My childhood was not ideal Photographer Anne Geddes writes in her new book, Labor of Love: An Autobiography, about her childhood on a cattle farm in Australia, with an “emotionally remote mother and a father who regularly demeaned his children.” She “grew up with no sense of self-worth,” according to the interview article Anne Geddes’ [...]
“I always feel like something of an impostor. I don’t know what I’m doing.” Admired and insecure Jodie Foster made that comment recently when she was guest of honor at the Hollywood Reporter Women in Entertainment Power 100 breakfast. She is a recipient of the Sherry Lansing Leadership Award. A highly accomplished actor-director-producer, Foster said, [...]
Mixed messages One of the pleasures of many films of the 30s, 40s, and 50s was the dynamic presence and performance of women such as Myrna Loy (Nora Charles in The Thin Man series, etc). Jeanine Basinger, a professor of Film Studies at Wesleyan University, describes the impacts of these films in her book How [...]
The photo shows students who constituted half of science and technology university Caltech’s all-female chemical engineering class of 2005 [from the page Science.] More women pursuing science and tech careers In my earlier article Women enjoying science and technology, there is a reference to the fact that Caltech [in Pasadena, CA], is enrolling a record [...]
Tavis Smiley: Danica McKellar has enjoyed a successful career in television, first on the “Wonder Years.. and more recently on the “West Wing.” Along with acting, one of her other great passions is math. She is actually a renowned mathematician who has a physics theorem named after her. How concerned are you about the future [...]
Caltech’s women students At Caltech [in Pasadena, CA], a record number of women have enrolled this fall… 87 women are entering a freshman class of 206 students in September. That 37% share is Caltech’s highest since it began admitting undergraduate women in 1970, when pioneering females comprised 14% of the entering class. [Photo no longer [...]
A screenplay at seventeen On her new film “2 Days in Paris” Julie Delpy [far right] has credits as actor, writer, director, co-producer, composer, editor, and even still photographer. She wrote a screenplay at seventeen, but didn’t get a chance to make it into a film. Krzysztof Kieslowsk, director of the “Three Colors” trilogy, advised [...]
Hermione: not scared to be clever In a recent interview, Emma Watson talks about her character Hermione in the “Harry Potter” films as a role model for girls. “There are too many stupid girls in the media,” Watson says. “Hermione’s not scared to be clever. I think sometimes really smart girls dumb themselves down a [...]
Katherine Heigl The title comes from a comment by Katherine Heigl ["Grey's Anatomy" etc], who admits she used to weigh herself “every day at a certain time of day. Then I would write down the number and measure my body fat. It wasn’t a healthy way to live. Now I can tell if I’ve gained [...]
Romance in the media “Gifted children and adults often try to repress the real needs of the Self in order to maintain connections with others. They feel they must choose between loneliness and the negation of the Self.” Linda Kreger Silverman, Ph.D., head of the Gifted Development Center, referencing Deirdre Lovecky’s article Creative connections: Perspectives [...]
Compromising health for elusive perfection “Nine million girls and women in this country — of all different classes and cultural backgrounds — have diagnosable eating disorders and countless others obsess over food and fitness. Panic disorders are twice as likely for females. About 75% of autoimmune illnesses occur in women. “These are serious health concerns [...]
Certified business coach Molly Gordon, MCC www.mollygordon.com enthuses in her Authentic Promotion® Ezine about The Life Organizer: A Woman’s Guide to a Mindful Year: “The title of my buddy Jennifer Louden’s new book doesn’t quite capture the richness of this book. That stands to reason, because Jen has broken the life-balance/life-planning/organizing mold, and it’s hard [...]
Putting our energies into a creative project can help put an end to our obsessions with ourselves. Actress Rosanna Arquette [photo] confessed to “stressing” about having a “chicken neck” as she approached forty. But the obsession to look perfect — all the more intense in her profession — no longer consumed her after she reached [...]
Contemplating suicide In an interview in Ebony magazine [by Laura B. Randolph, March, 1997], Halle Berry talked about the devastation she felt when her then husband David Justice ended their marriage, leading her to consider suicide: “I took my dogs, and I went in the garage and sat in the car. For two or three [...]
From abuse to activism Tori Amos is known for “lyrically opaque but emotionally intense songs that cover a wide range of subjects including sexuality, religion, patriarchy and personal tragedy.” [Wikipedia profile] Her song “Me And A Gun” (1991) was a response to her brutal rape. She has openly talked about her abuse, and in 1994 [...]
Susan Estrich – a male definition of power With the welcome reality of more women gaining corporate and political positions with high levels of power – all too often traditionally reserved for men – what do women think about power? “The world would be a better place if more women were running it, and so [...]
“I want to question what the outside is and who defines it. I often find those that are considered to be on the outside extremely inspiring. They are the people who see through the double standards…” “…I know what it’s like to be in one place and dream of another. I also know what it’s [...]
“It was a life-affirming breakthrough when I saw I could choose not to allow the culture, media, and some ad agency to impose harmful, unrealistic views and ideas about beauty, size, and age on me. “Ever since then, I’m okay with growing older. I see it as something I’m going toward, rather than something to [...]
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