Lately, Jane Fonda is everywhere on my pop culture radar. She posts frequently on Twitter and on her blog. These posts have focused on exercising and well-being, not surprising themes given Fonda's past. Fonda recently posted a TED talk.

One of the dilemmas I sometimes experience is between my love for pop culture (including, but not limited to fashion magazines, CBC's Being Erica, the films of Queen Latifah and Robyn) and my commitment to gender equality.

I think many people think the feminist critique of popular culture is that it is bad for women or demeaning to women. A lot of the time I don't feel that way at all. I think it is okay to take pleasure in make-up, fashion, TV and the like. I think popular culture is fine because most people know that there is a difference between reality and idealized images, and have figured out whether they care. It is also the case that images of women in popular culture are more nuanced now than they were -- say -- 30 years ago...

Gloria Steinem's Revolution from Within: A Book of Self-Esteem (1992) closes with a personal affirmation for the reader:

"We are so many selves. It's not just the long-ago child within us who needs tenderness and inclusion, but the person we were last year, wanted to be yesterday, tried to become in one job or in one winter, in one love affair or in one house where even now, we can close our eyes and smell the rooms. What brings together these ever-shifting selves of infinite reactions and returnings [sic] is this: There is always one true inner voice. Trust it."