Broadsheet started three years ago, the brainchild of then Life editor Lori Leibovich and staff writers Rebecca Traister and Katharine Mieszkowski. At the time, the ladysphere was a much quieter place -- Feministing was there, as well as Pandagon -- and the first post announced Broadsheet's intent thus:
Our aim is to cast a spotlight on news that puts women in the center … Broadsheet will be taking the ladies seriously, whether that means tracking news about how our rights are holding up, how well we're representing ourselves politically, or how the advertising world has decided to address us, what kinds of health advances are ahead of us -- all the news of our (usually) two-steps-forward, one-step-back march to equality. Broadsheet is about contradictions -- the fact that opinion and editorial pages are dominated by men, alongside the fact that the most powerful editorial section of all, that of the New York Times, is run by a woman, Gail Collins. That's the Broadsheet paradox: We've got problems, we've got some power, we'll talk about both.
Since then, Broadsheet has evolved into what MSNBC not long ago called a "must-read feminist blog." The media landscape has altered dramatically since Oct. 24, 2005, of course. Slate introduced the XX Factor. The fantastic Jezebel hit the scene. Leslie Stahl, Liz Smith and company rolled out Wowowow, for older women. And the market has yet to be saturated. Just yesterday, in fact, came a report that former Gawker editor Elizabeth Spiers plans to start her own female-centric blog.
In honor of Broadsheet's third anniversary, we put together a list of our favorite posts over the past three years. Breast-feeding, sex tourism, Hillary Clinton and Dolly Parton. How's that for a nice, heady mix?
- "She's an Eagle When She Flies" Rebecca Traister celebrates legendary country singer Dolly Parton's 60th birthday. (1/20/06)
- "Breast Bullies" Lori Leibovich on the pressure to breast-feed. (6/14/06)
- "Ten Reasons We Already Miss Ann Richards" Katharine Mieszkowski remembers the former Texas governor. (9/14/06)
- "Why Women Aren't Funny" Page Rockwell responds to Christopher Hitchens' Vanity Fair polemic about women and humor. (12/6/06)
- "A New Kind of Sex Tourism" Catherine Price explores the world of older women who travel to Kenya in search of young men. (11/27/07)
- "My Shame at Being Single -- It Burns, It Buuuurns!" Sarah Hepola on being single after 30, in response to Lori Gottlieb's Atlantic article "The Case for Marrying Mr. Good Enough." (2/8/08)
- "Women and Clinton: Damned if They Vote, Damned if They Don't?" Lynn Harris questions the idea that it's a woman's duty to vote for Hillary Clinton. (3/4/08)
- "What's So Bad About 'Sweetie,' Anyway?" Rebecca Traister takes on Barack Obama's now-infamous slip of the tongue. (5/16/08)
- "How to Get Ahead at the Office -- in 1976" Kate Harding dissects an article encouraging women to flirt in the workplace. (6/30/08)
- "Hooking Ain't Easy" Tracy Clark-Flory considers the pressure placed on female journalists to write about sex in the first person. (8/20/08)
Enjoy. Comment. Disagree. We wouldn't have it any other way. And as always, thanks for reading.
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