Harry and Meghan are royals, or were royals, but this Netflix docudrama is not really about the monarchy. It’s a story about them, their love, their new family. They want to be seen and heard (and they deserve to be). They feel abused and misrepresented by the British...
Posts By Zillah Eisenstein
News from Iranian Women, in Their Own Voices
I had been contacted by a few Iranian women to speak with them just shortly after Mahsa Amini’s death and the demonstrations/revolution began. Then later I contacted them to ask whether the new decree to disband the “Morality Police” was of any real consequence for...
From Enforced Hijabs to Enforced Pregnancies
We need to see this newest devastating crisis of democracy in the U.S. with renewed urgency because it has too long a history. Look at what is happening to Iranian women (and Saudi, and Indian, and Afghan) and see ourselves together, in camaraderie against illiberal theocracies.
Serena Williams’ Evolution: Our Bodies, Our Choices
There has been much chatter about Serena Williams’ decision to exit tennis. I want to think about the contextual and impactful surround of her decision — to enlarge her family and choose pregnancy.
The Post-Roe Police State: Reproductive Justice Demands Freedom
The attack on Roe and reproductive rights is an attack on democracy — connected and not dissimilar to the January 6 riot at the capitol. The assault on women’s bodies is central to the assault on the promise of democracy.
Damn the Court; This Is Not What Democracy Looks Like
I could wait to fully try to clear my head and calm my heart but that might not happen soon enough, and this moment “we” are in is urgent. For friends who say they have lost hope I am reminded of what I have said too often in these last few years. Hope is not an...
Until Black Bodies are Free, None of Us Are Free
This is an incredible moment — both dire and promissory. The right-wing zealots have taken power in the Republican party and the Court and have exposed themselves by doing so. Instead of mystifying their power, they have unveiled it for all to see.
Our Bodies, Our Lives; With and Beyond the Law
This is a moment of crisis. The right wing in this country is radically trying to solidify its power. The Supreme Court is now a site for this take-over. It is why these judges decided to throw caution to the wind and attempt, once and for all, to decimate Roe.
Gender Chaos, Ukraine 2022: Nations, Globes, and What Is a Woman Anyway?
I am rethinking it all — nations, globes, gender, race. There are no effective borders left as each seeps further into the other. I have been tracking this seepage for the last four decades, but this scenario was triggered by gender imagery in the Ukraine war. Change...
It Is Time to Disobey; We Need a Revolutionary COVID Camaraderie
“The job of the writer is to make revolution irresistible” — Toni Cade Bambara The American public is being told to get used to living with COVID-19. This means “we” are being asked to abide the inequalities that disallow a more robust challenge to the virus....