Feminists Are Rarely Self-Taught
Who are the feminists? A mid-May Time/CNN poll shows education more than any other factor determines whether a woman defines herself as a feminist.
Fifty-three percent of white, college-educated women living in cities say they are feminists. Despite the years of talking about feminist values, though, the same old issues plague women.
When asked to name the main problem facing women that men don’t face, 34 percent of the 721 women polled said “inequality in the workplace.”
Twelve percent said the main challenge women face is “difficulty balancing work and family,” 7 percent named “lack of quality child care.” (From June 29 Time)
* Facts of (work) life: Cents on the dollar women earned, compared with men, in 1979: 63. In 1993: 77 cents. In 1997: 73 cents. In 1998: 76 cents. (From June 22 Time)
* Gender differences: Could there be clearer evidence that men want to look, women want to talk? Of the men who visit sex sites online, 50 percent said they’d prefer sites with visual erotica, 23 percent prefer chat rooms. Of the women who visit sex sites online, 23 percent prefer the sites with visuals, 49 percent prefer chat rooms. (From June 22 Time)
* Out on the cutting edge: Like most magazines, Wired publishes lists of what’s hot and what’s not, only they’re labeled Tired and Wired. What’s Tired? Microsoft Office 98, taking your spouse’s last name, in vitro fertilization and salsa dancing. The Wired list: Microsoft SF 99, using your spouse’s domain name and break dancing. (From July Wired)
* What’s on their minds? The March issue of Men’s Health asked readers to send in the one thing they still don’t understand about women.
Men’s Health got 1,144 responses. Examples: “Why don’t women give you a second look when you’re available, but as soon as you’re involved, they really want you?” “Why do women at checkouts wait until the last moment to dig money from their purses, and then insist on paying the exact amount — which requires a diligent search for a penny?”
So that’s what men (or at least Men’s Health readers) are wondering about. (July/August Men’s Health)
* A nod to nostalgia: Those folks at the Smith & Hawken catalog company sure know how to write ad copy. This isn’t the only company selling not just products, but a whole lifestyle. Still, who can resist this image: “What is summer? For some it’s long shadows on stretched-out days. For others, the smell of newly mown grass, or chlorine, or jasmine. The slam of a screen door; bare feet buried in sand; a home-grown tomato, plucked from the vine and eaten straight up; fat books; gnats; new loves; sunburn. … Summer is the haiku of seasons: intense, condensed, pithy. Long after graduation, it’s the season for living as if we had nothing to do for three months but dream.”
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