Culture Vulture / National Now Conference Not The Graying Of Now

Culture Vulture / National Now Conference Not The Graying Of Now

By C.S Gilbert

It is clearly not professional for a reporter to begin incubating a lead about an event before the event takes place. But truth be told, it’s humanly impossible not to wrap a phrase or two around an expectation. That’s what happened when I was asked to write about the National Conference of the National Organization for Women (NOW) which was held weekend before last in Tampa.

I expected to have to report the graying of the second wave–my wave—of feminism. The first wave, 1848-1920 gave women the right to own property and, ultimately, the vote. The second wave began with President Kennedy’s establishment in 1962, at the behest of Eleanor Roosevelt, of the National Commission on the Status of Women. It was at the 1966 meeting of NACW that NOW was born. Given the relative lack of interest in NOW at the local and state levels, I expected to write a near-obituary of the generation and the organization that had, indeed, changed the world.

Was I ever wrong.

This was probably my 23th or 24th such conference; in 25 years of allegiance to the organization as a New Jersey activist and leader beginning in 1971, I can recall missing only one. But I stopped attending almost 20 years ago. In the beginning, most delegates, as in fact most Essex County (NJ) NOW members, were of an age: 20s and 30s, most of us were, with a few leaders over 40, notably Betty Friedan.

There is no doubt that my generation is aging. Indeed, in Tampa I was saddened by the visible challenges some face: the quaver of a once-stirring voice, the tremor in a formerly strong hand. But the years did not sit lightly on my shoulders, either, and while some people immediately recognized me without a reintroduction after 20 years, most did not. More debilitating was the fatigue. In three days the conference program offered seven major plenary sessions, a choice among 35 workshops and eight issues hearings scheduled during five 90-minute “breakout sessions,” plus evening entertainment. I took advantage of everything except 7 a.m. yoga and the Saturday night dance, and I probably would have tried for the latter had I not already been exhausted by two very long days.

But the conference was a joy, and the young women who were in charge were a revelation. A shining example is Erin Matson, who celebrated her 30th birthday during the Conference and who was last year elected National action vice president. She hosted the second plenary, which was titled “Love Your Body: Positive Images of and Girls.”

Panelists were three very attractive young women with substantial credentials. Kate Dillon is a model who “leveraged her career in fashion to campaign for positive body images in the media, eating disorder awareness and global poverty reduction.” African-American Gabi Gregg graduated from college in 2008 and created the blog Young, Fat and Fabulous; its popularity exploded and Gabi “was anointed the social media face of MTV.” Katie Makkai is a former nationally-ranked poetry slam artist who performed a riveting signature piece, “Pretty.”

Let this plenary stand as symbol; all were very similar in composition and electricity. There were a total of 18 honorees and featured speakers profiled in the program, only four or five were over 60, including NOW co-founder Sonia Pressman Fuentes and past presidents Ellie Smeal (who did not attend) and Miami attorney Patricia Ireland.

Workshops, too, were strongly representative of this new, third wave of feminism—or more aptly said, the revitalized continuation of the second wave. Sampled sessions on reproductive freedom, Medicare and the Equal Rights Amendment, the former more than the latter, included more than token young activists. Most striking, one titled “Engaging and Mentoring a New Generation of Feminists” and led by V.P. Matson featured her successor as chair of NOW’s Young Feminist Task Force, Jerin Arifa, and Micah Bochart—yes, feminist is not a gender-specific noun, and NOW has from its founding had male members and allies.

A final reason for the preponderance of young faces were several dozen interns from area universities—including one Jessica Hewkin, a student at Central Florida U, whom I met originally at the Key West Botanical Garden during her spring break this year.

She—all of them—give me hope.

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