t just about pop-star punditry. The issue literally hits at home. According to the Boston Public Health Commission, 71 percent of the teens they questioned said arguing is a normal part of relationships and 44 percent said fighting in relationships is routine.

This is startling.

So let’s seize this cultural moment to keep talking — really talking! — about masculinity, violence, and pop culture. Honest conversations across communities about male violence against women are crucial for the safety of teenagers at risk, for children who witness abuse, and for survivors everywhere. We need to start talking across communities because men’s violence against women is a men’s issue. And prevention is the best solution.

Some folks told me they had trouble with the link from yesterday’s Today Show women’s history segment, so I’m indulging and posting the vid here. (I think by now my mother has sent the link to EVERYONE she knows — I’m getting emails from friends abroad — thanks for the props, Mom!)

Because I’ll be there!  I’m doing a segment with Kathy Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb for Women’s History Month.  I promise to post linkage here.  It should be lotsa fun!  A hint: we’re doing a pop quiz….

Apply now!