Feminism

Comic Sandra Bernhard. She's best known for her appearances on "Late Night With David Letterman" and in the Martin Scorsese film "The King of Comedy." She's now starring in the Off-Broadway one-woman show "Without You I'm Nothing," that is part stand-up comedy, part satire on the "women of rock and roll."

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone discusses the new ABC show "Home." The format is similar to the morning news shows, like "Good Morning America," and "The Today Show," mixing live interviews with pre-produced segments, all of which revolve around domestic issues, like how to make pot scrubbers out of onion bags.

Film director Fran Rubel Kuzui. She's just completed her first film, "Tokyo Pop," about a young American punk singer who moves to Japan in the hopes of reviving her stalled career. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Playboy and Village Voice columnist Cynthia Heimel. Heimel brings her sassy wit to the plight of the single woman of the 80s, beset with such traumas as tackling urban life and surviving the Great Boyfriend Crunch. Her books include Sex Tips for Girls and But Enough About You. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

British novelist Fay Weldon. Her works include The Life and Loves of a She-Devil, Praxis and Down Among the Women. Her latest novel, a love story, is titled The Hearts and Lives of Men, and was written as a serial over the course of a year for the British magazine Woman. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Ethlie Ann Vare and Greg Ptacek, authors of the book Mothers of Invention, a compilation of inventions by women. Some have been rather mundane, like Liquid Paper and drip coffee. But others include radium, the computer language COBOL and the first computer compiler. The authors are better known for their writing about rock and roll. (Interview by Faith Middleton)

Book critic John Leonard reviews S, the new novel by John Updike. The novel is a modern story that draws from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg continues his discussion of sexism in language. He says the obvious concerns - like whether to use "mankind" or "humanity" - only scratch the surface.

Rita Mae Brown, author of the classic feminist novels Rubyfruit Jungle and Southern Discomfort. Her other novels include High Hearts and Six of One. Her latest work, Starting From Scratch: A Different Kind of Writer's Manual, shares with writers her own tips and techniques.

Arlene Violet, the first female state attorney general in the country. She was also the first nun in Rhode Island to graduate from law school. She has sued a bishop, investigated corrupt judges, retried Claus Von Bulow and the earned the nickname "Attila the Nun." She's written an autobiography titled Convictions.