Category: Powerful Woman of the 80s

Wednesday Addams is the Hero Fem Friday Needs!

Does a fictitious character that inspired countless women mean as much as one that exists? Can inspiration be found in someone we met when she was nine? And do men have to be aware of their reactions to women who refuse to conform? In the case of Wednesday Adams, the answer to all of these…
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October 4, 2024
Women Write Banned Books & What We Must Do Now

What happens six weeks after a First Amendment Activist and members of Amnesty International and the American Library Association have a conversation in the 80’s? What were they fighting for? And who is winning that war over 40 years later? The 80’s gave us Banned Books Week. They were fighting “to teach the importance of…
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September 27, 2024
Iman: A Refugee Who Made the World Better!

Most people know her as a Supermodel and beloved wife of David Bowie. But how many know that she was a refugee, speaks five languages, and changed the world for many? As a victim of genital mutilation at the age of seven, a refugee at 16, and faced racial bias as model in the US…
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September 20, 2024
Winona Ryder Breaking Silence in a Tough World

As many fans wait for the 5th and final season of Stranger Things, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is smashing the box office. Winona Ryder is back in the spotlight, but she has never been silent. She impacted Generation X with important lessons about metal health and early adulthood with movies like Girl Interrupted and Reality Bites. This…
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September 13, 2024
Avril Lavigne’s Breakaway Makes a Difference

Is she the pop punk queen or the mother effing princess? Did she open doors? Is she punk? Is she a hub bridging influences and being an influence? It’s…Complicated. But there is no mistaking that she is more and does things that matter. I recently learned that, like me, our music and culture columnist Jeremy…
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September 6, 2024
Stormy Daniels and Her Refusal to be Silenced

Does Stormy Daniels have anything in common with Maya Angelou, Cyndi Lauper, and Kathleen Hannah? Does she deserve to be more than a punchline in counterpunches? Is it time for Feminism to move beyond SWERFS? Can a sex worker be a victim of sexual assault? Absolutely! Other Fem Fridays we have written about were strippers…
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August 30, 2024
Dolly Parton And the Choices We Make

Can where we come from shape our views? Is the joke on us? Can our words show truth? Did the choices of others both deter and inspire a young writer? Dolly Parton embodies the best of the yeses to these questions with Country Class and kindness that enlightenment and education doesn’t always provide. This is…
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August 23, 2024
The Important Reflections of Jenny’s Feedback

Last Friday I wrote and published an interview called, “Jenny’s Feedback and Graceful Truth“. It was not only the most popular Fem Friday in over three months, but it also created some comments that have left me moved. Jenny is profoundly deaf. She communicated to me about her experiences as a woman who felt the…
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August 19, 2024
Jenny’s Feedback and Graceful Truth

Can well intentioned people show ableist behavior? Is it possible to give hard truth gracefully? Do we get better with age? Can we change an ending? According to a former model named Jenny, the answer is yes. Jenny is a Fem Friday we have written about twice. The first one was our Brooke Shields piece…
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August 16, 2024
Bjork’s Avant Garde Life and a Kiss Sweeter Than Sugarcubes

Can an artist always experimenting defy definition? Is it possible to mash up various inspirations into one inspiring figure? Can Gen Xers hear the voices of the young and change and grow while still setting a social tone? And can her early concert bind two lost souls into a first kiss? If we are talking…
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August 9, 2024