Tough Women on Contemporary Television

While I'm not, personally, a huge fan of NCIS (I like my crime procedurals bloody and dramatic, not goofy), this NY Times article about it's tough, female character, Ziva, caught my eye (and was referred to me by a friend): "Sugar and Spice and Vicious Beatings."

What was of more interest to me, though, was the "TV's Female Enforcers" slide show that accompanied it. The slide show features women like Elizabeth Mitchell's character Erica from V, Buffy, and Archie Panjabi's character Kalinda from The Good Wife.

I think their list could be much longer, but it's still a fun diversion on a Sunday afternoon (and it will perhaps give you a new list of television shows to check out).

PSA: Engendering Progress Event in NYC on Thursday, March 23rd

A representative from Manhattan Young Democrats asked that I pass along this event announcement to my readers and, since it's for a good cause, I agreed. Contents of the email follow:

A group that I volunteer for is having an event in NYC soon. It is called MYD's [Manhattan Young Democrats] Second Annual 'Engendering Progress' event honoring women thought-leaders, activists and trailblazers.

NARAL Pro-choice NYC will be speaking and passing around a petition for attendees to sign. They will deliver this petition to our Senators in Washington. I really want to get as many pro-choice women in the room as possible.

HERE is information on last year's honorees as well as some pictures of the event which attracted over 100 young people and brought together many women's groups that had not had the chance to meet previously.

Engendering Progress will be held on Thursday, March 24th from 7-11pm at popular establishment Marquee in Manhattan.

Honorees include: GEMS, Domestic Workers United, Women's Media Center, Krista Brenner (a pro-choice activist and one of the few women in New York State to hold the position of campaign manager in 2010) and Lizz Winstead, co-creator of the Daily Show. We are expecting a strong showing of several hundred progressive young people.

The Facebook is HERE.

Co-sponsors include: Paradigm Shift (NYC's Feminist Community) and WomenElect and NARAL Pro-choice NYC.

It would be awesome if you could post this! You don't have to include all the details. I just want women to know that there is a war on women's health being waged and pro-choice people really need to sign this petition before it is too late.

So if you live in or near NYC, consider stopping by for a good cause. Tickets are $5 for MYD members, $15 for non-members or you can purchase a $20 MYD membership and get into the event for free.

Daniel Craig in Drag for International Women's Day

I'm a bit late on this, but here's Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench (v.o.) in their International Women's Day PSA.

"We're equal, aren't we Mr. Bond?"



(h/t Female Impersonator)

21st Century Girl

This is a little random, but I can't help but find myself charmed by Willow Smith's music videos, especially her most recent, "21st Century Girl," which features a bevy of girls rocking out, skateboarding, BMX biking and, you know, not dressing in miniskirts or playing with dolls and tea sets:



I like her first video, too, but the constant refrain of "I whip my hair back and forth" makes my ears bleed a little:

Secretary Clinton Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of International Women's Day

Just a little reminder on the importance of women's issues (particularly global ones) from our Secretary of State:

Pop's Diva Daughter as Primal Mother

I have a new post up at Ms.. Magazine's blog (after a long dry spell which was primarily the result of writer's block and lack of time) about Lady Gaga's newest music video, "Born This Way":

I’ve been looking forward to the music video of Lady Gaga’s much-hyped single “Born This Way” for several weeks, so, when it premiered Sunday on Vevo I really wanted to love it. Unfortunately, “Born This Way” just doesn’t have the twisted, Mad Hatter brilliance of Gaga’s “Bad Romance” video or the movie-pastiche playfulness and queer pleasures of “Telephone” (featuring Beyonce).

What “Born This Way” does share with earlier Gaga videos is an unabashed willingness (nay, insistence) to push the already elastic envelope of music video propriety, a penchant for dancing around in her underwear and a clear, but not completely realized, desire to blur the boundaries between pop rock and video art.

“Born This Way” refers to the idea that homosexuality is the result of nature not nurture, something Gaga emphasizes both through her lyrics (“No matter gay, straight or bi, / Lesbian, transgendered life / I’m on the right track baby / I was born to survive”) and with the neon pink triangle that opens and closes the video. But visually, she seems more interested in metaphors of childbirth and Motherhood (capital “M” intended) than in dwelling on images of queer pride.

Read the rest here.

The War on Women

An important op-ed in The New York Times from Friday (h/t Feminist Law Professors for the link):

The War on Women

Republicans in the House of Representatives are mounting an assault on women’s health and freedom that would deny millions of women access to affordable contraception and life-saving cancer screenings and cut nutritional support for millions of newborn babies in struggling families. And this is just the beginning.

The budget bill pushed through the House last Saturday included the defunding of Planned Parenthood and myriad other cuts detrimental to women. It’s not likely to pass unchanged, but the urge to compromise may take a toll on these programs. And once the current skirmishing is over, House Republicans are likely to use any legislative vehicle at hand to continue the attack.

The egregious cuts in the House resolution include the elimination of support for Title X, the federal family planning program for low-income women that provides birth control, breast and cervical cancer screenings, and testing for H.I.V. and other sexually transmitted diseases. In the absence of Title X’s preventive care, some women would die. The Guttmacher Institute, a leading authority on reproductive health, says a rise in unintended pregnancies would result in some 400,000 more abortions a year.

An amendment offered by Representative Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana, would bar any financing of Planned Parenthood. A recent sting operation by an anti-abortion group uncovered an errant employee, who was promptly fired. That hardly warrants taking aim at an irreplaceable network of clinics, which uses no federal dollars in providing needed abortion care. It serves one in five American women at some point in her lifetime.

You can read the rest here.