Well, I'm in the next generation of feminists.

[iverglas]

9. do you know ...

I think the only strong females I felt comfortable with was Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Captain Janeway and Dana Scully in the X-files.

A few years ago I had a brief relationship with a man who was also an old Star Trek fan -- an old fan, that is, not just a fan of old Star Trek.

He firmly and very seriously took the position that Capt. Janeway was just wrong -- that a woman could not be the lead starship captain in Star Trek / Star Fleet. This was a reasonably politically aware man, but of my generation. I wonder whether younger viewers (of both sexes) found the idea just as clanging and unacceptable.

Yes, interesting that your strong female models are all fictional.

Martin Luther King Jr. admired Margaret Sanger -- and obviously knew that all the tales told about her alleged racism etc. were merely right-wing, misogynist efforts to discredit her and thus to undermine women's equality-seeking efforts.

I think that's part of the problem you have experienced. Hostility to women and opposition to women's equality are still socially acceptable to the point that it is possible to dismiss women who might otherwise be considered to be heroic, simply because no one is perfect. Individual women's imperfections -- real or perceived, or just blatant lies -- are made the focus of concerted efforts to discredit them.

Was Margaret Sanger, with her steadfast, life-long commitment to the right of women to control our reproductive destiny and her anti-patriarchal "free love", more of a threat to the status quo and those whose interests it serves than even MLK Jr and his socialism?

I wonder whether that isn't at least part of the reason why the news of women and their lives and work and goals aren't suppressed.