Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films have compiled the accounts of sixteen women who have experienced the sleazy side of Donald Trump. Collecting the stories and presenting them together demonstrates that there is pattern here.

During the presidential campaign these stories were part of the mix of campaign coverage, but faded from view as as other events crowded out the media spotlight. Now that other high profile sexual assault and harassment events such as the Harvey Weinstein scandal are in the news, three of the women—Jessica Leeds, Samantha Holvey and Rachel Crooks—have joined forces to bring public attention to this issue once again, and demand that Congress investigate the claims. The Hill reports that they have gotten the attention of the Democratic Women’s Working Group (DWWG). On Monday that group sent a letter signed by 59 women lawmakers to the House Oversight Committee Chair, Trey Gowdy, and the ranking member, Elijah Cummings, writing that “The American people deserve a full inquiry into the truth of these allegations.”   [Read more…]

When confronted with the question of whether Michigan can afford to have an all woman slate, Dana Nessel in her campaign for the state’s Attorney General position, pushes back by asking if it can afford NOT to.   [Read more…]

For some perspective on this Saturday’s “Me Too March” check out this recent interview of Rebecca Solnit by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez of Democracy Now!. Elaborating on her recent Literary Hub article “Let This Flood of Women’s Stories Never Cease” she reminds us that in the case of Abu Ghraib, where initially an attempt was made to characterize the problem as merely being a case of a few “bad apples”, it was eventually acknowledged that the issue was systemic, an issue of a toxic culture which sustained the behavior. Similarly, when discussing the current cases of sexual abuse and harassment coming to light it is dangerous to focus only on the behavior of some number of individual cases. We need to examine the system and the culture that supports that behavior. And for those who might suggest that these behaviors are unalterable genetic traits, there appears to be at least one instance demonstrating that it is indeed possible to create a culture which does not enhrine the alpha male heirarchical structure.

She also notes that the tenor of the times is reminiscent of earlier events which had energized public action on these issues, events such as Anita Hill’s revelations about Clarence Thomas in 1991, the Steubenville sexual assault and the New Delhi rape in 2012, and the Isla Vista mass murder near UC Santa Barbara in 2014. Let’s hope that recent events bear out that observation.   [Read more…]

An necessary element to having more women in elected office is the need to have women run for office. A critical step in making that happen is identifying and overcoming barriers that discourage women from running for office. One barrier is the disproportional amount of hateful and misogynistic personal online attacks. Here’s a video that sheds light on some non-partisan work being done on that front. More information on this project here.   [Read more…]

From Planned Parenthood’s Twitter feed: If more lawmakers could get pregnant, we wouldn’t have to keep convincing them that birth control matters. Sophia Bush breaks it all the way down.   [Read more…]

Sexism isn’t limited to the U.S. For a glimpse at how some in the Bollywood industry are attempting to push back and call attention to the issues there, here’s an “All India Bakchod” number that highlights (or lowlights, maybe) stereotypical industry examples, all done in the quintessential Bollywood style.
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