I have a superpower. I am immune to the power of media. Yes, you heard me correctly. Bring on your Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows and Hardee’s ads and watch their influence fall harmlessly away from me. For as a lesbian, I “do not care about the standards of beauty created for me by society.” Wait…what?… Continue Reading →
Now you can change your eye color!
Flipping through a high-fashion magazine (in my case the ever so glamorous Glamour), with a little bit of a media literacy lens, you automatically expect to see images of unrealistic looking women with unattainably smooth, flawless skin, silky, bouncy hair, and an absolutely “perfect body”. (I say that in quotation marks because there are millions… Continue Reading →
I’d like to award The Body Shop with Most Misleading Advertisement of the Year
The poster features a young woman unapologetically holding a protest sign that demands, “DON’T RETOUCH ME.” At first glance, The Body Shop appears to solely be promoting its no-retouch policy and proclaimed opposition to unrealistic standards of beauty. Upon closer investigation, The Body Shop is actually reeling its audience in with a progressive message, only… Continue Reading →
To Rashida Jones: Here I am! One man’s perspective on the “Pornification of Everything”
At the close of 2013, actress Rashida Jones wrote an article for Glamour magazine entitled “Why is Everyone Getting Naked? Rashida Jones on the Pornification of Everything”, in which she discusses pop stars and the trend of exposing as much of their bodies as possible. She talks about how, while she grew up with a healthy… Continue Reading →
Free The Nipple does more for women’s bodies than any push-up ever could
A half-moon shaped incision was made and my nipple was flipped open. Then a slice of my breast was cut out, containing a tumor. It had to happen. The tumor was uncomfortable, at times painful, and without taking the whole thing out and analyzing it, cancer couldn’t completely be ruled out. I still think it’s… Continue Reading →
I’m “All About That Bass” AND Treble
Like lots of women, I’m aching for more body positivity in pop culture. Meghan Trainor’s “All About That Bass” appears to be a great example of a body positive song with lyrics such as, “I see the magazine workin’ that Photoshop / We know that shit ain’t real” and “‘Cause every inch of you is perfect / From the… Continue Reading →
The renaissance of female empowerment comes from an unlikely source: advertisers
Feminine hygiene products have a history of questionable advertising. Lately, however, we’re starting to see some truly groundbreaking, entertaining, and original ads. The newest maxi pad video doing the viral rounds is this one from Always: Now, I’m not sure I would really consider this an ad for tampons or pads. In fact, they’re not… Continue Reading →
Training video shows simplicity of photoshopping bodies
Altering images via Photoshop has become so commonplace that the simple, all-encompassing term “Photoshopping” is now understood by just about everyone. But what exactly is Photoshopping, and how easy is it to do? This video, from the well-respected software training website lynda.com, shows exactly how to achieve a Photoshopped body in just a few clicks… Continue Reading →
Packed with sexist blunders, Snickers really objectifies
Did you know that more than 80% of women worldwide will face gender-based street harassment at some point in their lives? They—or rather we—will be approached or accosted on the street, subjected to unwanted whistles, cat calls, sexual comments, and lewd gestures in which men “assert the right to intrude on women’s attention, defining her… Continue Reading →