Noelle Williams's Posts

What NYC SlutWalk Was, and What It Wasn’t

Union Square was packed when I arrived at this weekend’s inaugural New York SlutWalk. The crowd was mostly women, mostly young and mostly white. Clothing styles ranged from topless to scanty to normal street garb to formal. One woman wore a business suit. A common thread was “slut” in red and black markers across foreheads, [...]

Clinton, Bachelet Head to Egypt, Tunisia To Push Women’s Role

Egyptian and Tunisian women’s role in post-revolutionary governments was a major concern at the high-powered “Women in the World” summit this past weekend, hosted by Newsweek and Daily Beast editor Tina Brown. Speakers such as Melinda Gates, Madeline Albright and Melanne Verveer devoted three days to discussing the importance of investing in women worldwide. After [...]

Big Apple Takes Big Step Against CPCs

The battle against crisis pregnancy centers’ (CPCs’) deceptive tactics rages on, and this time New York City has joined the fight. The City Council passed a truth-in-advertising bill on Wednesday in order to combat about a dozen CPCs that are currently operating in the city. The bill’s passage comes after a federal judge struck down a [...]

Newsflash: Maloney Re-Introduces Bill To Ban False Ads By CPCs

The Stop Deceptive Advertising Women’s Services Act (SDAW) is back on the table. Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ) have re-introduced the bill that would stop crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs)–anti-abortion-counseling offices that often masquerade as health-care providers–from using false advertising. SDAW would direct the Federal Trade Commission to declare it “an unfair [...]

We Love: Couric, Steinem, Greene Weigh In On “The End of Men”

Yesterday, Ms. founder Gloria Steinem and Women’s Media Center President Jehmu Greene sat down on Katie Couric’s web show (video below) to respond to a The Atlantic article, “The End of Men: How women are taking control–of everything.” The article says: For years, women’s progress has been cast as a struggle for equality. But what [...]

Big Hug for the F Word

One of the Newsweek 3 has written another great piece on the magazine’s website. Jessica Bennett focuses on the importance of feminism today and discusses the frequent cringes generated by the F word. Like Bennett,  we’ve all heard the dreaded disclaimer, “I’m not a feminist but…” Fear of the F word, Bennett writes, reflects a misconception, [...]

Newsflash: Washington Bans Shackling Inmates During Childbirth

Great news in the state of Washington: a new state law bans the use of restraints on incarcerated pregnant women. No shackles can be used during labor, post-delivery recovery, or during medical trips or court visits in a prisoner’s third trimester. Sounds like common sense, right? Unfortunately, Washington only joins 6 other states that have [...]

Is Lady Gaga a Feminist or Isn’t She?

Nobody could describe my relationship with Lady Gaga better than she does: We’re in a Bad Romance. She’ll say something feminist one minute and equate feminism with man-hating the next. Sometimes she seems too skinny, too blonde, too commercial–but then she explains how her Bad Romance video simulates the trafficking of women as commodities in [...]