Hobart and William Smith Colleges

27 September 2004 Gender Politics in the Age of Bush

Journalist Laura Flanders suggests how the age of Bush may not only be bad for feminism and women's rights, but also for our health

(Sept. 27, 2004) GENEVA, N.Y.The Hobart and William Smith Colleges' Fisher Center lecture series continues with Feigning Feminism, Fuelling Backlash: Gender Politics in the Age of Bush, a presentation by journalist, author and host of her own radio show Laura Flanders. She will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 29, in the Geneva Room of the Warren Hunting Smith Library.

Flanders' most recent edited book The W Effect: Bush's War on Women investigates Bush's media slogan, the W is for Women, to reveal how President George Bush's administrationfar from advancing women-friendly politics and policieshas brought about instead a reversal of the gains that women have made, not just in the last decade, but over much of the 20th century. In the context of global trends, Flanders argues the Bush era is shaping up to be a crunch moment for human equality and that it just might prompt us to review not only our relationship to women's rights, but our understanding of human interdependence.

Flanders writes regularly for Tompaine.com, The Nation and Ms. Magazine, and has been a regular panelist on Fox News Channel's Fox News Watch, PBS's women's discussion program To the Contrary and CBC's Counterspin. Founding director of the Women's Desk at the media watch group, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), Flanders has also produced and hosted CounterSpin, FAIR's nationally-syndicated radio program.

Founded with a $1 million gift from Emily and Richard Fisher, the Fisher Center for the Study of Women and Men seeks to foster mutual understanding and social justice in contemporary gender issues. For more information on the fall 2004 series, please visit http://www.hws.edu/academics/community/fishercenter/index.asp.

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