Pics from the Road

Live, from George Washington last Thursday, it's Girl w/ Pen and two of the young women from the Women's Leadership Program. (Am I really that short?!) Those WLP gals are not only gorgeous, they're whip smart. The WomenGirlsLadies and I had an amazing time during the Q&A part of our panel that evening -- the questions we got could have kept us all going all night.

Notes from the Road...

Deborah here. Last night Gloria Feldt, Kristal Brent Zook, Courtney Martin and I spoke together at George Washington University's Elizabeth J. Somers Women's Leadership Program and I have to say, we all feel tremendously encouraged by the amazing women we met there and just a bit proud of our own little quartet for prompting such great questions and reflections from the audience. Topics of conversation during the Q&A included: race vs. gender in the election, work/family balance, public policy approaches to rape and sexual assault, "opting out," dealing with anti-feminist crap from insecure boys, beauty standards and their sources, abortion, equality vs. elevating women above men, women in politics, intersection feminism etc.

Thank you to Dean Heller, Sam, and all those that joined us in the conversation. The future is looking pretty bright...This pic is from a previous talk, but photos from GW coming soon!

(crossposted at WomenGirlsLadies)

WomenGirlsLadies Take It to Harvard

A podcast of our panel at Central Michigan University ("WomenGirlsLadies: A FRESH Conversation Across Generations") is now live. And we're taking the conversation next to Harvard this Friday, so if you're in the area, please do come!

April 18, 3-5pm
Harvard Hall 20
For more info, please contact the Harvard College Women's Center. We'll also be posting notes from the road over at WomenGirlsLadies.

(The photo, L-R: Tara Sathoff-Wells, Central Michigan University Director of Women's Studies; the four WomenGirlsLadies--Gloria Feldt, me, Courtney Martin, and Kristal Brent Zook; and my new dear friend, CMU Professor Jill Taft Kaufman.)

Comments on an Intergenerational Convo at NYTimes

Oh my gosh--my mother has learned how to post comments at the New York Times! Mom, you make me proud! Renee (aka Mom, pictured left) posted in response to my online convo with Courtney over at Marci's blog last week, Shifting Careers. Since I'm bursting with pride at Renee's willingness to learn, and since I also loved what she wrote, I'm reposting her comment here:

"I really enjoyed this discussion between Deborah and Courtney– it touches on so many of the issues that I faced when I entered the work force. It is interesting to me, although a bit disappointing that younger feminists are still trying to achieve things like good child care, flexible hours, and that they 'appear' to be asking too much. Sense of entitlement? To me, if it is for valid reasons and causes, it’s fine. Entitlement only for oneself, without working for authentic and reasonable goals to be shared with other women, is not acceptable. Keep up the dialogue!" -Renee

And while I'm at it, I can't resist posting this comment from some dude who thinks I'm a liar:

"Uh, I’m sorry but Ms. Siegal should not lie about here age. Clearly, she is no older than 29. If you wanna add some legitimacy to this debate a 'boomer' would have really been interesting."
— Posted by Steven Cayce

Well, I AM 39 (as I'm IDed in the post) and for a wider range of generational perspective Steven, I invite you to come hear the panel Courtney and I doing at Harvard with Gloria Feldt and Kristal Brent Zook on April 18. For more on "WomenGirlsLadies: A FRESH Conversation Across Generations," I invite folks to check out our group blog!

TOUR NOTES: Womengirlsladies Coming Soon to CMU...

If anywhere near Central Michigan University, here's where to catch us on March 17 and 18! For more information, e-mail Jill Taft Kaufman at taftk1j@cmich.edu.

Women, Girls, Ladies

Marco strikes again, with a hot little logo for our "Women, Girls, Ladies: Join the Conversation" program for Women's History Month this year. (THANK YOU, M!)

The group blog is now open. It'll look prettier, though, very soon :)

Introducing: Womengirlsladies, the Blog

Fellow writers Courtney Martin, Gloria Feldt, Kristal Brent Zook and I have launched, yep, a group blog which we hope will foster some FRESH conversation among intergenerational feminists about what matters: power, work, sex, motherhood, pop culture, the future, and everything in between. Since I temporarily can't figure out how to post over there (doh), I thought I'd make my post live here for the time being. So here it goes:

Sisterhood, UNinterrupted

I'm thrilled to be part of this dialogue. In my head, I confess, I've been calling it "Sisterhood, UNinterrupted," and I feel so fortunate to be working with my fellow womengirlsladies to foster some much-needed cross-generational talk. These wgls inspire the heck outa me. In addition to continuing the conversation I've been having at readings and talks around my book these past few months, the significance this dialogue has for me goes straight to my core. I've worked in the women's movement and in academia for about 15 years now, and, like Courtney, I've watched some pretty rough dynamics play out between women of different generations at work. And I've often felt caught in between -- the confidant of women on both ends of the age spectrum. Old enough to sympathize, young enough to want things to change. Now that I'm working independently, I watch the generational chasm reflected -- or rather, writ large -- in our popular culture. Stereotypes of young women as apolitical bimbos ("Britney, c'est moi!") and Boomer women as bra-burning throwbacks ("Hillary - so out of touch") drive me insane. With so much unfinished business, so much still to be done to ensure that women across ages and classes and races have the opportunity to live safe and full lives, I'm convinced it's time for a different tune.

Check out what Courtney, Gloria, Patti Binder, and others have to say so far over at www.womengirlsladies.blogspot.com. And join the conversation!