Sheila Gibbons, Author at Women's eNews

Candidates’ Wives Trivialized by Press

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● July 27, 2004

Candidates’ wives are given very little chance to air their thoughts about the campaign and its underlying issues. Treated as potential and decorative liabilities, coverage of them bespeaks of discomfort with women ascending to power.

Dim Coverage Given to Abortion-Ban Ruling

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● June 23, 2004

Coverage of the San Francisco ruling earlier this month on the abortion ban shows how the political polarization surrounding reproductive rights has invaded the supposedly impartial territory of journalism.

Military Women Deserve Better Coverage

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● May 26, 2004

Military women serve with distinction everywhere, including hellholes comparable to Abu Ghraib. But with the media fixated on sexual-conduct stories, it’s easy to get the distorted idea that their participation is mainly fraught with problems.

Women Missing from CNN’s View of World

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● April 28, 2004

CNN International puts the viewer at the scene of world events, but then fails to ask very many women to help interpret them. It creates the impression that women have nothing to add to the story, when in fact, we do. We only need to be asked.

Gender Studies Matters and Thrives

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● March 17, 2004

In a culture saturated with media messages that undermine women, Sheila Gibbons says college gender studies courses offer vital training in critical thinking and intellectual self-defense.

Women Need More From More Magazine

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● February 25, 2004

More Magazine seems ambivalent about its mission to reach the over-40 woman. While daring to portray some women without makeup and Size-8 figures, it peddles advice that seems more geared to concealing the reader’s age than celebrating it.

Inequities Persist for Women in Media

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● January 21, 2004

The glass ceiling in media companies appears shatter-proof. Not only do women’s pay and promotions continue to lag behind those of men, the gap widens as women log more years on the job and gain experience, a sort of reverse reward system.

Playboy’s Legacy Is Leering, Not Liberation

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● December 17, 2003

Playboy’s 50th anniversary issue celebrates the magazine that brought sexual frankness into the U.S. media. Aside from the Playboy Foundation’s charitable giving, however, Sheila Gibbons finds little in the company’s legacy to call good for women.

Journalism Failed to Explain Abortion Ban

By Sheila Gibbons ● Commentary ● November 19, 2003

The so-called partial birth abortion ban–now being challenged in court–deserved coverage of its effect on women and doctors. Instead, news people ran with stories about political strategies and used terminology that obscured what the law says.

Teen Magazines Send Girls All the Wrong Messages

By Sheila Gibbons ● Arts & Culture ● October 29, 2003

Magazines for teens blast girls with urgings to maximize their “hot” looks while promoting the virginal ideal. These mixed messages may well be destructive and in part responsible for the rising numbers of teens starving themselves.

Sheila Gibbons

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