Reel Girl’s gallery of girls gone missing from children’s movies in 2012

This article was originally published by Margot Magowan on her blog, Reel Girl. I’ve been avoiding writing this post. I knew that female characters in children’s movies were not faring well in 2012. Not in number and not in stature. But I kept hoping. Hoping that somehow, before January, something would change, a slew of Continue reading

Jada Pinkett Smith empowers Willow to whip her hair… or not

Earlier this year, Jada Pinkett Smith came under fire for allowing her 12-year-old daughter Willow to cut and color her hair. In response to this criticism, Smith recently wrote an open letter on her Facebook page, defending her decision. She said: The question why I would LET Willow cut her hair. First the LET must Continue reading

You go girls! Plus-size bloggers tackle fashion one step at a time

What we wear as people allows us to express to the world around us who we are as individuals. This should be something so easy to do, right? WRONG! For so many curvy and plus-size girls and women, this has become a battle that leaves many wounded and feeling defeated. For this reason, the valiant Continue reading

Pink my ride: The Honda Fit She’s

Listen up ladies: Your feminine ride has arrived! Honda introduces the Honda Fit “She’s” — a pinkalicious car made specifically for women. Clad in a bubble-gum-colored exterior, the “She’s” boasts pink interior stitching and matching chrome dashboard covers. Designers had the descriptor “Adult cute” in mind and have fittingly changed the apostrophe in “She’s” to Continue reading

Let girls be the heroes for a change

A couple of weeks ago, the Huffington Post released a pretty phenomenal article about gender representation in the virtual world. Mike Hoye, a self-employed programmer, was tired of the enormous gender gap between strong male and female characters in video games. He and his three-and-a-half year old daughter Maya regularly played Zelda: Windwaker together. Link, Continue reading

Study finds that the “aspirational” body is actually a flexible concept

A recent study in the UK has found that the more we are exposed to a variety of body shapes and sizes, the more tolerant we become of this diversity. Well, duh. This is what we’ve been trying to say forever. Show us a diverse range of body types! What’s the worst that could happen? Continue reading

Taking the shame out of shapewear

Bump Watch (the obsessive and voyeuristic tracking of celebs’—or anyone’s, really—growing pregnant belly) is so last year. Today, it’s all about Spanx Watch, or rather, trying to catch the moment when celebs unwittingly flash their Spanx in public. That’s right. Who’s wearing “shapewear” is now big news. Just recently, new mom Kourtney Kardashian was caught Continue reading

Alpha Nail, for a more masculine nail polish option

Alpha Nail, a cosmetics company that claims it is for “Men and Fighters,” is filling the gap in the market for a male-oriented nail polish. What, you didn’t know the market needed male-oriented nail polish? Well, clearly you were mistaken, because men apparently have very specific nail polish needs that cannot be satisfied by mere normal lady polish. Continue reading

Should women participate in No-Shave November?

We are currently deep in the throes of No-Shave November, also known as Movember, a combination of the word “November” with the word “mustache.” But we’re finding women are not invited. Movember is a movement for prostate cancer awareness, encouraging devotees to grow mustaches as a visible sign of support and donate money to the Continue reading

Anne Hathaway in Les Mis: Emaciated is the new radiant!

It seems that losing weight the “healthy” way is slowly becoming a thing of the past. Anne Hathaway was selected to play Fantine in the film adaptation of Les Miserables, and in order to play the part, she lost 25 pounds over the course of a few weeks.   Fantine, a “consumptive factory worker-turned-prostitute” dying Continue reading