Maya Angelou Resource Library: Gender & Sexuality

Far from being ``liberated,'' American women in the 1980s were victims of a powerful backlash against the handful of small, hard-won victories the feminist movement had achieved, says Wall Street Journal reporter Faludi, who won a Pulitzer this year. Buttressing her argument with facts and statistics, she states that the alleged ``man shortage'' endangering women's chances of marrying (posited by a Harvard-Yale study) and the ``infertility epidemic'' said to strike professional women who postpone childbearing are largely media inventions. She finds evidence of antifeminist backlash in Hollywood movies, in TV's thirtysomething , in 1980s fashion ads featuring battered models and in the New Right's attack on women's rights. She directs withering commentary at Robert Bly's all-male workshops, Allan Bloom's ``prolonged rant'' against women and Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer's revisionism. This eloquent, brilliantly argued book should be read by everyone concerned about gender equality.

Gender on Campus is the first book to combine solid analysis of the broad range of gender issues for women in college with realistic approaches to heighten awareness and alleviate problems. Written for students, the book first clarifies the concept of feminism and then examines gender dynamics in a variety of settings and contexts -- from the classroom to the sports field and from language to social life. Sharon Gmelch probes sexism, racism, and homophobia on campus and surveys the special issues facing diverse women students. The book also addresses issues relating to body image and sexuality. Its final chapters analyze the role gender continues to play after college -- in the media, workplace, and politics.

The teen years are full of challenges. For gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and questioning teens, these challenges can include prejudice, discrimination, rejection, reprisals, insensitive remarks (even among friends and families) and, sometimes, violence. But being a GLBTQ teen can also be fun and enlightening-when you are comfortable with who you are. Author Kelly Huegel understands what GLBT teens want and need to know. As a teen, she struggled to realize and accept her own identity. Her frank, sensitive book is written for teens who are beginning to question their sexual or gender identity, those who interested in GLBT issues and rights, and those who need guidance, reassurance, or reminders that they arenrsquo;t alone. Kelly offers practical advice, knowing encouragement, accessible resources, and real-life testimonials from teens whorsquo;ve "been there." Topics include coming out (the pluses and minuses), facing prejudice and pressure, getting support, navigating relationships, staying safe, making healthy choices, surviving and thriving in high school, and more. The message throughout is strong and clear: By accepting yourself, you take charge of your own future.

Reed, a staff photographer for the "Star Tribune" in Minneapolis, follows the lives a gay male and a lesbian teen over a period of several years, capturing the joys of first love, the pain of rejection, and the transition from attempts at suicide to self- acceptance and confidence. Descriptive captions for each photo tell Amy's and Jamie's stories in their own words.

"I spent most of the 1960s trying desperately to be a cadre‘a revolutionary communist or socialist footsoldier," declares Adler (Drawing Down the Moon), New York bureau chief for National Public Radio. Though she failed at such fealty to the revolution, her affecting memoir provides a personal‘and feminist‘perspective on her generation's quest for ideals, which Adler considers the enduring legacy of the 1960s.

Beginning in 1869, when the study of homosexuality can be said to have begun with the establishment of sexology, this encyclopedia offers accounts of the most important international developments in an area that now occupies a critical place in many fields of academic endeavors. It covers a long history and a dynamic and ever changing present, while opening up the academic profession to new scholarship and new ways of thinking.

A powerful indictment from within of the current state of feminism, and a passionate call to arms From Lilith Fair toBuffy the Vampire Slayerto the WNBA--everywhere you look, girl culture is clearly ascendant. Young women live by feminism's goals, yet feminism itself is undeniably at a crossroads; "girl power" feminists appear to be obsessed with personal empowerment at the expense of politics while political institutions such asMs. and NOW are so battle weary they've lost their ability to speak to a new generation. InManifesta, Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards show the snags in each feminist hub--from the dissolution of riot grrrls into the likes of the Spice Girls, to older women's hawking of young girls' imperiled self-esteem, to the hyped hatred of feminist thorns like Katie Roiphe and Naomi Wolf--and prove that these snags have not, in fact, torn feminism asunder.

A powerful study of the women's movement in the U.S. from abolitionist days to the present that demonstrates how it has always been hampered by the racist and classist biases of its leaders.