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The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...
June 2008 - Posts
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I don't know how this escaped my notice, unless maybe it's because I never read anything newspaper ombudsmen (or ombudswomen) have to say, and not only because they are so boring. (With the business model failing, the industry in apparent freefall, staffs Read More...
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The Sunday New York Times chronicled the trials and tribulations of women who run businesses and employ their husbands. The piece profiled women who sell backpacks and run temp-services agencies, women who run companies that deliver meals or set up trade-show Read More...
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In his " Human Nature " blog, Slate 's Will Saletan rejoices over the recession's toll on the cosmetic surgery business and expresses horror at the idea that some suckers (social parasites?) still refinance their homes to get cosmetic surgery during economic Read More...
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I'm encouraged by the announcement from the Department of Defense yesterday about the nomination of Army Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody to the position of four-star general. If the Senate confirms her nomination, Dunwoody will be the first woman to attain a Read More...
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Kara, go forth and absorb Picasso and Bernini (and then enlighten the rest of us). For my part, I'm sorry I didn't take art history in college. Or music history. In fact I think I'm a cretin. But I also regret, just as much, that I took zero math and Read More...
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While I can't answer Melinda's question of whether the bar for mothers-who-do-it-all was always set so high, as a young twentysomething just starting out in my career, I can see that bar vaulting upward among the women of my own generation. With few glass Read More...
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Dana, I love that you were moved by that picture of Del and Phyllis . They're revered as foremothers of the LGBT movement. In 1955, at a time when people were arrested and lost their jobs (and lives) for being gay, when police would rape women arrested Read More...
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I think I like weddings only when they’re an act of civil disobedience. When my straight friends announce their engagements, there’s always a faint sense of dread at the impending rites of veil-lifting and glass-stomping and Pablo-Neruda-poem-reciting Read More...
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So over at Ars Technica there's a link to a really interesting study that came out the other week in Science . It suggests that the much-discussed "math gap" between boys and girls in American may stem more from social factors than from biology. The study Read More...
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Emily, if you are still awake and reading novels after tucking in the tender shoots, then you are so far ahead of the game that I see a best-seller along the lines of How To Be an Awesome Mummy and Still Read Great Literature in your future, and I'll Read More...
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I'm sure Marjorie is right that we don't know the half of the Walkers' feud—how can we, since we're only hearing Rebecca's side? And I agree with Marjorie and Maureen that feminism should entail a little effort to think from the perspective of a woman Read More...
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There I was, all set to jump up in defense of those Pharmacists for Life whom Will and the Washington Post wrote about. Given how poorly they're likely to fare in the marketplace, their position struck me as both principled and doomed; how could I resist? Read More...
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The Walkers' feud is way too complex and layered for us to assume we really understand what is going on between them. Clearly there's family dysfunction, old resentments, past disappointments—all the stuff that most families deal with on some level or Read More...
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Today at 5:01 p.m. PT, same-sex couples will begin to marry. I send them love and congratulations. And I send my profound hope that every single newlywed couple—the ones who have been together for 30 years ago or for 3 months ago—may be happy together Read More...
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I find it a little ironic that we're so ready to tear Rebecca Walker apart in the same forum where some of us sympathized with the plight of Ashley Dupree. No matter how gross the lot of prostitution, Dupree chose that (although we didn't know until later Read More...
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Two things bother me about the Rebecca Walker essay (which last week stirred up a hot intergenerational discussion on a feminist listserv I'm on). First is her conflation of her mother and feminism. I'm sorry, but when did Alice Walker become the spokesperson Read More...
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Rebecca Walker may be a narcissist, but this quality alone is not what bothers me. Her mother Alice has been called the same, yet in the older Walker’s groundbreaking 1983 novel The Color Purple , she managed to forge some meaningful social commentary. Read More...
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In the New York Times on Sunday , Susan Faludi reworks her American gender narrative for Obama-McCain, and argues that Obama is challenging the norm of candidate as avenging rescuer by refusing to go through the gladiator motions. I went back and read Read More...
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Political consultants are always yammering about what a good idea it is to get the most damaging information out in the open ASAP, and on the candidate's own terms. Which is why I suspect Michelle Obama of cannily revealing that secret terrorist handshake Read More...
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A few weeks ago, memoirist Rebecca Walker published an essay in the U.K.’s Daily Mail titled “How my mother's fanatical views tore us apart,” which has been making the American Internet rounds in recent days. The mother in question is Alice Walker, prominent Read More...
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And so begins the bride-off. Blech. Articles like this one pitting Michelle Obama against Cindy McCain, remind me of how gross the position of first lady can really be. The wives of the candidates are being evaluated for such important qualities as jeans-size, Read More...
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On Convictions, a thoughtful post from Rich Ford, in response to Kim and Melinda . Rich is the author of The Race Card ( much more here ). In thinking about whether Clinton supporters who say they'll back McCain are motivated by racism, he writes: Of Read More...
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Yes, Kim , it is definitely the Age of Entrenchment, and I don't think I'm pretending that schoolyard taunts of any sort are unheard of, or that what happened to my friend's child is any particular reflection on Obama's campaign. But I don't want to be Read More...
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Melinda, I'm sorry your friend's son got tagged as a racist for supporting Hillary. But please: Let's not get it twisted. My kids' school is almost a 50-50 split between black students (African-American, Haitians, Jamaicans, etc.) and white, with a smattering Read More...
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The problem with being a judge who loves to shock is that you're a flashy barracuda in a school of plain tuna, and you risk careening off into the high seas that are the province of public officials who are just too out there for their own good. Such Read More...
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Melinda , George Will has a plan for how to bring Hillary voters back into the Obama fold - scare ‘em! On Hardball Monday night, George Will said he suspects that "three quarters of the country at this point does not know that John McCain is pro-life" Read More...
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Seconding Noreen's comments : If the Times wanted to be consistent with its gender stereotyping, the love-that-iPhone piece might have explored how surprising it is that MEN are using cellphones. You know, that men would want to acquire a technology that Read More...
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But, back to living women who are entertaining the thought of McCain-ing. ...You know how during the primaries, we kept writing that supporting Obama over Hillary didn't make us woman-haters or even bad feminists? Belatedly, with the help of my McCain-flirting Read More...
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Always liked that Ann Richards , and am not exactly immune to Obama's charms, either. Yet I was surprised when the governor posthumously endorsed the presumptive Democratic nominee yesterday: "If she were still around she would suit up and campaign for Read More...
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Why is the New York Times still flummoxed by the idea that women might embrace technology? The paper's Technology section today ran a "trend" story marveling at how women are expected to buy the new iPhone in record numbers (sample quote: "'Companies Read More...
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Our lively debates on XX Factor are inspiring our contributors to write some longer pieces, especially at news-filled moments. In response, we've created a new department for these standalone articles, called XX Factor XXtra. Don't worry-you won't miss Read More...
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In editing a piece about the election this morning, for the first time this season, I didn't replace "them" in a sentence referring back to the president with "him or her." We've only got XYs in contention now, and so "him" will do. It's a small thing, Read More...
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Just received this e-mail from a friend, a Washington lawyer who is a lifelong Democrat and a generous donor to the party. She supported Hillary in the primary and is undecided about what she'll do in November: I just read your XX column , and I wanted Read More...
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Anne , maybe you're right that the next female candidate will have to prove she's less divisive, but I'd reject that test as tedious and unfair. Why should Ms. Whoever Comes Next have to answer for Hillary's sins (such as they are)? In the short term, Read More...
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I spent the day of Hillary's concession speech at a college reunion with one of my oldest friends, and we were talking about the ways, negative and positive, in which Hillary's campaign has served as a role model for our (suddenly!) 41-year-old selves. Read More...
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For different reasons, Kim , I, too, have been utterly mystified by the phenomenon of the Angry White Women, the "feminists" who appear to be upset by Hillary's defeat, and who interpret it as some sort of blow against women. Partly this is because, as Read More...
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If you are one one of our readers who feels furious, betrayed, slammed by Hillary's bowing out, watch this to get your blood boiling. It's a lot of Chris Matthews, whose particular form of flirting was well documented in the New York Times Magazine profile Read More...
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It is tempting to believe that Hillary seemed so relaxed, and confident, and generous this afternoon because she has finally accepted her place. And that place is, once again, second to a giant of male charisma. But this would be insulting, and also not Read More...
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Way to woman up. Read More...
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Dahlia, thank you so much for your piece ; finally, the scales are falling from my eyes. I have been, I must admit, a bit bemused by the rise of the Angry White Woman (AWW) this year. That older white women should support Hillary Clinton with passion Read More...
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Emily Bazelon, Melinda Henneberger, Dahlia Lithwick, and Meghan O'Rourke chatted about Hillary on washingtonpost.com this afternoon. Some excerpts: Dahlia weighed in on idea that young feminists don't understand how hard it was back in the 70s: "I think Read More...
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I was not one of those people who cried when I heard Obama's now-famous speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention. Nor did I find it so spectacularly brilliant as to be beyond any critical analysis. I thought it was a really good speech, but I Read More...
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You've been reading their thoughts on Hillary Clinton's campaign for the last six months or so. Here's your chance to ask a question! XXers Emily Bazelon, Melinda Henneberger, Dahlia Lithwick, and Meghan O'Rourke will be chatting online on washingtonpost.com Read More...
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Amen (so to speak), Dahlia and Melinda . My quick take-away was this: Hillary Clinton is trying to create an equation between her campaign and a kind of religious quest. She told her supporters that every vote of theirs was a "prayer." (So votes for Obama Read More...
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When you call my name, it's like a little prayer/ I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there/ In the midnight hour I can feel your power/ Just like a prayer you know I'll take you there —Madonna OK, so now we know what's on Hillary's iPod. But was Hillary's Read More...
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It was a joyful moment after all. I ran upstairs and woke my daughter and my son to tell them. Their world will be different than ours, and that's a good thing. The great James Baldwin said, "I love America more than any other country in the world." There's Read More...
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Just finished watching Hillary Clinton’s unconcession speech. I guess we should give her credit for the fact that her supporters now look sufficiently angry to set small brushfires. It would have been hard enough to choke down all the quasi-messianic Read More...
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Hillary was on her game tonight. She looked good. She spoke well. She touched on the groups of voters she feels she owns and the problems of theirs she wants to solve. And, alas, she went from more conciliatory (congratulating Obama) to less (I won the Read More...
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Congratulations, Barack Obama! And bye-bye, Hillary. But don't be sad, die-hard Hillary supporters—you've still got a presumptive presidential nominee who values Hillary's experience and her contributions to his campaign, who's willing to take Hillary Read More...
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Well, we probably won't be seeing those colorful prairie dresses and perfect tresses on the front page of the newspapers again very soon. I've been fascinated by the Yearning for Zion ranch drama, which I—like Dahlia, in her great piece comparing the Read More...
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So here we all sit, waiting for the lady in the pantsuit to go ahead and sing. It's going to be hard for anyone who cares about equality and multiculturalism and common ground and all that jazz to feel joy at the end of this slugfest, regardless of where Read More...
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