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Some Earlier Associate Books

Robin Morgan, editor. Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for A New Millennium

Maureen Honey and Venetria Patton, Double Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology

Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender, eds. The Routledge International Encyclopedia of Women: Global Women's Issues and Knowledge

Margaret Gallagher, Gender Setting: New Agendas for Media Monitoring and Advocacy

Tatyana Valentina Mamonova, Succes d'estime

Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel

Jo Freeman, A Room At a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics

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Robin Morgan, editor. Sisterhood Is Forever: The Women's Anthology for A New Millennium

Reviewed by Jessica Seay

Thirty years after Robin Morgan's historic anthology, Sisterhood is Powerful, she compiled and published the aptly titled Sisterhood Is Forever; The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium. This contribution contains over sixty original essays that focuses on everything from globalization to the critical field of media. Three essays discuss women in media. These essays analyze the obstacles in media that women have overcome, what is currently changing in media today, and what can be bravely accomplished in the future.

For example, Gloria Steinem's essay, "Media and the Movement: A User's Guide," offers a broad view of the media. Her essay is primarily a basic introduction on how contemporary females in 2003 can effectively use the media for the purposes of creation, demonstration, and teaching. She describes the importance of the various protests in the 1960's and in later years that aided in the greater goal of producing more women's media and greater coverage of women's issues in today's news. In her conclusion, she provides many techniques for effectively utilizing the media, advice that is extremely useful for those who are new to the media environment. One of her most powerful guidelines is "Become the change you wish to see in the media." This is most worthwhile for young women to discover-- instead of despairing that there is no women's media and that the media will never democratize-- be the change.

Carol Jenkins, who was a news anchor and is head of a New York based production company, contributes an essay on the "Women in Broadcast Media." She points out that in a male-dominated media environment, women reporters are not regarded as reliable sources of information. They are consistently harshly critiqued, such as in the Wall Street Journal's scathing article of Paula Zahn based partly on how her hair looked. Also, Jenkins said that since the voice of authority belongs to an a older, white male, women reporters are often left with mundane 'fluff' stories such as which swimsuit is most flattering. However, she also stated that there have been some positive advances including Katie Couric's lucrative contract with NBC and the reporting done by Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, and Jane Pauly. Furthermore, women's influence in television is getting slightly better with networks like Oxygen, a woman-owned and woman run network. She concluded with the message that the future of women in television depends upon their ability to create their own companies.

"Cyberfeminism - Networking the Net," by Amy Richards and Marlanne Schnall, is the third essay that is connected to the field of media. This essay focuses on their belief that the Internet has transformed media and has a powerful ability to interconnect people and their ideas. They emphasize that women are increasingly becoming computer literate and now constitute more than 50% of the Internet users. With this influx of female internet users, they assert that there should be more websites that allow women to share information, their ideas, and opinions. These websites can become a large part of a global sisterhood. In their minds, the technological revolution is only the beginning and as the technologies become more readily available, their costs will decrease and be accessible to all.

It would have been fantastic if there was a chapter addressing the influence and scope of women's media and the issue of media democratization. It is extremely important for people to see the effects of women's media and why it is crucial for women to have methods of sharing their perspectives and opinions on various issues. Women's media is global and extensive. The introduction of the Internet and e-zines as well as magazines like Bitch and Ms., makes a difference in producing much needed articles and editorials by women for women. It is good to attempt to make headway in the corporate media, but at the same time, women need to be able to produce media themselves and speak for themselves. We also need to try to democratize media so that more voices can be heard. Women's media is an important and exciting way to promote women's issues. More people need to know about the publications that are doing so today.

There are numerous essays in Sisterhood Is Forever that have moving messages and significant social themes. Andrea Dworkin's is particularly inspired. Andrea Dworkin encapsulates and articulately explains the issue of Violence Against Women. Dworkin states that until the women's movement gained momentum, violence against a woman was not seen as a punishable crime. Since the beginning of the women's movement, activism has altered the landscape to include and provide shelters, laws, and rape crisis centers for women. However, crimes against women are still prevalent. Andrea Dworkin outlines the ongoing threats and characteristics of crimes against women including battery, marital rape, stalking, incest, child sex abuse, and pornography. Dworkin's narrative style makes her essay particularly captivating. For instance, when outlining marital rape, it is said that "she cannot say noif she does say no, the word will be met with his fist.." Her style tunes the reader not to relate to a specific person, but to a woman, a women that could be herself. She also offers several methods for counteracting acts of violence against women such as stronger laws for those who commit the crimes. Her suggestions are implicit to her arguments and are guides for those who wish to participate in the fight towards ending violence against women.

Sisterhood is Forever is not only a book that all women will want to own, but also celebrate because it concerns our on-going social transformation. It discusses the roots of the current issues that affect us and is applicable to every woman today no matter where her interests lie.

Sisterhood Is Forever; The Women's Anthology for a New Millennium, edited by Robin Morgan (NY: Washington Square Press, 2003).

A few of her other recent books:

Robin Morgan, The Demon Lover,The Roots of Terrorism (Washington Square Press; December 12, 2001; $15.00)

The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 exposed a disturbing reality. We now know that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of young men are willing--even eager--to die in order to destroy what they regard as their adversary. These attacks uncovered the extremist attitudes and methods employed by terrorist individuals, organizations, and states--attacks that were actually predictable, given the perpetrators' attitudes toward and treatment of women. Parallels between the violence we've been witnessing and the gross debasement of women by oppressive regimes and belief systems is revealing itself more clearly than ever before.

First published in 1989, Robin Morgan's THE DEMON LOVER: The Roots of Terrorism brilliantly addresses this issue in a provocative, compelling analysis of the core connection between a society's contempt for women and its propensity to eroticize violence and romanticize death. Reality has caught up with this groundbreaking work that was ahead of its time.Available abroad in six other languages but recently out of print in English, the book is now timelier than ever, especially with a major new updating Introduction, and an Afterword focusing on the September 11 attacks, offering a fascinating, fresh perspective on our current crisis: in the Afterword, Morgan, a leading political theorist and the acclaimed author of 17 books, shares her now-famous Letters from Ground Zero--personal, eyewitness accounts of the devastation caused at the World Trade Center, accounts that are unforgettably poignant.

A remarkable personal journey as well as a work of vivid journalism and solid scholarship, THE DEMON LOVER traces terrorism to its political, religious, and psychological roots. With powerful, passionate writing, Morgan examines how and why terrorism is linked to patriarchal societies, why well over 80 percent of terrorists are male, why token terrorist women become involved--and why terrorists are the logical incarnation of patriarchal definitions of "manhood," particularly in a world shrunken and intensified by technology: The terrorist has been the subliminal idol of an androcentric cultural heritage from prebiblical times to the present. His mystique is the latest version of the Demon Lover. He evokes pity because he lives in death. He emanates sexual power because he represents obliteration. He excites with the thrill of fear. He is the essential challenge to tenderness. He is at once a hero of risk and an antihero of morality.

Untangling the knots of religious and political fundamentalisms, Morgan discusses why, historically, women have been first target: Women stand at the intersection of the core societal issues--sexuality, reproduction, and family structure. To control society, Morgan argues, such fanaticism must control women--and in the process, minimize the perceived threat to their extremist masculinity. Sexual obsession is central to this ultra-masculinism. If being a man is defined as not being a woman, then a man must either keep separate from women (purity) or enslave them (mastery), she writes. The long fuse of manhood that's been burning for centuries has, in this age of globalization, become a conflagration of heroes/martyrs/killers. It is the era of the Demon Lover. We need to look at the cross-cultural pattern that forms the central knot of terrorism: the intersection of violence, eroticism, and what is considered masculinity. We need to change a definition of manhood that is toxic to men and lethal to women.

In comprehensive detail, THE DEMON LOVER exposes the history of terrorism, using examples domestic and international, down through history to today. Morgan writes of the democratization of violence and the explosive convergence of religious, political, and erotic paths leading to the sexual politics of terrorism. She explores official terrorism as acceptably practiced by nation states. She addresses the women of the Demon Lover--women involved in terrorist activities--and reveals startling details of her own involvement with certain militant underground US groups of the 1960s. She writes of the months she spent in Middle East refugee camps, where she spoke with Palestinian women who expressed stereotype-smashing insights about de-glamorizing violence.

An important expose of the origins of terrorism written by a truly original voice, THE DEMON LOVER offers an illuminating, unique perspective on the real causes that breed violence. Despite the complexity of these causes, Morgan believes there is hope for a better future, and she outlines a vision for a world in which women are free to contribute their creativity, intelligence, and self-worth--and where individuals as well as states reject violence as a means to an end. But to get there, both women and men must first grasp and confront the deepest agenda of terrorists. As Morgan writes, not until we understand the connections between society's crisis and our own individual lives, not until we expose this continuum of the sexuality of violence, not until we fathom who the Demon Lover really is, can we truly conceive other approaches, which will permit us to reclaim our rightful place on this sweet, imperiled landscape we call home.

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Maureen Honey and Venetria Patton, Double Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology (Rutgers University Press 2001)

Maureen Honey and Venetria Patton have published a gender-balanced anthology of writings from the Harlem Renaissance, Double Take: A Revisionist Harlem Renaissance Anthology (Rutgers University Press 2001). This is the first collection from this era to include equal numbers of contributions by women and men and to highlight gay and lesbian issues. Period art work is included as well as fiction, poetry, drama, and essays.

An earlier book:

Reviewed by Valerie DeMatteo
WIFP Associate

Marueen Honey gives a voice to the forgotten African American women of World War II and their unknown and heretofore unpublished story in Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II. The book is made up of original poetry, fiction, and essays written by black women during the war. Selected pieces are reproduced as they were published in African American periodicals many years ago. The majority of the selections, however, had never been read or seen by the public previous to the release of Honey's book. Also included are works by men and white citizens that represent their perception of these women in the war.

The book begins with "War Work," a section which addresses the problem that African American women had finding reasonable, safe jobs during the war. Most black women and men worked terrible hours in horrible conditions. The mental and financial stress wore at the patience of these workers and broke apart families and couples. "Racism on the Home Front" is the next section, and includes stories describing physical and verbal violence against the black population. The reader gets to look in on the trapped and humiliated lives that the oppressed men and women lived during this time. Honey confronts us with the statistic that 242 violent clashes in forty-seven cities occurred in 1943 alone. Containing numerous amounts of poetry by African American women, "The Double Victory Campaign" demonstrates the idea that black soldiers hoped to reveal the equality of the races through their war efforts. Women were central to this effort by participating as social activists, mothers, entertainers, and more. In this portion of the book, women discuss their emotions as suppressed mothers and expressed fear for their children and families. The last section of the book is entitled "Popular Culture and the Arts." Here Honey depicts the racist beliefs that were present in the mainstream media during the time of the war. Women were overwhelming stereotyped and negatively portrayed. The groundbreaking success of some entertainers such as Anne Wiggins Brown, Hattie McDanieal and Etten Moten gave hope to the African American population. At the same time, most of the pieces demonstrate how long real change for African American female artists would take.

Marueen Honey's collection of works is not only intriguing, but also at points shocking. It is the first time that African American women of World War II were given a voice through the publication of their own works. The gender and race discrimination during the time is heart-wrenching and is truly felt through the experience of reading these narratives. Any reader of Bitter Fruit will become immersed in the concerns, hopes and life-style of African American women during World War II.

University of Missouri Press

 Bitter Fruit: African American Women in World War II is an anthology of fiction, poetry, and essays by and about black women published in the African American press during the war years. It includes illustrations from the periodicals. This book is available in cloth and paper from the University of Missouri Press. Dr. Honey is also the author of Creating Rosie the Riveter: Class, Gender, and Propaganda during World War II (University of Massachusetts Press), and the editor of two books, Shadowed Dreams, Women's Poetry of the Harlem Renaissance (Rutgers) and Breaking the Ties That Bind, Popular Stories of the New Woman, 1915-1930 (University of Oklahoma Press).

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Included in the more than 800 entries are reports on
Media: Overview
Media: Alternative
Media: Chinese case study
Media: Grassroots
Media: Mainstream
Media and politics

.... also entries on Knowledge; Justice and rights; Communication; Press: Feminist alternatives; Radio; Publishing: Feminist publishing in the third world; and Publishing: Feminist publishing in the western world--- and much, much more.

Angharad Valdivia is the topic editor for the Culture and Communication entries. In her overview entry she writes: "Drawing on a vast variety of theoretical strains, feminist work on media studies begins with the assumption that the mass media are implicated in ideological and material processes that support, exacerbate, and re-create sexism in patriarchal cultures." (pp.1324-1325) Now, you won't get that perspective from the Encyclopedia Britannica!

It's an encyclopedia that records, in women's words, a lot of women's knowledge. It's been a huge international project involving more than 1,000 women. The reviews have been very rewarding. It's on Choice magazine's list of Outstanding Academic Titles for 2001. Here's the review from the American Library Association journal Choice.

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This information is from ChoiceReviews.online, an ALA/ACRL publication,available by subscription at http://www.choicereviews.org.
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Primary Specialty: Reference-General
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Routledge international encyclopedia of women: global women's issues and knowledge, ed. by Cheris Kramarae and Dale Spender. Routledge, 2000. 4v. 2,288p bibl index ISBN 0-415-92088-4, $495.00. Reviewed in 2001jul CHOICE.

Long awaited by scholars and students in women's studies and related disciplines, this set stands as a unique and indispensable multidisciplinary reference work. International in focus, the encyclopedia "represents more than three decades of worldwide scholarship--especially, though not exclusively, feminist scholarship in numerous fields of knowledge." Editors Kramarae (Univ. of Oregon) and Spender (Univ. of Queensland, Australia) gathered knowledgeable contributors from many disciplines, languages, and cultures. Compilation and organization of the articles were coordinated by specialist topic editors who oversaw 13 thematic categories (e.g., arts and literature; ecology and environment; health, reproduction, and sexuality; history and philosophy of feminism; households and families; religion and spirituality; violence and peace; and, of course, women's studies). A project so ambitious but limited to four volumes must necessarily omit some categories of information. The editors decided that instead of biographical entries, information about individual women would be incorporated into entries addressing relevant "ideas and actions." Articles emphasize issues and ideas rather than academic theories, although some theoretical articles are included. Each article provides an introduction to the topic as well as cross-references and citations to additional and more specialized sources of information. Alphabetical and topical lists of articles in the first volume and the exhaustive index in the fourth assure convenient and precise access to information. Since the editors and contributors admirably accomplish their goal of providing a resource suitable for scholars, professionals, and activists as well as for general readers, libraries large and small, academic and public, will find this incomparable encyclopedia an essential acquisition and an invaluable resource. --- J. Ariel, University of California, Irvine

Copyright 1999 American Library Association. Contact permissions@ala-choice.org for permission to reproduce or redistribute.
--
Cheris Kramarae, Visiting Professor
Center for the Study of Women in Society
University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403 USA
email: cheris@oregon.uoregon.ed

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Margaret Gallagher, Gender Setting: New Agendas for Media Monitoring and Advocacy (London: Zed Books, 2001) $25.00 paperback.

"In an age of global information structures, what scope exists for independent citizen action in media and cultural policy formation? How can audiences effectively voice critiques of media content? In an increasingly market-centered and consumer-oriented media world, what is the potential for monitoring, lobbying and advocacy?

"This book argues that despite the breakdown of traditional patterns of regulation, there is a role for local action to promote diversity in the media. Focusing on media portrayals of gender, more particularly the media's role in reproducing and reinforcing patterns of discrimination against women in society, the book aims to unify the hitherto disparate strands of academic research and feminist activism in the form of gender media monitoring aimed at policy critique and practical change.

"Research findings and monitoring experiences from both North and South are brought together to demonstrate how, with varying levels of resources and expertise, women's groups have developed monitoring models that can be effective in widely different media contexts. Drawn from countries as diverse as Canada, India, Spain, Jamaica, Australia and South Africa, these approaches will have lessons for everyone concerned about media democracy and diversity in the new information age."

Professor Liesbet van Zoonen, author of Feminist Media Studies, and Gender, Politics and Communication writes: "An admirable book. Margaret Gallagher has collected her vast knowledge of women and the media into a volume that was long overdue. Creativity and persistence appear to be the core features of feminists' struggles all over the world against the onslaught of demeaning images in contemporary media cultures. The book will be an inspiration to activists and theorists, reminding us of the ongoing necessity to combine theory with practice."

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Tatyana Valentina Mamonova, Succes d'estime (New York: Woman and Earth Press, 2001)

Published by Woman and Earth Press in both Russian and English, Mamonova's latest book is a luminary exploration of the author's unique experiences travelling abroad and in her homeland of Russia. Through sketches, poems, and miniatures, the author traces a colorful journey from emotional exile to quiescence, from solitude to solidarity. Forced to leave Russia for initiating the first feminist NGO, Mamonova continued the movement from abroad, publishing and editing feminist literature and the Woman and Earth Almanac. Succes d'estime probes the pathos of a woman finding home and humanity in chance encounters with strangers and the tasks of daily life. Mamonova discovers inspiration even in the banalities of existence: solace in tiredness, gratitude for insomnia, an eternal waiting posture of the spirit. A spectrum of sensations and sentiments, Mamonova's book is, most of all, enlightening and hopeful. reviewed by Alexis Luckey.

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Jean Kilbourne, Can't Buy My Love: How Advertising Changes the Way We Think and Feel (Touchstone, November, 2000)
$14.00 paperback, won the Distinguished Publication Award from the Association for Women in Psychology.

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Jo Freeman, A Room At a Time: How Women Entered Party Politics, (Rowman and Littlefield)

  Jo Freeman is also the author of The Politics of Women's Liberation, winner of a prize given in 1975 by the American Political Science Association for the Best Scholarly Work on Women in Politics. Dr. Freeman has edited three books: Women: A Feminist Perspective (1975,'79,''84, '89, '95), Social Movements of the Sixties and Seventies (1983), and (with Victoria Johnson) Waves of Protest: Social Movements Since the Sixties (1999).

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