Marcia G. Yerman

Chances are, if the average American woman were stopped on the street and asked, “Do you have equal rights in America under the law?” she would reply, “Yes.” But does she?

Wendy Carrillo is part of a field of 23 candidates who are competing to fill the Congressional seat in the 34th District in California. A child who was smuggled to America to escape the civil war in El Salvador, Carrillo has spoken about her personal journey in the context of the current fight for immigration rights.

Prior to his operation, B took photographs of his unmutilated body. It was way before the era of the selfie, but he wanted to document himself while he was still “whole.” Post-surgery, the affected side of his chest would bear a long scar. The nipple was gone. He was not interested in taking steps to reconstruct it.

So what does it all mean for women candidates past and future? (I won’t even include Sarah Palin in this discourse because she has become more of a performance artist, as evidenced in her slam poetry endorsement of Trump). I do wonder why Fiorina was able to get away with delivering her points of view in ways that often struck me as spiteful, condescending, or harsh to the ears. I didn’t attribute it to her gender. Rather, I don’t find her terribly sympathetic.

Thanks to social media, consumers are able to reach out to brands and directly express their pleasure — or displeasure — with a company’s product. I frequently react to advertisements that annoy my sensibilities via Twitter (I give shout outs, too!), using the hashtag #fem2. This summer’s Schick ad, with three bikini-clad young women standing behind bush-type trees in front of their pubic area, irritated me to no end.

Hillary embodies the different hats that women wear. Why so much criticism from the sisterhood when one hat is exchanged one for another?

Pence has brought national attention to his state of Indiana because of his extreme views on abortion, as well as his perspective on the civil rights of those in the LGBT community. His goals for “affirming the value of all human life” appear to be selective.

Activities in the photos can range from women at the start of their day, dealing with their children, or sprawled in a chair exhausted after eight hours at work. They document women in dressing rooms, without makeup, sporting a new hat, or dressed to the nines. In Arreola’s estimation, these are all “photo worthy.”

Despite our dependence on caregiving to grow and function as a society, compensation for this labor remains unfairly low. Another factor is the “motherhood penalty”: Women with children earn less than women without kids. On the flip side, fathers get a “daddy bonus,” earning more than men without children. When women move out of the workforce to raise a family, it impacts their lifetime earnings.

The stated mission of the organization is “to increase women's presence in the public debate, emphasizing those who are least often heard, including women of color, low-income women, lesbians, youth and older women.”