Marcia G. Yerman

I reached out to Kate to discuss her film, her impact on the 2011 Massachusetts anti-trafficking law, and her take on the distinctions between “sex work,” “sexual exploitation,” and “abolition.”

“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated,” Angelou pronounced.

Yes, there’s plenty of sex. However, the show is far more than just thrusting bodies in motion. Specifically, in a scene that included brief full-frontal male nudity, my takeaway from the encounter was not about the man’s genitals or his verbalizations in the throes of passion. Rather, what was meaningfully clear was that the woman’s emotional core was elsewhere. The sexual interlude served to underscore her internal state.

“When I left the Navy,” said Zapf, “people had negative ideas of women in the military.” In steps to re-calibrate those perceptions, Zapf has been speaking around the country at conferences. “I want to make sure that the American public gets a comprehensive view of what women experience.”

The Trump administration seems determined to turn America back to the days of the 1950s. Unequal pay, gender-rating in insurance plans, less access to birth control, and a roll back of reproductive rights are all on the list. Here's what his first 100 days in office looked like for women's rights.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, but for those whose lives dramatically changed when they entered the realm of rape survivor, there is no 30-day expiration date.
This is made abundantly clear by Annie E. Clark and Andrea Pino, the co-founders of End Rape on Campus (EROC). They also have edited the book, “We Believe You: Survivors of Campus Sexual Assault Speak Out.”

Mark your calendars for The Reproductive Freedom Festival on the evening of March 20. Over three hours of live performances will be streamed from a studio in Manhattan to viewers across the country — and the world. It will be accessible via computers and other digital devices for free. Pre-show highlights begin at 5:15 pm EST. The goal of the event is to foster awareness of and focus attention on the issue of reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, while anchored in Women’s History Month.

“The online community has been one of my most valuable resources,” Quinones-Fontanez emphasized. “It's made our journey a little less lonely, knowing that I have people in my life who understand. I have built a community that can provide me with advice and hope.”

A friend of mine, who self-identifies as a life coach, repeatedly tried to push a concept on me termed “self-care.” I always thought it was her version of wrapping selfish behavior in an appealing package, tied up with a bow of convenience. My resolution borrows from that premise, but it is rooted much deeper than just doing what is best for my own physical and mental health.

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.