Review:: Ms. Magazine's Summer 2011 Issue

Yes, I know summer is almost over. But there is one more big weekend left! And if you are hitting the pool or beach one last time, be sure that you have the summer issue of Ms. Perhaps you were like me this summer...A magazine showed up and it went in that pile. Yup, the "I'll read that later" pile. If so, dig it out! If you don't subscribe, run to your local bookstore for a copy.

The cover story, "Sex, Lies and Hush Money," is a must read. Frankly, if this is all you read of the issue, it would be worth the cover price.

Executive Editor, Katherine Spillar, painstakingly outlines the charges of corruption against Sen. Ensign (R-Nev). You might recall that he abruptly resigned from the U.S. Senate earlier this year. And it was because he was caught. But it wasn't just Ensign who was caught up in trying to cover up his affair with his co-chief of staff's wife. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) appears to have his hands all over the cover up too.

So why is Coburn still in the Senate? Spillar not only outlines the dirty deeds, but also asks why the U.S. Justice Department or the Senate Ethics Committee haven't done anything about the cover up.

If you don't know who these two Senators are let me sum up. Coburn has advocated for the death penalty against abortion providers. Ensign said, "Marriage is the cornerstone on which our society was founded," while advocating for the anti-gay Federal Marriage Amendment in 2004.

For Maddow fans, you might remember that she discussed this web of ick on her show and made the connection to "The Family."



If you can get through the cover story without torching your issue in a fit of fury, flip over to the book reviews! After the letters to the editor, the book reviews are my favorite. There are some great sounding books featured including: 

Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics and Big Business Re-Create Race in the Twenty-First Century by the fabulous Dorothy Roberts. "IN Fatal Invention, social critic Dorothy Roberts traces the long history of race from its invention as a tool of power to the emergence of [a] "new" racial science....Roberts shows that the use of race as a research category is, in fact, controversial among scientists." [IB | P]

The Truth About Girls and Boys: Challenging Toxic Stereotypes About Our Children by Caryl Rivers and Rosalind C. Barnett. "Rivers and Barnett report that in one school run according to Sax-Guron principles, drama is offered only to girls, computer applications, only to boys. In another, girls learn to write by describing their dream wedding dress while boys write about where they would most like to hunt...This fad (single-sex classrooms) endangers both girls and boys when it ignores the real differences between individual youngsters, whatever their sex, and when it fosters self-replicating stereotypes that ultimately discourage children from expanding their own horizons and honing their individual skills." [IB | P]

No Fear: A Whistleblower's Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA by Marsha Coleman-Adebayo. "Coleman-Adebyoa ultimately won a landmark sex- and race-discrimination case against eh EPA and her subsequent testimony before Congress les to the Notification and Federal Employee Anti-discrimination (NO FEAR) Act of 2000, the first civil-rights and whistleblower protection law of the 21st century." [IB | P]

Quotes are from the reviews, no link as they are not posted online.

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