WEB REVIEWS: FEMINIST

Catt's Claws
Catt's Claws is a "frequently appearing feminist newsletter," in the words of its creator, Irene Stuber. She's a retired Florida journalist (pushing 70) and has she got a tongue! Wow. You can get the letter by e-mail or on the site — recent issues have covered Ellen's coming out episode (and who might prevent you from seeing it) and the California woman who lost her forearms to a rapist. (Irene urged her readers to contribute to the fund to buy a new set of prosthesis for this woman.) If I'm allowed to say this about a woman more than 40 years my senior, Irene Stuber's got balls. A fitting tribute to Carrie Chapman Catt, to whom we owe women's enfranchisement. (reviewed 4/17/97)

Diary of a Garterbelt Feminist
This is an essay in Word's Desire section, by Linda Rosenfeld — if the title puts you off, at least check it out for the design. Each page forces you to unscroll a piece of clothing to reveal an essay where one might expect a crotch. It's the story of a woman "appropriating the signifiers of [her] objectification," and ending up with nothing more than a dirty wink and a few phone numbers. But it's uplifting, really. Kind of like the Wonderbra. (reviewed 3/20/97)

National Women's History Project
This organization, founded in 1980, initiated National Women's History Month. (They used to celebrate Women's History Week — the week of March 8, International Women's Day. Then in 1987, they petitioned Congress to expand the national celebration to an entire month.) This site is packed with information about women in history, and includes ideas on how to bring attention to women's history. You might want to take the women's history quiz to find out how much (or little) you know, before you start accusing anyone else of not paying attention. The Guerrilla Girls once asked, "If February is Black History Month and March is Women's History Month, what happens the rest of the year?" The Guerrilla Girls answered their own question with one word: discrimination. The National Women's History Project gives a whole Web site full of answers. This is what women have been doing, from April to February, for hundreds of years: "History looks different when the contributions of women are included." (reviewed 3/6/97)

Feminist.com
Feminist.com encompasses the entire feminist movement, from Third Wave to Washington Feminist Faxnet to Girls Incorporated. It's straightforward, informative and doesn't have a hell of a lot to do with skateboarding. But it's a great reference source if you're looking for women-friendly businesses, or if you want to know what's going down in Congress that will affect you as a woman. And don't be afraid of the URL — there's a lot to enjoy even if you think the F word has four letters. (reviewed 11/15/96)