Get Out Your TugBoat
Get Out Your TugBoat In 1971, Erica Jong interviewed the legendary Anais Nin, who was then in her sixties. Jong asked Nin why she allowed her publisher to cut the sex out of her diaries. “Women who write about sex are never taken seriously as writers,” said Nin. “That’s exactly why we must do it,” […]
An Open Letter to the New York Times
An Open Letter to the New York Times Dear New York Times: I now live several states away and read your paper on a screen. Still, the daily experience of reading the Times brings me back to the 1970s: to mornings in Brooklyn with a poppyseed bagel in one hand and a newspaper in the […]
Work Sucks for Women Too
Work Sucks for Women Too. Regardless of Our Age. Years ago I worked with a woman who won nine million dollars in the California state lottery. The lottery folks suggested she take a monthly payout but she said no thanks, she wanted it all. After taxes she got just over three million dollars. This woman […]
Vote With Your Feet on Abortion
Vote With Your Feet on Abortion Leverage our Post-Menopausal Freedom after the Dobbs Ruling If, like me, you’re a woman way past menopause, you don’t have to worry about an unplanned pregnancy derailing or threatening your life. Other things might throw us: an off-calendar heart attack or unexpected cancer. But for those who have long […]
10 Steps to Write a Great Seasoned Sex Scene
10 Steps to Write a Great Seasoned Sex Scene At their best, sex and writing have a lot in common: two forms of play that engage us creatively with others. Both make us vulnerable. And there is no subject we can write about that makes us more vulnerable than sex—even more so for older women […]
When I am an Old Woman I Shall Dye My Hair Purple
When I am an Old Woman I Shall Dye My Hair Purple In early 2000 I flew to San Francisco with my newly adopted baby. At 46 and still jet lagged, I pushed her stroller through our Oakland neighborhood. “Your granddaughter is beautiful,” said a woman on a park bench. Granddaughter. Right. I went home […]
