Class Action’s Voices of the Working Class, Working Poor and Poor series seeks to raise the visibility of those most impacted by inequality and create access to their perspectives and experiences. Ann: Could you share your names and a bit about why you are involved with CCDS? Lili: My name is Liliana Avendaño, and I […]
Women and Class
Roseanne: A Working-Class (S)hero Returns
The Roseanne reboot promises to tackle love and politics. Pack your bags and hit the road, folks. On March 27th we’re going back to Lanford. The return of the hit 80s/90s sitcom Roseanne is the latest in a wave of nostalgic revivals hoping to recapture our hearts. And while other reboots have stirred up controversy, […]
Social Class, Equality at Heart of International Women’s Day
There are countless reasons that people around the world celebrate International Women’s Day (IWD). The day provides a focus and opportunity to celebrate women’s contributions to society, highlight our struggles for equity, point to the huge pay and educational discrepancies suffered by women and girls, and thank women for fostering the well-being of families and communities. But, many people are […]
American Exceptionalism Leaves International Women’s Day Blank
When searching for information about International Women’s Day (IWD) 2018, I knew I would not find details from the U.S. government. It doesn’t coordinate IWD events or recognize it as an official holiday, unlike 26 nations that include Afghanistan, Cuba, Laos, Russia and Uganda. However, I was surprised when I had to make a concerted […]
Classism in Literature: Poor Boy Syndrome
In the song “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Freddy Mercury sings, “I’m just a poor boy, I need no sympathy.” He’s right, you don’t. Yet, it seems that in the literary world, poor boys are the ones who receive all the sympathy. It did not dawn on me until I took the class Working Class Women’s Literature at Goucher […]
Surviving Rape and then
Surviving the Burden of Class Bias
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Here Class Action’s Annie Hamilton writes about the benefit of not actually “seeing” rape survivors, so she and other people personing the telephone lines can be free of class and other bias as they support survivors. On the rape crisis hotline, I cannot see who I am talking to on the other […]
Poor Little “Not-So-Rich” Girls
It wasn’t until I began to write about class from the perspective of the 19th century women about whom I’ve written two biographies that I realized how much issues of class lie at the heart of my attraction to these women. Class Action asked me to explore the constraints that even upper class white women […]
Women “having it all”
It seems not a day goes by when I’m not reading another headline arguing whether women can have it all, or, more accurately, why they can’t. In this week’s New York Times magazine, Jennifer Szalai’s “Had It All” does a fine job deconstructing the very origin of “having it all” as both a myth and […]
