I recently watched Anna Kendrick’s Netflix movie Woman of the Hour. It is a true crime drama centered on an incident in 1978 when a contestant on “The Dating Game” “won” a date with serial killer Rodney Alcala. Kendrick starred as Cheryl Bradshaw and directed the film.

Bradshaw avoided being one of his estimated 130 rape/murder victims, including an 8-year-old girl.

It was interesting to me not just because it was a true crime, but also because of the cultural information. We see Bradshaw taking control by eliminating the questions she “should” have asked the gentlemen, asking them her own pointed questions. The host, who wanted to smile a lot and stick to the show’s questions, hated her independence and mocked her. Other women harbored the killer in their naivety, until a teenage victim cleverly played the part of an accomplice girl.

All these games some girls played. And yet, when a woman recognized her friend’s killer, she was dismissed, not believed. Bradshaw and the teenager were the women of the town.

I got to thinking about other women of the hour, of the year, of history.

Last Saturday, I popped into Sweet Dreams Confections in Fargo – and not just for their addictive chocolate covered potato chips. North Dakota Senate candidate Katrina Christiansen was meeting people there for questions and support. With

I interviewed them via Zoom

weeks before, it was a good chance to meet her in person.

Not only did Christiansen remember me, but she remembered a health/hospital issue I shared with her about my husband. Even with her obvious intelligence (a PhD in engineering, inventions), I was still surprised that she remembered our frustrations with diagnosis and scheduling.

She is sharp, compassionate and focused on getting things done for the people of North Dakota, especially the often overlooked rural farming communities. Another woman of the year.

Suffragettes were persecuted, insulted, beaten and imprisoned simply for wanting women to vote – a vote that some now oppose. These were brave women who opened the door for someone like Kamala Harris, our Vice President.

I cannot underestimate his courage. Harris continues to fight those who see her as unqualified, even though she has not only served as District Attorney, Attorney General of our most populous state, as Senator, and now as Vice President – ​​experience in all three branches of government. She condemned human traffickers, drug cartels and sexual predators. She still struggles with racist and sexist slurs – as ignorant people call her ‘stupid’ and ‘lazy’. She helped free hostages overseas, but somehow did “nothing” as Vice President. I wonder how much VP Mike Pence did – and why he had to be replaced.

Yes, Ms. Harris, you are Woman of the Year and more. The media has created this false equivalence, as if you are no better or not as good as a lying, sexually assaulting man; a man who doesn’t pay his bills, targets legal aliens and praises Hitler.

With many good policies and character, may you win. May you lift up the other women (and men) in this country who are looking for a way out of poverty, with better health care, better housing, and more compassion.

Interested in a wide range of issues, including social and faith issues, Joan Brickner serves as a regular contributor to the Forum’s opinion page. She is a retired English instructor who has taught in Michigan and Minnesota.