In the Saturday Essay, Anna March takes an unflinching look at the historical film Suffragette, which attempts to portray the women who took part in the suffrage movement during the early 1900s. While the film does draw attention to feminist successes, it glosses over the flaws of early activists, such as Susan B. Anthony, and the overall failure of the movement to address racism within and without its ranks. March declares:
Identifying as an intersectional feminist is one of the most powerful things that each individual can do to support the twin causes of racial and gender justice. Neither one should be left behind.
Then, Sally Errico applauds Elena Ferrante’s singular “rejection of domesticity” in a review of Ferrante’s The Story of the Lost Child. We learn quickly from reading the book (and others written by the author) that “motherhood is a dangerous business.” Her characters challenge traditional gender roles without apologizing or whitewashing their failures.
Meanwhile, in the Sunday Essay, addiction is the constant in a relationship Catherine Eves recalls from her college years. The deaths of Eves’s mother and her best friend provide a backdrop for a troubled love: “…it’s hard to admit that grief trumps grief,” she writes, “but it does.”
