"Old Women Are Your Future"...

P - Pissed
O - Old
W - Woman
E - Engaged in
R - Revolution

Boo, Christina, and I volunteered at the Frameline screenings of Look Us In the Eye and Only In the Castro with Trevor Hailey this morning and they were great. I cried a few times, out of inspiration and appreciation, and especially since Trevor Hailey, passed away on the 13th. I wish I'd known her. She seemed like an incredibly vibrant and lovely woman.

Neither film is likely "coming to a theatre near you", but perhaps if you call your local PBS station they'll add it to their program line up. It's worth a call or letter to the station. You won't be disappointed.

Also, check out the Old Women's Project.

WE HOLD THESE TRUTHS TO BE SELF-EVIDENT:

Old women must be treated as equal to other adults. We reject both contempt and "respect" on the basis of age, but rather celebrate honest exchange between generations. If we can have relations of equality, people can see for themselves whether we have "wisdom and experience." Some of us do. (Sometimes old women fall into wanting "honor and respect" just because women get so little respect throughout our lives that we feel we should at least get some pay-off at the end. Besides, we're aware that if we don't get special "respect," we usually end up with special contempt. But we also remember when "respect" for women was used as a reason to deny us the vote.)

Old women can and must speak out to demand this equality for ourselves and other old women. This breaks the taboo against old women asking for ourselves rather than for "future generations." But our own lives matter, and future generations of old women depend on us to end ageism.

Ageism disempowers all women. As long as younger women gain false power by distancing themselves from old women, the 35-year-old loses power by not being 25.

The word "old" is a statement of fact, not a matter of shame. We claim it, believing that as long as it is humiliating to be called old, it will be humiliating to be old.

They rule.