Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument Redesigned to Include Sojourner Truth

For nearly a year, the proposed Central Park statue honoring women’s suffrage in America has been plagued in controversy. It’s difficult to believe that in 2019, planners of the monument could be so tone-deaf to the race-related arguments swirling around America’s women’s rights history.

The Women’s March 2017, organized by a group of women who refused to honor legendary women’s rights Hillary Clinton, after her defeat by Donald Trump, signaled a new day for setting the record straight — the truth and also new lies and distortions — about the history of American feminism.

The original design by sculptor Meredith Bergmann visually elevated two prominent white women — Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton — over a scrolling list of 22 other women, seven of them women of color. AOC disagrees with the complaint that Anthony and Stanton were metaphorically “standing’ on the other women.” But they certainly look like boss ladies at a time when younger people are rejecting hierarchy and white superiority, along with a nonexistent recognition of the contributions of people of color — and slaves specifically — in building America.

For context, there is NO statue of any nonfictional female of any skin color in Central Park and around New York, writes the New York Times. The park currently features no historical women but statues of fictional girls like Alice from Lewis Carroll’s ‘Alice in Wonderland’ and Juliet from William Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet.’

While a new visual of the proposed statue to be erected on Central Park’s Literary Walk by 2020 is not available, it’s a miracle that the proposed design was aborted at all. Women including Gloria Steinem helped turn back the design against the nearly insurmountable rules and regulations that defined its artistic creation initially and the legitimate controversy that ensued.

“Our goal has always been to honor the diverse women in history who fought for equality and justice and who dedicated their lives to fight for Women’s Rights,” Pam Elam said in a statement. The president of the Monumental Women’s Statue Fund, the group financing the sculpture, added: “It is fitting that Anthony, Stanton, and Truth stand together in this statue as they often did in life.” via Hyperallergic.

Related: Central Park Women's Suffrage Monument by Sculptor Meredith Bergmann Unveiled AOC She

Riccardo Raspa Glorifies 60's Feminists In 'Uniform'Less' For Odiseo by Folch #12

Riccardo Raspa Glorifies 60's Feminists In 'Uniform'Less' For Odiseo by Folch #12

Photographer Riccardo Raspa wrote about 'Uni-Form'Less' for the 12 Issue of Odiseo by Folch:  "With this project we wanted to glorify and remember all the effort made from the past and (a) new generation of magic woman around the world for a more equal society."

Raspa collaborated with Michela Caprera on styling and creative direction with casting by Isadora Banaudi.  With white nationalism rising all over the world, the fight for women's rights must again move into high gear.

Kurdish Women Fighters In Syria Say ISIS Fears Women Soldiers So Much They Shake

Kurdish Women Fighters In Syria Say ISIS Fears Women Soldiers So Much They Shake

In a media world assaulted with ISIS videos and threats of yet another beheading, the most fabulous story of heroism has emerged around a group of about 7,000 young Kurdish women in Syria who have armed themselves and joined the Women’s Protection Unit, or YPJ, “which grew out of the wider Kurdish resistance movement.”

I’ve covered this story in small bullet points on Eye, but this NBC News feature of dramatic images by New York-based photographer Erin Trieb are an inspiration for our ISIS media-weary souls.

Unlike the Iraqi soldiers who ran from ISIS, the Women’s Protection Unit is fighting to keep their people safe against attacks from Bashar Assad’s government, ISIS militants and the al Qaeda-linked al-Nusra Front.

Dem Donors Give Kentucky's Alison Lundergan Grimes Standing O In Senate Race Against Mitch McConnell

Dem Donors Give Kentucky’s Alison Lundergan Grimes Standing O In Senate Race Against Mitch McConnell

Culture Wars | Beyonce's Face Paint | Amanda Platell On Fashion Misogyny

Jezebel on Beyonce | Mark Pillai | African Queen | L’Officiel Paris March 2011 AOC BBC

Anne doesn’t know what to make of Jezebel’s Dodai Stewart skewering Beyonce for wearing a painted face in her new editorial for L’Officiel Paris’ March 2011 issue celebrating African Queen.

Stylelite is downright condescending, writing ‘The magazine that convinced singer Beyonce Knowles to paint her skin a darker shade of brown for a photo shoot says she wasn’t in blackface, but in ritualistic African face covering.’

The politically correct American blogosphere doesn’t even give a grown woman like Beyonce — more successful than all of us wrapped up together — credit for having her own mind in a fashion shoot. Now that’s equally politically incorrect in our view. Hmmm.

Did a white woman write that comment? Rubbish! This entire fiasco is one more reminder that Americans are culturally provincial beyond description.

Is Gawker Dialing for Traffic?

There is the possibility that Gawker’s plunging web traffic is behind the story. Jezebel and all of Gawker’s other blogs have lost enormous traffic with their new website design — which is terrible in our opinion.

On February 18th, Tech Crunch wrote that traffic had nosedived from a high of 561,000 to 257,000, citing Quantcast data. Gizmdo’s numbers declined from 746,000 to 420,000. (Note: the format is obviously being changed today.)

Maybe Nick Denton asked writers to juice up their posts in a big way. Watever the reason, Anne believes the entire controversy is nonsense.

Fashion Misogyny | Is It Real?

What isn’t nonsense is Amanda Platell’s accusation that the fashion industry is misogynistic. In an articulate, biting essay for Daily Mail, Platell writes that fashion’s obsession with Andrek Pejic is the final nail in the coffin of an industry that has transformed the ideal female body into a rail thin, breastless, hipless cariacature of the female body. 

Simply stated, writes Amanda, many fashion designers wish women would just go away — except for buying their clothes, of course.

Anne has shared her same concerns on this topic but links Amanda Platell’s observations into the larger cultural landscape of trying to control women’s bodies in America. She includes Alexander McQueen’s forniphilia table — women as furniture — and the new revelations that he called Eva Herzigova a f*cking b*tch, screaming at her in a fashion show moment.

Indeed, fashion has a complex relationship with women’s bodies, female sexuality and empowerment, a common theme at AOC.

Amanda Platell Says Some Fashion Designers Are MisogynisticAOC BBC