Michelle Obama’s Speech: As Personal As Political Gets; BillMoyers.com, 10/14/16

Lynn Sherr, BillMoyers.com; Michelle Obama’s Speech: As Personal As Political Gets:

"Rush Limbaugh noted Trump’s comment that “when you’re a celebrity, they let you do anything,” and said, “How can there be assault if somebody’s granting permission? How can it be assault if they let you do anything?”

Newt Gingrich called the claims “30-year-old gossip,” saying “I don’t think it’s relevant.”

I do. And so does Michelle Obama. In her speech she destroyed the false equivalency of “he said/she said,” using her powerful platform to make it clear that what she said that afternoon was far more relevant than anything he or his cronies either said or could say in defense of such behavior. She didn’t just go high when he went low; she soared. And connected.

“I listen to all of this, and I feel it so personally,” she said, meaning it. “The shameful comments about our bodies. The disrespect of our ambitions and intellect. The belief that you can do anything you want to a woman. It is cruel. It’s frightening. And the truth is, it hurts. It hurts. It’s like that sick, sinking feeling you get when you’re walking down the street, minding your own business, and some guy yells out vulgar words about your body.”"

Many men talk like Donald Trump in private. And only other men can stop them.; Washington Post, 10/8/16

Shaun R. Harper, Washington Post; Many men talk like Donald Trump in private. And only other men can stop them. :

"I am fairly certain that hearing the vulgar words Trump spoke over a decade ago will compel many more women to vote against him next month. Electing the first female president will not end sexism, though, any more than electing Barack Obama ended racism. To make progress, men need to do more than vote against Trump. We must stand up to him and call out others who say things similar to what we heard him say on the video. We have to stop excusing the disgusting degradation of girls and women as “locker room banter.” Feminists and courageous others have done much to contest exchanges like the one between Trump and Bush. But it takes men like me to hold our friends accountable for things they say and do to objectify women. We must challenge their values, language and actions.

I have known Trumps far too long — they are my friends, my fraternity brothers and so many other men with whom I routinely interact. I understand now, more than ever before, that letting them talk this way about women makes me just as sexist. By excusing their words and actions, I share some responsibility for rape, marital infidelity and other awful things that men do. I want other men to recognize this, too — not only because they have mothers, wives, sisters, aunts or daughters – but because sexism hurts all women and men in our society."

The Observer view on Donald Trump; The Observer, 5/28/16

The Observer Editorial; The Observer view on Donald Trump:

"A line must be drawn. Illusions must be discarded. The truth must be told. Trump, with his innate, rich man’s hostility to social justice and equal rights, with his greedy love of big business and corporate tax cuts, with his scornful disdain for green policies and climate change science, with his alarming ignorance of strategic realities in the Middle East and east Asia, with his cruel and ruthless contempt for the weak, the less privileged and the vulnerable of this world, with his foolhardy isolationism and protectionism, with his loathsome self-adoration, and with his hateful fear-peddling is a menacing problem, not a passing phenomenon.

Something not dissimilar to the rise of Trump is happening across Europe, where xenophobic and racist parties of the right are advancing, most recently in Austria last week. Trump-ism, for want of a better word, is not something with which tidy, reasonable compromises can be made. It must not be appeased, bought off or left to fester. The only thing to do with Trump-ism, wherever it appears, is to oppose it, fight it, and defeat it. As Elizabeth Warren says, that critical fight must start now."

Was a Va. firefighter humiliated by co-workers online before she killed herself?; Washington Post, 4/25/16

Petula Dvorak, Washington Post; Was a Va. firefighter humiliated by co-workers online before she killed herself? :

"The trolls were horrid to her while she was alive. And they continued to be awful after her death.

Fairfax County firefighter Nicole Mittendorff, 31, killed herself in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, the state medical examiner concluded. But even after the search for her was over, her body was identified and memorial candles began to burn, the cyberbullies — who claimed they were her fellow firefighters — kept scorching away at Mittendorff online.

If these trolls are actually members of her firehouse family, then Mittendorff becomes another example of a new form of workplace harassment. Instead of happening in the office, it happens publicly online.

There is an investigation at Mittendorff’s firehouse to find out who posted the vicious online attacks and whether they played a role in her suicide."

'Sounds And Sweet Airs' Remembers The Forgotten Women Of Classical Music; NPR, 5/22/16

NPR Staff, NPR; 'Sounds And Sweet Airs' Remembers The Forgotten Women Of Classical Music:

"Rachel Martin: Your book profiles a handful of women composers dating back to the 17th century. What was it about the sexism of the time that made it so hard for them to be recognized for the music they were composing and creating?

Anna Beer: Well, sexism, like everything, changes over time. So I think we've got two broad kinds of sexism working: one in the earlier period, and one which brings us right up to today. In the earlier period, there were beliefs about the appropriate spheres and appropriate behavior for women. But if you were an exceptionally talented composer, and you did produce astonishing, wonderful music, people would make a kind of exception for you. They'd say, "Your music is equal to men."

The only thing you had to be very careful of, as a woman, was to behave. You'd have to watch out for being described as courtesan, and you had to marry who you were told to marry, and be innocent and chaste and all the rest of it. But under certain circumstances, in the right place and the right time — particularly if there's a really powerful female monarch in place who wants somebody to justify their rule and their power, [and] might want a kind of poster girl for female talent — you could succeed."

Sophie Turner Grows Into Her Powers in Game of Thrones and X-Men; Time, 5/24/16

Eliana Dockterman, Time; Sophie Turner Grows Into Her Powers in Game of Thrones and X-Men:

"It’s a conversation that has since shaped her views on how women are portrayed on TV and in film. “I wasn’t thinking about these issues when I first started acting. But it’s made me think a lot more about it,” she says. “In my opinion, Game of Thrones is not sexist, and it’s accurate to medieval times. The show puts social boundaries on the women, and they break out of those boundaries. I think it’s quite a feminist show.”

In fact, she says the debate pushed her toward Jean Grey, who in this latest X-Men installment teams up with Jennifer Lawrence’s Mystique and others to defeat an ancient and evil mutant named Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac). Throughout the series, the mutants have faced discrimination, and the moral of every film–including, spoiler alert, this one–is that embracing diversity will save the world. “What we’re going through today with conversations around sexism and racism, I think the themes of X-Men will really resonate with everyone,” she says...

There will be two more seasons of Thrones, and X-Men director Bryan Singer has teased an Apocalypse sequel based on the Dark Phoenix plot from the comic books with Jean Grey at its center. Meanwhile, debates about empowerment and representation will continue. Under pressure, Turner, like Sansa and Jean, is slowly discovering her powers and will soon be ready to fully employ them."

Jimmy Kimmel Shows How F**ked Up Criticism Of Hillary Clinton’s Voice Can Be; Huffington Post, 3/25/16

Paige Lavender, Huffington Post; Jimmy Kimmel Shows How F**ked Up Criticism Of Hillary Clinton’s Voice Can Be:

"To prepare the former Secretary of State to debate someone like Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, Kimmel volunteered to mansplain her remarks. In the process, Kimmel proved just how ridiculous it is when people hit Clinton for how loudly or calmly she speaks — criticism the male presidential candidates don’t often receive...

The joke went on, with Kimmel saying Clinton wasn’t “doing it right.”

“I can’t put my finger on it,” he said. “But you’re not...”

“A man?” Clinton quipped."

Missing From Podiums: Women; New York Times, 12/20/13

Zachary Woolfe, New York Times; Missing From Podiums: Women: "“Dinosaur, go back to your cave!” the British conductor Sian Edwards said over the phone with a laugh, her eyes audibly rolling. I had asked for her response to the bizarrely retrograde comments a few respected male musicians had made recently about female conductors. In August, the young Russian maestro Vasily Petrenko told an interviewer that players, presumably men, “react better when they have a man in front of them.” He added, “A sweet girl on the podium can make one’s thoughts drift toward something else.” Not long after, controversy erupted over comments that Bruno Mantovani, a composer and the director of the Paris Conservatory of Music and Dance made on French radio. “Sometimes women are discouraged by the very physical aspect,” he said. “Conducting, taking a plane, taking another plane, conducting again.” Then the New Yorker critic Alex Ross provided a translation of an interview that the venerable Russian conductor Yuri Temirkanov, one of Mr. Petrenko’s mentors, gave last year. “The essence of the conductor’s profession is strength,” he said. “The essence of a woman is weakness.” The pace is agonizing, but things are improving. Recent conversations I’ve had with conductors at various stages of their careers, as well as administrators, artist managers and teachers, suggest that what’s preventing equity is now less overt sexism, though those comments by the Russian maestros and Mr. Mantovani have made clear it still exists, than simply time — the trickle of a younger, more heterogeneous generation as it permeates the field — and incremental societal shifts in attitudes about the face of leadership."

Scientist or 'Whore'? Incident Symbolizes Familiar Struggle for Women of Color in Science; Chronicle of Higher Education, 10/15/13

Stacey Patton, Chronicle of Higher Education; Scientist or 'Whore'? Incident Symbolizes Familiar Struggle for Women of Color in Science: "Some scholars say Ms. Lee's treatment highlights daily battles against racism and sexism that are exacerbated by the lack of meaningful diversity in academe. If such examples are an indicator of climate, they reveal why the sciences remain disproportionately white and male. Though women's participation in doctoral programs in science has increased in the past 40 years, national data show that only small numbers of black women earn degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, the STEM fields... Among the many challenges facing black women who pursue science careers are isolation, lack of mentors, limited access to financial resources, and time-consuming duties like serving as the voice of color on countless university committees and responding to media inquiries on race and gender, assignments they take on in order to challenge negative stereotypes and to demonstrate that they are "team players."

A Few Takes On How To Fix The Tech Industry's 'Bro' Problem; NPR, 9/13/13

Elise Hu, NPR; A Few Takes On How To Fix The Tech Industry's 'Bro' Problem: "The tech industry's sometimes sexist "brogrammer" culture came into focus at least , making it as good a time as any to highlight the running conversation about how to constructively change the systemic, entrenched issues that allow for offensive apps like Titstare, which was presented at a tech industry hackathon."

The battle against 'sexist' sci-fi and fantasy book covers; BBC News, 1/18/13

BBC News; The battle against 'sexist' sci-fi and fantasy book covers: "Jim Hines straddles the remnants of a defeated alien species (a table), and clasps a pistol (a toy gun) as he triumphantly raises a cyborg's head (a toaster). Sometimes he fights battles alongside his romantic interest (a large teddy bear). But no matter the mission, Hines shows some flesh. Just because he is waging a war, it does not mean he cannot be alluring at the same time, right? Hines, a fantasy author, is posing like some of the female characters on science fiction and fantasy book covers he says objectify women."