From Daily Planet Staff Reports

During a 45-minute session in which a panel of speakers  at the Time for Our Power women’s conference fielded questions for nearly 45 minutes last Saturday, most of the inquiries were addressed to actress-activist Jane Fonda.

Fonda had given the keynote address before about 300 people in Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium earlier (see story on Page 1 for a recap of her address).

The panel moderator began by asking Fonda and two other guest speakers, Vicki Donlan and Dr. Kate Thomsen, a series of questions, and then opened the session to the audience.

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With her pet dog snoozing on her lap, keynote speaker Jane Fonda (center) makes a point during a question-and-answer session in Asheville last Saturday. She is flanked by other guest speakers Vicki Donlan and Kate Thomsen, M.D.

The moderator asked the speakers to comment on studies that show it takes at least three women on a corporate board to create an impact.

Thomsen asked how many in the audience had voiced an idea that was ignored until later a man suggested the same idea and it received attention. Many of the audience’s hands were raised.

She confirmed that a second woman in a room backs up the first, but it takes three to get it done.

The moderator asked Fonda about the challenges of growing older for a woman, especially “being a beautiful, older woman?”

“I think as you get older, everything you put in your mouth is very important” because it is so easy to gain weight as one ages.

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An unidentified young woman asks Jane Fonda a question, following Fonda’s keynote address during the Time For Our Power conference in Asheville’s Thomas Wolfe Auditorium.

“Nutrition is very important. Exercise is very important — even if you just walk 30 or 45 minutes per day.”

The audience cheered when she added playfully, “Good sex helps!”

On a more serious note, Fonda said, “Happiness and self-confidence also are very important” to ensure longevity.

The moderator expressed her skepticism about claims by the pharmaceutical industry and asked Thomsen to address its claims, especially those affecting women.

“In terms of contraception ... women should have the choice whether to become pregnant or not,” Thomsen replied, noting that pharmaceuticals are the only reliable way to prevent pregnancy. “It’s always risk-benefit,” but especially when pregnancy is involved, the benefits of using pharmaceuticals top the risks, in her view.

She added, “Exercise is more important than anything you do ... If you want to be healthy, exercise is the best way.”

Thomsen said those with high blood pressure should not shun pharmaceuticals, but rather take the medicine “until you lose weight” and then cease using it.

“In medicine, there’s some things you should use ... I think you should be cautious, but use it when you need it.”

The moderator asked Donlan about single women —”Your book states that Americans spend most of their adult lives single and that 54 percent of 96 million American single adults are women.” (The book is titled “Her Turn: Why It’s Time for Women to Lead in America.”)
“I find my questions on work/life balance are mostly from men these days,” Donlan said. “Because there are so many options for women these days. They’re going for their careers, not necessarily over marriage, but first and foremost their careers.”

She said men seem to be confused because “they don’t see women wanting the home, the children and the white picket fence” anymore. “It’s about how we all contribute to how the next generation is brought up.”

In the opening question from the audience, a woman asked Fonda about verbal attacks on her by those who continue to feel angry about her anti-war stance during the Vietnam War and her visit to North Vietnam.

Fonda noted that she now lives in Georgia, which she termed “a very conservative state,” and finds it stimulating to interact regularly with people who think differently from her.

“I made a terrible mistake when I was in North Vietnam,” she said. “The fact that I know who I am” saved her from the firestorm of criticism that she has received.

“I have to listen carefully to the attacks. It shows a lack of healing.”

Fonda noted that “a guy out there (outside the auditorium)” said local Vietnam War veterans “were going to spend $50,000 to have a demonstration — and there’s only one person out there” today. (The Daily Planet spoke to two protestors.) “You never want to discount the criticisms” people have.

Another woman asked Fonda to discuss the process of coming into her own power.

“It’s in my book,” Fonda said, prompting laughter. “Let me try to do this real fast. I was in my marriage to Ted Turner, my favorite ex-husband ... I had a choice — I could remain in a marriage where I couldn’t be authentic, or I could divorce at age 62.”

She chose to divorce and, during the process, became a Christian. Fonda said she was striving “to become a whole person.”

“I left Ted,” with his many properties and great wealth, and moved into a closet-size room with a daughter “and it felt great.”

She equated her elation at becoming whole as “like the geysers” at Yellowstone Park. “For me, it came late in life.”

Following a question about funding for programs that benefit girls and women worldwide, the moderator interjected that “our intention with this conference is to take the proceeds and give back to women-based nonprofits.”

However, she said, “We’re not going to be able to do that — and we’re probably functioning in the red.” She asked those present to consider donating to help the conference finish in the black, so that it can continue in the future and help women through donations of the proceeds.

A woman asked Fonda why she has not addressed gay and lesbian issues much in her speech in Asheville or in her books.
“It’s not been the focus of my work,” Fonda said. “In my book on dying, I was going to write about the findings that same-sex relationships have been more successful” than heterosexual, in terms of longevity.

“After 60, men become more mellow and their feminine side comes up and, for women, they become more assertive. ... In same-sex relationships,” these gender issues rarely arise.

In her next book, Fonda said, she is writing about teenagers and gender issues, including same-sex relationships. “So, I try, in my own way, to address the issue and if you have any suggestions, just let me know.”