“Smart Girls at the Party” shows that smart girls have more fun
It’s not often we see girls and young women honored for their intelligence, but that’s exactly what Smart Girls at the Party does.
Smart Girls is a ten-episode web series created by actress Amy Poehler, producer Meredith Walker, and musician Amy Miles. Poehler says the show was created, in some ways, as a response to the, “lack of celebration of the unique original girl,” and to, “represent real female friends and celebrate that stage of life where you write down what you want to be when you get older, before too many people tell you no.” Continue reading
Rihanna’s “We Found Love” video draws a dangerous line between love and violence
Let’s be honest, people — as delicious as pop music is, it has some serious sexist potential. There are only so many times I can hear about “pimps” and “hos” and “smacking that” and other musical vulgarities without getting thoroughly sick of it all. Don’t get me wrong. Hating on pop stars isn’t my cup of tea — but they do make it so easy. As much as I dig Rihanna’s music, it’s about time somebody addressed her most recent hit’s top-rated music video, “We Found Love”: Continue reading
Kellogg’s Special K tells women their lives could be better, if only they were thin
Will this woman have to lose weight to gain zeal?
Given that Kellogg’s Special K basically markets itself as a diet food, my expectations for their advertising campaigns were already low. However, they have really outdone themselves with their new campaign, based around the question: “What will you gain when you lose?”
In the commercials, women stand on bathroom scales that reflect buzzwords back at them: “Joy.” “Shine.” “Freedom.” Special K’s web site for the campaign has more examples, with women holding up signs stating what weight loss will give them.
(By the way, does this scale concept remind anyone of Marilyn Wann’s body-positive Yay! Scales that About-Face has taken to the streets many times?)
Body-shaming a common theme at the Golden Globes
Melanie Griffith received a C for not being sexier
I have to be honest — I don’t watch a ton of TV. But even I am aware that on January 15, the Golden Globes were the talk of the media-inclined. Unfortunately, the articles I read are often diluted (read: polluted) by messages of sexism, attractiveness, and more often than not, body-shaming.
I’m talking, of course, about Yahoo! omg!’s annual “Let’s Rank The Attractiveness of Everyone At the Golden Globes!” Sounds like a lot of fun, right? Maybe, if your name is Charlize Theron and you can afford a “plunging Dior Haute Couture gown and vintage Cartier jewels” (she received an A). Continue reading
Concerns over body image outrank school and stress for girls in Australia
Australian high school students cite body image as a main concern
Occasionally, media critics will get told that they take advertisements too seriously, and that messages being sent through various media channels aren’t that strong or meaningful. I know I have faced this accusation many times, and have been told that I’m either over-analyzing or am too sensitive.
I’ve also been told that teens and adolescents are able to tell the difference between reality and advertisements – that, for example, girls know that lots of companies photoshop their models and that no one is that skinny/tall/busty, or has such flawless skin/hair/clothing. Continue reading
Disney’s “Sofia the First” still tells kids to be pretty princesses
Disney is adding a new member to their popular princess lineup, and she’s aimed directly at the youngest generation. Sofia, the title character of an upcoming TV movie (and series), “Sofia the First”, brings something new to the Disney table: she’s the first Disney princess who’s also a kid.
While I can’t find any sources that cite Sofia’s exact age, she is visibly younger than any of Disney’s past main characters, who have always been at least old enough to be getting married to their princes. According to Disney, the age difference is an attempt to appeal to the younger girls that make up their core audience. Sofia’s targeted demographic is the age 2-7 crowd. Continue reading
The language of rape becomes mainstream
Men's magazine, or the voice of rapists?
Right this minute, my head is spinning and my eyes are popping out of my head over two recent reports about how the insidious, disrespectful, anti-women messages of “Bro Culture” have completely infiltrated pop culture. Continue reading
Fotoshop by Adobé will solve ALL your beauty problems.
Back when I was an editor at a tech magazine in San Francisco and Adobe representatives would come to demo the newest version of Photoshop, I found myself thinking, “Wow, women just Photoshop themselves every day — except it’s called makeup and cosmetic surgery.” In short, tech was imitating life. The maker of this satirical commercial for “Fotoshop by Adobé”, Jesse Rosten, had the same idea.
Most of the products in the fake Fotoshop line (Healing Brush, Liquify, Hue/Saturation, but not “pro-pixel intensifying fauxtanical hydro-jargon microbeat extract featuring nutritive volumizing technology”) are real tools in the program Photoshop. If you want to see them in action, check out this video by Dove.
My favorite quote: “You don’t have to rely on a healthy body image or self-respect anymore.”
Also, how cool that it was directed by a man! Thanks, Jesse, for helping make the point that Photoshopping — and our beauty standards — are completely unreal.
Maxim magazine considers feminism a disease to be “cured”
Maxim's handy guide to "curing a feminist"
I’m not a fan of Maxim magazine, and one glance at any of their covers will tell you why. Geared towards a hyper-masculine gaze – the intense sexualization of the models, the constant reinforcement of the message that women’s role is one of sexual servitude, the comparisons of women to toys, puppets, or food items – the singular, narrow definition of beauty is really too much for me to handle.
Recently, I was reminded of one of Maxim’s egregious offenses that deserved some revisiting. Continue reading
1940s ads: Fat-shaming is rooted in skinny-shaming
I sometimes wonder if the cultural obsession over weight, physical appearance, and body-shaming is something new — something that may have emerged in the past couple of decades as a trend that will crest, and then, hopefully, diminish. Unfortunately, this hope was dashed when I came across a string of old advertisements that were published during the 1940s. Take a look:
