By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Huff/Post50

When I went to work at Ms. in 1972, I wore a matching pink skirt and blouse — and a girdle. I had just gotten married and was, therefore, not able to get a bank loan without my husband’s approval. I had given up playing basketball (half-court for girls) in college because no coach or court could be found. And I had had an illegal abortion.

By Suzanne Braun Levine,
Ms. Editor, 1972- 1988

I was interviewed recently for an article about the early days of Ms. magazine, which is about to be forty years old. Soon after that I was interviewed for an article about Our Bodies, Our Selves which was first published around the same time. When thinking about those days and looking at some photographs, my first thought is How Young We Were! And my second is How Brave We Were! Now I have another thought: How Lucky We Were! to be there.

I was so touched by the note and poem I received from my friend Sean Strub – a feminist in good standing as well as a major AIDS activist – that I want to share it. He found the poem when he was going through his mother’s papers after she died recently. The short story he mentions, The Yellow Wallpaper, is a feminist classic, written in 1892; about a woman who is kept housebound by her husband and slowly goes mad.

Sean’s mother’s aversion to the word “feminist” is an example of the familiar “I’m not a feminist, but……” syndrome – a woman who walks the walk but doesn’t feel comfortable with the talk. It is clear to me – and to her son – that Janey was a feminist in spirit, which is where it counts. — Suzanne Braun Levine

By Suzanne Braun Levine

Recently I came upon a photograph of myself in my first bikini (it was really a two-piece, compared to what goes as a bikini these days) and I was struck by how good I looked. That thought lasted about two minutes until I realized that when that picture was taken, I thought I looked fat and bulky; I was not happy to be looked at. Then I realized that I feel the same way today. Fat and bulky. Plus, wrinkled and saggy. What a waste, I thought, not feeling good about my body back then. And just as much of a waste feeling ashamed of it now.

By Robin Morgan, “Upstairs in the
Garden: Poems Selected and New,”
1990.

“Sometimes you don’t have no control over the way things are. Hail ruins the crops, or fire burns you out. And then you’re just given so much to work with in a life and you have to do the best you can with what you got. That’s what piecing is. The materials is passed on to you, or is all you can afford. But the way you put them together is your business. You can put them in any order you like. Piecing is orderly.”

– An anonymous woman quoted in The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art

By Suzanne Braun Levine

I have always thought of Mother’s Day as a celebration of my mother, the Main Mom in the family. I made plans designed to please her and honor her on her Day. Eight months ago she died, and so this year, for the first time, I am the last mom standing. It is a weird feeling to have the day to myself, especially when my inclination is to spend it missing her. Yet when I think of the two of us as mothers, I see the…

By Nawal El Saadawi

Translated and edited by
Robin Morgan

Egyptian feminist Nawal El Saadawi embraces a younger generation determined to achieve the revolutionary goals to which she and others have devoted their lives.

Over coffee on a winter afternoon, I spoke with Courtney Martin for Encore.org about how to go about making the world a better place.

Courtney Martin is the author of “Do It Anyway: The New Generation of Activists.” She speaks to her generation in her writings and her blogs on Feministing.com (“young feminists blogging, organizing, kicking ass”). And she speaks about her generation to older activists who are trying to figure out where all the political flowers have gone.

JOIN ME FOR A VERY SPECIAL EVENT: THE 2010 PAGES & PLACES BOOK FESTIVAL! SCRANTON, PA – SATURDAY, OCT. 2nd
Join me at the 2010 Pages & Places Book Festival, Scranton’s celebration of books and the city on Saturday October 2nd. I will be at the Book Expo and on the Panel: “FROM FRONTLINES TO HEADLINES” with Robin Morgan, Tamera Gugelmeyer and Andi Zeisler. http://pagesandplaces.org/
BOOK EXPO
9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
*I will be there from 12:00 pm -1:00 p.m. Stop by to say hello! …

YOUNGER WOMEN ARE LOOKING AHEAD!

A young staff member at Plume (my paperback publisher) interviewed me for two new videos to celebrate the paperback publication of “50 Is the New Fifty.” Because the interviewer was a young woman, I was reminded (again) of how important it is for women in second adulthood to be seen in our culture – to be visible and happy. We are each other’s horizontal role models. And, just as important, we are paving the way for younger women.

Younger …