Irene Stuber is an unusual female journalist - in 1995 at age 67, shestarted her own feminist newsletter on the Internet, titled "Catt'sClaws." She calls herself "cybergranny," and like older women in othercultures, she has chronicled women's history in a modern way with her "Womenof Achievement and Herstory" database on the web since 1990. She also co-moderates a feminist e-mail discussion list called "Abigail's Rebels."
Stuber prides herself on being a "hellraiser," which is why she namedher newsletter after Carrie Chapman Catt, a woman who aggressively foughtfor women's rights at the turn of the century by confronting politiciansand marching into government buildings.
Originally a print journalist who wrote for newspapers in Florida and Ohio, sheturned to the Internet in hopes of getting women from all over the worldconnected to each other to share information and read news about womenthat wasn't in newspapers and magazines. She thinks that if women cantalk about what's happening in their towns, and learn about what'shappening elsewhere, they will start to see larger patterns of sexism insociety and learn how to fight it locally.
Stuber is a powerful feminist force on the Internet, and receiveshundreds of e-mails a day, from women's news to hate mail from people whodisagree with her. But she never backs down, and is not scared ofconfrontation. As a journalist, she values the truth and gettinginformation out to people, no matter now unpopular her views on it maybe. Although she is retired and doesn't make any money with her Internetjournalism, she persists because she believes women's stories need to betold.
As a journalist, Stuber keeps up with new developments in media technology. Learn how to use the Internet. Encourage your school to teachstudents how to find news on the web. Talk to older women about thehistory of women's rights and learn from what they've experienced. Sharetheir story with other females, and write your own story. You can even e-mail Irene herself!