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Ms.
Women of the Year
Marleine Bastien
Jennifer Erikson +Robert Riley
Magda Escobar
Jane Fonda
Rebecca Gomperts
Naomi Klein
Barbara Lee
Yoko Ono
Sylvia Rhone
Venus + Serena Williams
The Women of Afghanistan
World Trade Center Heroes
Michelle Yeoh
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Women
Who Made A Difference
A few of the brave and tenacious women who left their
mark on this momentous year—and one enduring female
superhero. |
30
Years of Ms.
A few of our words—and yours—about the magazine
and its mission, and the roads we've traveled along the
way. |
Phantom
Towers
An excerpt by Rosalind P. Petchesky |
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Editor's
Page: Turning Point
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Bold
Before Her Time
Edna St. Vincent Millay's reckless life by Le Anne Schreiber |
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Books:
Reviews
Special: An Excerpt from
Families As We Are by Perdita Houston
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Back
Page
Inherit the War |
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The late historian Barbara Tuchman wrote about one of the great
turning points in Western history in her superlative book A
Distant Mirror. She was writing about the impact of the
bubonic plague and the 100 Years' War on fourteenth century
Europe, which, combined, decimated the population, destabilizing
nations and the old social and economic order. Now here we are,
amid another great turning point, our world beset by plague
and more than 100 years of war. Catholics and Protestants terrorizing
and killing each other in Northern Ireland. Indians and Pakistanis,
Hindus and Muslims, Israelis and Palestinians, Hutus and Tutsis,
all in their hideous dances of death. The Khmer Rouge slaughtering
millions in Cambodia. So many killing fields, so few places
on this planet where blood has not been shed again and again.
Racism; political, social, or economic oppression; religious
zealotry; ethnic animus; nationalism; old grievances and grudges
passed down from generation to generation; dormant one minute,
erupting the next. We kill each other, and the AIDS pandemic
keeps expanding—tens of millions dead and dying—feeding
on denial, inequity, and greed, human hope and misery; destroying
families, crippling economies, transforming societies. Before
September 11, most people in this country lived as if all that
pain and suffering were occurring on another planet. But that
was an illusion. It was all happening here.
Ask the woman living in inner-city America about terrorism,
and she'll talk about the fear of drive-by shootings, the bloodshed,
the many, many deaths. Ask the folks who work under siege in
women's health clinics about the threats, the bombings, the
fires, the murdered doctors and workers. Ask the people in Oklahoma
City. Ask blacks about the terror of racial profiling—about
the Amadou Diallo in their town. Ask yourself about the gendered
violence that is so pervasive it's been normalized-about the
fear and reality of being stalked, beaten, raped, murdered because
we are female.
But on September 11, we were all attacked. Since then we have
all lived with fear—not just some of us. Now everyone of
us lives in that other world. No, no matter how many times our
"leaders" exhort us to go on with our lives as usual, we know
that the definitions of normal have been changed. And at the
end of the day, when the historians look back through their
"distant mirrors," the world as they know it will have irrevocably
been shaped by how we responded.
How we responded, not just a few white men in suits and
uniforms. Missing so far from the public debate have been women's
voices in significant numbers. Because there are still too few
of us in the places and positions of power. Because terrorism
and war are still considered men's business, as if our bodies
are not used as battlegrounds; as if we have nothing to say,
no knowledge, no wisdom—because that's how patriarchy plays.
In the wake of the bloodshed and horror of September 11, in
the midst of the anthrax threat, the alarmist reports, and the
fear mongering, our beliefs are being challenged and tested;
we are all struggling to find our way.
My way is to stand firm in my commitment to justice, to peace,
and to my belief in the importance of affirming the principles
of democracy. My way is to refuse to accept the notion that
blind support of militarism and the suppression of dissent is
the mark of patriotism. I won't be silenced. This can be a new
day if we dare to make it so, by raising our voices, demanding
our places at the table, pushing our leaders, and taking the
lead ourselves. This can be a new day.
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