From the On The Issues Print Archive

Summer 1998-What's a Feminist to Do?

From Our Files:

Looking Back at the Debate Over Feminism

False feminism and true, what – and who -- defines each? Are the boundaries of feminism fluid or fixed? While these questions are furiously debated today-- as this issue demonstrates-- our archives provide perspective. Here are some highlights from past editions of On the Issues Magazine:

The editorials of Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Merle Hoffman have cut through the fog, whether in the print edition (1983 to 1999) or online (2008 through the present). In Sarah Palin and the Apocalypse, Fall 2008, she called out faux feminism in a single sentence: “How can you be a politician who claims to support women and the shattering of glass ceilings when your policies would put iron bars around their wombs and the concept of reproductive freedom in the garbage bin of history?”

Demonstrating her principled bipartisanship, 10 years earlier, in the Summer 1998 edition, she admonished those who gave then-President Bill Clinton a pass when his relationship with White House intern Monica Lewinsky hit the news. In What's a Feminist to Do?, she wrote:

I am not asking Bill to resign to marry the woman he loves. It appears he loves nothing but power and no one but himself. The constitution doesn't consider unregulated erections an impeachable crime. But feminists should call it as it is. If feminism is to count for anything beyond a mere interest group, we must vigilantly guard its vision. We cannot bend it to compromise, or change direction in response to popularity polls. Our standards should be raised even higher for those in public life who would carry our banner or espouse our principles. Acknowledging that some of Bill Clinton's policies have been good for some women does not require feminists to close their eyes, to become apologists, to find excuses for, or redefine, outrageous behavior.

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