Toys enable kids to explore and reflect on the world around them, which is why it’s so important that they identify with their dolls and action figures, but why is that so often not the case? The #ToyLikeMe social media campaign began with Rebecca Atkinson, Karen Newell, and Melissa Mostyn, three mothers from the UK who realized how rarely toymakers… Continue Reading →
Would you really want to keep up with Kylie Jenner?
Last week on Cosmopolitan.com, assistant fashion and beauty editor Brooke Shunatona published an article in which she chronicled living like Kylie Jenner for a week (because who else would a successful, apparently functional adult want to live like?). After a week dealing with extraordinarily long nails, walking in extraordinarily high heels, and wearing an extraordinarily painful waist trainer that resembles… Continue Reading →
Gender neutrality needs some skirts
Ellen Degeneres has a new line of girls’ clothes at Gap Kids, and it looks pretty great, but “gender neutral” it’s not. The Gap Kids website says that they are “dedicated to supporting girls just as they are, whether they skateboard or dance, wear dresses or jeans.” The clothes feature slogans like “Be your own… Continue Reading →
The day I fell in love with Amy Schumer
The day I fell in love with Amy Schumer, I was preparing my Intro to Psychology lecture about gender. I was searching YouTube for clever clips that I could use, when I came across a video called “Inside Amy Schumer – Last F**kable Day”. The main character, Amy Schumer, comes across her “heroes” — Julia Louis-Dreyfus,… Continue Reading →
Does sex really sell?
Today, more than ever, sex is rampant in marketing, bolstered by the notion that “Sex Sells”, but a new study reveals that this may not in fact be the case. Since the beginning of modern advertising, sexual themes and imagery have been used to sell products. Some of the earliest sexual ads were created by tobacco companies in the late 1800s…. Continue Reading →
I’m not pregnant: A big woman in a small world
The subway is hot and crowded and I mop my forehead with a cloth. A woman in her 80s is having a friendly chat with the stranger next to her. When she sees me, standing squarely on my two feet to keep my balance and dressed in a sundress with an empire waist, she assumes… Continue Reading →
Why women athletes deserve your support
If you’re a female athlete like me, you know the drill when it comes to wanting people to take you seriously (For everyone else: people tend to not take us seriously). That’s why, when the U.S. women’s national soccer team won the World Cup this summer, I was over the moon about the amount of… Continue Reading →
A sorority girl’s take on the Alpha Phi recruitment video
If you follow women in the media— and, honestly, even if you don’t — you’ve probably seen the recruitment video members of Alpha Phi at the University of Alabama released in August 2015. The video, which quickly went viral and was taken down due to backlash, featured dozens of Barbie-esque women gallivanting through their campus, promising the viewers they, too,… Continue Reading →
Embrace your grey: Society’s double-standard for aging men and women
Does anyone else feel exasperated with the whole “women must cover their grey hair” message? Daily, we are fed images of grey haired men, being told they are distinguished, successful, powerful and that they are even sexy, mature “silver foxes”, yet at the same time we women are taught to be horrified at the thought… Continue Reading →