Excuse Me Ms. Magazine - But is There A Mr. On Your Cover?

by Jen Nedeau · 2009-01-14 11:43:00 UTC
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For my Top Ten Moments of Feminism in 2008, I listed President-elect Barack Obama as #1. And this week, Ms. magazine has chosen to don the cover of their Inaugural issue with the same man and a provocative statement: This Is What a Feminist Looks Like.

Clearly, given my previous writing on the matter, I have to agree with Ms. magazine's statement. However, some members of the women's rights movement are offended that this flagship publication is relying on a man to define it's future. Eleanor Smeal explains on the Huffington Post about the seemingly controversial cover:

When the chair of the Feminist Majority Foundation board, Peg Yorkin, and I met Barack Obama, he immediately offered "I am a feminist." And better yet, he ran on the strongest platform for women's rights of any major party in American history...Never has it been easy fighting for equality and social justice. The politics of Washington, our nation, and our world are tough. We have spent far too many years fighting to hold the ground we had already gained. Now is the time to move forward. We are in one of those rare transformational times in history. But we are not giving President-Elect Obama a blank check. For our hopes to be achieved, we must speak out and organize, organize, organize to enable our new president's team to achieve our common goals. Ultimately, we must hold our leaders' feet to the fire or, to put it more positively, uplift them when they are caught in the crosscurrents of competing interests.

I don't see any reason why Barack Obama shouldn't be a symbol of feminism - particularly at a time where  it is crucial that the women's rights movement seek out more male and female advocates for their cause. By allowing the visualization of a feminist in a progressive male politician like Barack Obama, I think it opens the door for other men to re-define their role and embrace the feminist movement once and for all.

What do you think? Is Barack Obama what a feminist looks like?

Jen Nedeau Jen Nedeau is a media relations professional and a writer based in New York City.
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