Girls suck at math and boys shouldn’t wear princess crowns

Gendered advertising sucks. Seriously. Just last weekend, I was in the grocery store with my partner when we stumbled upon some energy drinks marketed specifically toward women, called Her, which were so uniquely (sarcasm) colored bright pink. Because apparently, all other energy drinks weren’t “feminine” enough, we needed one just for women. Just like we need Continue reading

Drop everything you’re doing and watch these films!

Media clearly has something against women. There just aren’t enough women making movies about women, and those movies that do exist don’t get the attention they deserve. Documentaries are unfortunately in the same situation when it comes to gender equality. Luckily, there are organizations and women out there making a difference that deserve to be Continue reading

The numbers don’t lie: racial diversity among models falls short

Recently, Jezebel put out their annual report on the racial diversity among models at New York Fashion Week. The findings were not surprising, with Caucasian models being an overwhelming majority of the models. We are well aware of the harmful messages that modeling and fashion sends out about body image. However, I feel there is little Continue reading

Female celebs compared to aliens while men are harmless muppets

I watch the Academy Awards with a bit of skepticism every year. My favorite part is generally the live performances, and this year was no exception. Leave it to Facebook to totally dampen my joyful viewing experience. I was scrolling through my news feed while watching Barbra Streisand sing and all of a sudden I Continue reading

Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day

Reading pretty much anything about girls and pop culture today, you would be forgiven for despairing over the incessant bombardment of messages about conforming to ideal body standards. But I’m here to tell you that there are some alternative messages filtering through to impressionable young girls. Exhibit A: Yep, some people actually want girls to Continue reading

Target’s “Everyday Collection”: sexualizing saltines and soup

A few months ago, in my Sunday newspaper, a Target flyer arrived featuring a brunette beauty fixed with a seductive stare, cocking her head back against a box of saltines, while gripping a Campbell’s microwave soup bowl in her other hand. Unneeded sexualization anyone? I immediately removed the page from the pile of sales ads, Continue reading

Want a leg up on being beautiful? It’s all about the thigh (gaps)

I’m sorry, but did you know that there are Tumblr pages dedicated to praising thigh gaps? That’s right, I’m taking about sites that catalog and pay homage to photos of women whose legs do not touch above the knees. And it doesn’t end there. On Twitter, “#ThighGap” is often listed with other problematic tags like “#soclosetoperfection” Continue reading

Kids want to see heroic female protagonists

This article was originally published by Margot Magowan on her blog, Reel Girl. Yesterday, I posted about A Mighty Girl’s news that kids’ underwear with female superheroes on it sold out. I also posted about a dad shopping with his 5-year-old daughter who complained about the lack of cool female characters on clothing. He bought his daughter boys’ Continue reading

Sports Illustrated’s failed attempt to be more “accessible” to women readers

We all know that the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition comes out every year, and with each year, we all groan at the images, growing more and more tired of the airbrushing and scantily clad models. It looks like Sports Illustrated has caught on to our feelings, has decided to switch things up a bit, and Continue reading

In praise of female celebrity role models

I think we’re due for a piece full of praise. A high school English teacher in Chicago, Ashley Lauren Samsa, shared on Bitch magazine’s website a list of positive female role models in pop culture, as drafted up by her students. She wrote, “The list is a good insight into what interests teen girls these Continue reading