Living on PLANET WHITE

by | Mar 10, 2012 | history, power, sex, women

Diahnn Carroll as Julia

Friends, can it really be true that we’ve had no tv series with a single African-American female lead since 1974???  The article below mentions Teresa Graves’s as an undercover detective in the 1974 made-for-TV flick Get Christie Love!, which I do not remember, but I DO remember watching the beautiful Diahnn Carroll as Julia when I was a kid back in the late ’60s.

So, um, let’s see.  Diahnn Carroll broke that glass ceiling, Teresa Graves followed her, and um, we’ve had a mere 40 year absence of series led by a single black woman?? ... Read more.

Israeli women pushed to the back of the bus

by | Jan 18, 2012 | history, power, sex, women

After many years of functioning as one of the most egalitarian nations on the planet, suddenly, religious extremists are pushing Jewish women into the shadows.  This new development flies in the face of the stance of the government, which adamantly supports equality between the sexes.  However, concessions are now being made to right-wingers and fanatics for the sake of getting their votes.

Who will be sacrificed in this scenario?  WOMEN.  The women of Israel.  All these years, I thought that the Israelis were better, smarter, and more enlightened than to pander to the fanatical sects who want to control and oppress women’s minds and bodies.  Gentlemen, is that not the job of your enemies? ... Read more.

Mina Harker: An Uncooperative Protagonist

by | Sep 26, 2011 | books, dracula in love, history, power

From the first time that I read Bram Stoker’s Dracula in my teens, though I revered the work, I just knew that the character Mina Harker, Dracula’s obsession, was not satisfied with the role Mr. Stoker gave her—the quintessentially compliant Victorian virgin.  I knew that there had to be more to her than that.  (I knew that there had to be more to any woman than that.)

Anyone who has read my books knows that I am all about restoring grrrrl power to the historical record.  In Dracula in Love, I decided to tackle a work of fiction, reexamining an iconic female character that had not been given her due.  In a nutshell, my plan was to rescue Mina from Stoker’s sexist fantasy of the nice, cooperative girl, and empower her. ... Read more.