No Fear: Truth-Telling Meets Misinformation For A Generation of Feminists
Peter Sagal (L) iinterviews author and journalist Molly Jong-Fast in Chicago recently.
Two years after the 50th anniversary of the publication of Erica Jong’s iconic novel, Fear of Flying, and three years after the overturning of Roe v. Wade with the Supreme Court of the United States’ Dobbs decision, Molly Jong-Fast is telling the story of her mother, feminism, fame and what her generation is dealing with today politically and culturally.
Both anniversaries are connected as in 1973 was the launch of Jong’s book and also the year of the Roe V. Wade SCOTUS decision that legalized abortion, a right that held for 49 years.
Jong- Fast, Vanity Fair contributing writer, MSNBC political analyst, and host of the podcast, Fast Politics with Molly Jong-Fast, tells her truth in her latest book, How To Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir. The journey is not so easy. But she carefully offers context.
“Worse things happen to better people,” says Jong-Fast, mother of three and only child of Jong, who is now in assisted living and dealing with dementia.
“This is a story about what it’s like to take care of parents and take care of kids,” says Jong-Fast, whose journalism career centers on chronicling politics and culture—not an easy job in today’s cultural climate.
“This is a story a lot of us are going through,” she says. “It is very much what everyone my age has been going through,” she said a recent book event in Chicago where she was interviewed by Peter Sagal, NPR host and author.
“Caring for elderly parents and growing kids while pursuing ambition simultaneously is the story of a generation, @MollyJongFast writes in her new memoir. #worklife #caretaking”
Jong-Fast’s mother, Erica, wrote what O Magazine called, "The boundary-breaking novel that redefined sexuality." A novel about a woman’s ambition, sexual desires, and personal and professional lives identified and demystified a generation of women’s ideals and behaviors.
Read more from Gloria Feldt on 21st Century feminism
As a result, fame overtook her mom’s life and towered over Jong-Fast’s childhood, she says. “That book sold 27 million copies and set the groundwork for the second-wave feminist revolution.”
From the mid-20th century to the 21st century, “Second-wave feminism challenged stereotypes and gave voice to women who weren’t fulfilled in traditional gender roles,” according to Human Rights Careers. “Many sub-types of feminism emerged during this time, with some saying that women couldn’t be liberated until family, private property, and the state itself were broken down.”
“Second-wave feminism mid-20th century challenged stereotypes, strove for fairness, reproductive rights, now reversed. #genderparity #feminism ”
Reproductive rights were a main focus of second-wave feminism and the 2022 decision that overturned Roe is challenged in many states across the country today, particularly with the recent June anniversary.
Read more from Gloria Feldt on the Dobbs decision
According to The Hill, “That Supreme Court decision in June 2022 turned abortion into one of the most powerful positions Democrats could run on. They saw major victories on the issue in the 2022 midterms and Virginia’s off-year elections in 2023, but the party largely underperformed up and down the ballot on the issue with key groups in November.”
Pew Research Center reports that in 2024, in a poll of more than 8,000 Americans, “About six-in-ten (63%) say abortion should be legal in all or most cases.”
Read more in Take The Lead on feminism
Support varies across race and age. “Support for legal abortion is higher among Black (73%) and Asian (76%) adults compared with White (60%) and Hispanic (59%) adults. Adults under 30 are particularly likely to say abortion should be legal: 76% say this, versus about six-in-ten among other age groups,” according to Pew.
This is a tumultuous time in the U.S., not just for the bombardment of decisions, shakeups, shutdowns, defundings, eliminations of programs and systems, but in communication about all of this. This is the era of disinformation, and that is a motivation for Jong-Fast in her work as a multi-platform journalist and author.
Read more in Take The Lead on disinformation
“I am obsessed with how we get information,” Jong-Fast says. “We are in a precarious moment when it comes to information and truth.”
“We are in a precarious moment when it comes to information and truth.” @MollyJongFast on the urgency to spread truth in media across platforms. #disinformation #truth #fairness ”
But there need not be a resignation to this reality.
“We can all spread information we know that is correct. There is a lot of good reporting out there,” she says. “Facts are the nourishment of the resistance.”
Unlike the unintentional misinformation that is errors spread without deliberate intent, “Disinformation is commonly shared in the form of conspiracy theories, manipulated images, and videos or audio clips. Propaganda and disinformation often go hand in hand,” according to Brittanica.
“Facts are the nourishment of the resistance,” says @MollyJongFast about the urgency in her role as #journalist and #truthteller to dispel #disinformation. ”
Trust in news distribution formats varies widely in America, according to another study from Pew Research Center. Trust varies across generations and political partisan lines.
Read more in Take The Lead on countering disinformation
“On the whole, Americans remain far less likely to trust information from social media sites than from national and local news organizations. There is a much bigger gap in trust among the oldest Americans: 28% of those ages 65 and older say they have at least some trust in information from social media, compared with 74% who trust national news organizations and 84% who trust local news outlets.”
Pew reports earlier this year, “About half of Americans (51%) say the U.S. government should take steps to restrict false information online, even if it limits freedom of information. This is down from 55% in 2023.”.
“You have to be sure you get the real news out there,” says Jong-Fast.
And Jong-Fast wanted to make sure she told the truth about her mother and the reality of being in the age group of caring for ill parents and growing children at the same time as pursuing a career.
“I wanted to write a book where you could read it and say, ‘This is me.’ She adds, “The purpose of writing is to be able to connect with readers.”
The good news is Jong-Fast believes that is what she has done. “No one who read this book has said, ‘How dare you?”
“The purpose of writing is to be able to connect with readers,” says @MollyJongFast about her #memoir, How To Lose Your Mother. #truthtelling #books ”
With her mother dealing with dementia and living in an assisted living facility, she know about this book and is Ok with Jong-Fast telling her story of life with a mother who told the world about her sex life. “I know way too much about my mother,” she says.
My mom was catapulted into a life she didn’t really want,” Jong-Fast says. “My mom was not a normal mom, she was a famous person.”
But she was always encouraging to Jong-Fast. “My mom always told me I was a genius and I will change the world. Everyone I knew around me were writers. I process information through my voice. Writing is therapy.”
Read more in Take The Lead on the power of truth-telling
One thought her mother said to her repeatedly was prescient. Jong-Fast says, “Mother said, “When it’s your turn, you’re going to write about me.”
Truth.
