In scanning through a vintage magazine from 1966, I did a double take on a provocative article with the headline explaining how “I Spy” leading man Bill Cosby lamented “Why Wont They Let Me Kiss on TV?” Perhaps frustrated at not getting enough romantic action as a secret agent on the small screen, the now disgraced…

Gloria Steinem’s faux pas was politically incorrect... literally

In scanning through a vintage magazine from 1966, I did a double take on a provocative article with the headline explaining how “I Spy” leading man Bill Cosby lamented “Why Wont They Let Me Kiss on TV?” Perhaps frustrated at not getting enough romantic action as a secret agent on the small screen, the now disgraced…

Taking a cue from the tile of a 1960 film “I Passed for White”, that seems to be the only way to get a Oscar nod in 2016http://wp.me/p2qifI-3fc

Obama is to be applauded for standing up and taking action. “My prayers are with you,” congressmen numbingly utter, but in the same breath they greedily whisper “my votes are with the NRA.” Our congressional leaders need to get up off their knees and do something about gun violence.Offering prayers but failing to act…

In the wake of this firestorm its easy to dismiss Cosby’s actions as coming from a man of fame and fortune but it speaks to the realities and pervasiveness of our rape culture, one which has long sanctioned and even encouraged this behavior for the ordinary man.

In the retro world of Republicans,Trump follows a long tradition of misogyny, that is so woefully out of touch. Would you believe there was once a time when it was ok to run an advertisement with the headline asking “Is It Always Illegal to Kill a Woman?” In what may be the most misogynist ad ever, this ad that ran in…

These routine traffic stops turning deadly are becoming all too routine. The old jingle “See the USA in your Chevrolet” takes on a very different tune for African Americans. What many discover is the rules of the roads are not paved with equality. As the bitter debate about how our police forces treat non white…

Glancing through a retro Boys Scout handbook you notice how filled it is with skills you must learn and rules you must follow. Apparently gadar was one of the important skills a scout must develop as the rules were clearly spelled out when it came to sexual orientation...scouting was not for all boys!

White children learn early on the policeman is your friend. He keeps us safe It is their truth but the truth is often skewed as simplistic as the vintage schoolbook illustrations I grew up with. The all American white schoolbooks of my own 1960s childhood serve as nothing less than a primer on white privilege. If…

Welcome to the world of older women Caitlyn! Once the initial admiration dies down, how long before the dismissiveness of a 65 year old aging woman begins. Growing up “middle age” was not a pretty picture...literally. Magazines were filled with sorrowful portrayals of older aging women on the margins of society. When…

Let the misogyny begin.

As Hillary Clinton begins her run for President why are some Republican pundits still debating whether a woman is worthy of sitting in the oval office. Nearly 60 year ago, a young senator named John F Kennedy asked and answered the prescient question - Can a woman be president? in a 1956 article he wrote for a…

Its safe too say even in 1970, sexism was alive and well in the Mad Men world of misogyny. Harrys bad behavior was just the latest installment. The leering eyes, suggestive remarks and creepiness of male workers made sexual harassment a near daily ordeal faced by women in the workplace.In fact it was the stuff…

Its safe too say even in 1970, sexism was alive and well in the Mad Men world of misogyny. Harrys bad behavior was just the latest installment. The leering eyes, suggestive remarks and creepiness of male workers made sexual harassment a near daily ordeal faced by women in the workplace.In fact it was the stuff…

Go Patricia Arquette! The idea of a gender based wage gap today seems as antiquated as the retro school book illustration found in vintage Arithmetic books where we learned those lessons early. While learning how to count in elementary school we also learned who counted! When Bobby earned $1 for a days work washing…

Fifty years after the death of Malcom X, institutional racism still exists, the silence on #blacklivesmatter is still deafening and another example of the black and white world we still live in.

Was America ready in 1975 for The Not Ready For Prime Time Players? Check out an early editorial on SNL when they wondered if the show could sustain itself Forty years later did Saturday Night Live become as big as the Beatles as Lorne Michaels hoped at the time it would? http://wp.me/p2qifI-2Hz

Americans are suffering from a serious panic attack as panic has gone viral. Ebola hysteria is spreading faster than the virus itself, creating a climate of fear mongering, misinformation and intolerance. Along with calls for travel restrictions and border closures, the panicked reactions resemble another viral…

Once upon a time when patriarchy ruled, the American housewife was perceived as the most envied gal in the world and a new vacuum cleaner was enough to send her over the moon. Though times have changed for sure, like a toxic overspill some remnants of that mind set persist. The ideal set forth in the 1950s notion …