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Wednesday's Woman Crush

Published by Wednesday Martin

Today’s MASSIVE crush on two fearless leaders—Okoye and Rachel Simmons. Have you seen Black Panther? It has broken the box office and inspired people across the US. I haven’t seen my friends this excited—about a movie that is more like a cultural event, and what feels like both the proof of and the possibility of even more meaningful social change--in a long time. Maybe ever. Okoye is inspiring girls and boys alike with her strength, smarts, and proud blackness. What does it mean when women lead unambivalently, without fear of stepping on male egos, without fear of reprisal from the greater male coalition? Okoye does just this. Can the rest of us get there? Rachel Simmons wants to know. The author of trailblazing Odd Girl Out has written another sure-to-be-a-classic for feminists, parents, and everybody else—Enough as She Is. Rachel’s message is that we have to let girls learn to fail and learn to forgive themselves for it if we want them to thrive and to lead. Buy it here—and I’ll see you at Black Panther.


Hypocrisy and Hierarchy in #MeToo Movement

Published by Wednesday Martin
From @WednesdayMartin Twitter
From @WednesdayMartin Twitter

Women who have an issue with #metoo — notice that among other things it’s a generational and political (progressive/conservative) divide. And much of it, when you read closely, is a version of “WE put up with it & we are ok so stop being crybabies/victims.“


Wednesday Woman Crush: Issa Rae

Published by Wednesday Martin
Insecure creator Issa Rae
Insecure creator Issa Rae
Issa Rae. If you haven't watched her show Insecure, you are in for a treat. As in, something irresistible. In the #metoo moment, at a cultural crossroads where Roy Moore almost won and zero women directors were nominated for a Golden Globe, Rae and her show are a blast of what we need now. 

How Embracing Female Sexuality Can Help Heal Hollywood Post-Weinstein

Published by Wednesday Martin
Illustration by Federica Bordoni for The Hollywood Reporter
Illustration by Federica Bordoni for The Hollywood Reporter

#metoo is paving the way for gender equality in ecologies like Hollywood, finance, science, and politics. I look forward to the day when female sexuality re-enters the equation. And women are not attacked for saying, "It's not just wrong to harass me because I don't want it and because you have power and I don't. Harassment is wrong because you are not recognizing that I am sexual in my own right, rather than just some extension of your desires." We need a world where we acknowledge that women, not just men, have a fundamental right to be sexual. Without being stigmatized or punished for it.


From Horridays to Holidays — Tips for Step"families"

Published by Wednesday Martin
There is no one right way this holiday season!
There is no one right way this holiday season!

It's holiday time. And when we think holidays, we think family. Of course today, "family" is increasingly likely to refer to stepfamilies, the fastest growing domestic arrangement in the US and Great Britain.


Why Do We Send Photo Portraits of our Kids for the Holidays?

Published by Wednesday Martin
These contemporary artifacts demonstrate that children, our most precious possessions, are on display during the holidays
These contemporary artifacts demonstrate that children, our most precious possessions, are on display during the holidays

Across the country, it's holiday time. That means holiday cards. These cards often highlight family and particularly children. Usually the card itself is a family portrait, or a portrait of the kids. Ever wonder why?


Harry and Meghan: Ring in the New?

Published by Wednesday Martin
Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle announced their royal engagement at Kensington Palace's Sunken Garden.
Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle announced their royal engagement at Kensington Palace's Sunken Garden.

The engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is big news in the UK—and the US.  Americans are often pretty indifferent to royal goings-on. We founded our country on an anti-royalist stance, after all, and the legacy endures in our deep suspicion of titles that are inherited, aristocratic and “elitist” versus earned (Donald Trump happened here not  only because of retrograde nationalist fervor and a backlash against women and people of color but because he was able to pass himself off as a gold-plated, self-made billionaire who supposedly “earned it.” Even though his wealth and privilege were intergenerational, passed down from Dad).