feminist movement

We all know that feminist guy, right? The one who successfully sideswiped years of Neanderthal behavior to forge a path to guyville uniquely his own. And I’m not talking about the guy who wears a "This Is What a Feminist Looks Like" T-shirt and calls it a day. I’m talking about the men in our lives who acknowledge the feminine within them every day, without shame, and who stand up for women’s rights as easily as they stand up to pee greet you. These are men who understand the value of feminism and of doing feminism to better girls’ and women’s lives in a culture as waywardly misogynistic as ours can be.

Author and women’s studies professor Shira Tarrant, Ph.D., has written a book to celebrate that guy and to indoctrinate all men into understanding why feminism is not just about girls and women. Her book, Men and Feminism, is part of Seal Press’ academic Seal Studies series and covers not only the history of men and feminism, but gender theory, constructing masculinity, masculine privilege, and how all men can—and why they must—get involved in feminist action.

Page Turner interviewed Tarrant about what led her to become an expert in masculinities, why feminism is relevant to men, speaking plainly about men’s violence, and what men lose in pursuit of the "hypermasculine ideal." Read on for more!

It’s hard to be a consumer of media these days and not encounter the work of author and multi-media journalist Farai Chideya. She founded the online journal Pop + Politics in 1995 (practically a lifetime ago in online years); authored three nonfiction books that chronicle some of the most pressing social justice issues of our time; appeared as a political analyst on CNN and other media outlets; and hosted NPR’s "News and Notes," a daily program about African-American issues that ended too soon in a rash of budget cuts by the organization.

Now Chideya has published her first novel, Kiss the Sky, which is the story of Sophie Maria Clara Lee, a "book-smart black girl from blue-collar Baltimore" who graduates Harvard, achieves rock stardom, and then struggles with love, the music business, family, alcohol, and her own stubborn melancholy.

Page Turner talked with Chideya about her journey to publishing a novel, the autobiographical connections between herself and Sophie, feminism and personal accountability, her decision to talk more openly about her depression, and a crucial question for the next generation of feminists.

First things first: I stan for Joni Mitchell.

That journalist Sheila Weller's NYT Bestseller, "Girls Like Us" also features Carole King and Carly Simon is a nice extra, of course.  I haven't even finished this book yet, but I just have to gush about it.  It's music history, it's women's history, it's American pop culture history...what's not to love?