RightHer 

At a meeting or in professional conversation, do you find yourself second-guessing what you're about to say? Do you wonder if your words will be well-received and respected by the people around you? Are you the only person of your gender present? If so, you may be a woman.

The altering of the Pentagon policy prohibiting women from serving in combat roles within the US military earlier this year can certainly be seen as a victory for full gender equality in probably the quintessential male profession. On the other hand, feminism has also always been about critiquing the systems and values of patriarchy, which obviously include war.

Too often elders are portrayed as helpless victims. We need to change that perception- not just in society but also within the elder community.

Appearing just before Mother’s Day, an online CNN story about runaway mother Brenda Heist last week really didn’t sit well with me. First there were the sensationalist before and after pictures of happy, smiling, young mother Brenda and haggard, homeless, runaway Brenda in what looked like a mug shot. An accompanying video showed her teenage daughter admitting she had posted online that she hoped her mother “rots in hell”.

I know, I know, sports teams have been calling players "man" for ages. I have done it myself in more than one sport. And I know that you could brush this off as "no big deal." But I am a sociologist who studies the ways that inequalities are reproduced, and guess what? This is one of many little ways.