Sunday 4 July 2010

Sex, Lies & Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist

"Malveaux is the most progressive critic of contemporary American life"--Cornel West.

"Sex, Lies & Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist" (1994), is a collection of Julianne Malveaux's award winning & most popular columns on American culture, politics, economics, sexism & racism. As an economist, educator & writer, Malveaux is best known for her "tell-it-like-it-is" weekly syndicated column, her regular contributions to MS. & USA Today, & in her frequent commentaries on CNN & PBS. Malveaux transmits a steady current of outrage at injustice, inequality & foul play. Her words are heart-felt cries for justice, railing against the powers that have become indifferent to layoffs, biased law enforcement, AIDS gender & racial bias--they project a profound conviction that "the real deal is economics, about who has, who doesn't, who will & who won't" with issues of race always "lurking in the background." Malveaux also speaks for those voices we don't often hear--"home alone parents," "disposable kids" & anyone whose color, economic status or gender keeps them powerless.

Julianne Malveaux is an "angry and proud" African-American woman. She has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she has this new (1994) anthology of essays, and she is articulate on a full range of progressive social and economic issues. Her column is syndicated by King Features, she writes for USA Today, Ms., Essence, Emerge, and other newspapers and journals, and she is soon to be a regular commentator for the Pacifica radio network.

Woe unto those who get their exercise leaping to conclusions about where Malveaux will come down on an issue, including those who assert that her voice is more "African-American" than "feminist." She might view the National Organization for Women as a "white middle-class" outfit, but she is equally stern in her rebuke of middle-class blacks for the quality of their support of African-American political candidates. ("If had a nickel," she writes (1994), "for every sequin a sister wore to a fund-raiser, I could probably finance the campaign of the next President.")

All of this is fueled by Malveaux's disdain for "drive-by analysis" by conservatives and "hand-wringing liberals" who "don't understand that the real issue is economics.... Too many analysts are caught in the sex, lies, and stereotypes of the media to make public policy." She is also willing to tackle an opponent who ventures forth without supporting data--whether it's Rush Limbaugh or Shelby Steele. No one gets off lightly. In a category of one, she relegates the Ellen Goodmans and Anna Quindlens of this world to the parlor-liberal powder-puff league.

"Malveaux is the most progressive critic of contemporary American life"--Cornel West.

"Sex, Lies & Stereotypes: Perspectives of a Mad Economist" (1994), is a collection of Julianne Malveaux's award winning & most popular columns on American culture, politics, economics, sexism & racism. As an economist, educator & writer, Malveaux is best known for her "tell-it-like-it-is" weekly syndicated column, her regular contributions to MS. & USA Today, & in her frequent commentaries on CNN & PBS. Malveaux transmits a steady current of outrage at injustice, inequality & foul play. Her words are heart-felt cries for justice, railing against the powers that have become indifferent to layoffs, biased law enforcement, AIDS gender & racial bias--they project a profound conviction that "the real deal is economics, about who has, who doesn't, who will & who won't" with issues of race always "lurking in the background." Malveaux also speaks for those voices we don't often hear--"home alone parents," "disposable kids" & anyone whose color, economic status or gender keeps them powerless.

Julianne Malveaux is an "angry and proud" African-American woman. She has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she has this new (1994) anthology of essays, and she is articulate on a full range of progressive social and economic issues. Her column is syndicated by King Features, she writes for USA Today, Ms., Essence, Emerge, and other newspapers and journals, and she is soon to be a regular commentator for the Pacifica radio network.

Woe unto those who get their exercise leaping to conclusions about where Malveaux will come down on an issue, including those who assert that her voice is more "African-American" than "feminist." She might view the National Organization for Women as a "white middle-class" outfit, but she is equally stern in her rebuke of middle-class blacks for the quality of their support of African-American political candidates. ("If had a nickel," she writes (1994), "for every sequin a sister wore to a fund-raiser, I could probably finance the campaign of the next President.")

All of this is fueled by Malveaux's disdain for "drive-by analysis" by conservatives and "hand-wringing liberals" who "don't understand that the real issue is economics.... Too many analysts are caught in the sex, lies, and stereotypes of the media to make public policy." She is also willing to tackle an opponent who ventures forth without supporting data--whether it's Rush Limbaugh or Shelby Steele. No one gets off lightly. In a category of one, she relegates the Ellen Goodmans and Anna Quindlens of this world to the parlor-liberal powder-puff league.

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