Feminism | Posted by Sheridan T on 10/5/2009
The Development of a Feminist
Here is my story.
When you draw a timeline, it looks pathetic. Because the majority of my life, when marked off on a timeline, has been devoted to being what every feminist is afraid of becoming. What Sarah Haskins coins, “The Perfect Woman.”
I wore lots of makeup. It caked on my face. Lining, defining, plucking, bringing out my “best features” and playing down the “less desirable ones.” But we didn’t like to talk about those.
I never stopped to think about why shampoo had so many vitamins when hair was made up of dead skin cells. Dead cells can’t absorb vitamins! Their membranes aren’t active! But ha, who needed a brain when you were pretty, right? Everything I did was a lame attempt at getting guys to like me, even …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Nellie B on 10/4/2009
Whip It!
Jos at Feministing already has a great review of Whip It posted, and I don’t want to ruin the plot for those readers who have yet to see the movie. Here’s
a review in brief: Go see it. Now.
I went to the local premiere with my 11 year old sister’s Girl Scout troop. It was the best Girl Scout field trip ever — I’m so glad that the troop saw such a pro-girl movie. Whip It’s plot is based off the young adult novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, who also wrote the screenplay. The book’s influence is clear: exposition, character development and the plot arc all play like a YA novel, not a
traditional movie. Whip It is unusual in that it pauses the action to take its time talking about …
More >
Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 10/4/2009
Support Women Artists Sunday: Karen O
It was as I was waiting in line at Starbucks this weekend (coffee is life), that I picked up a copy of the “Where The Wild Things Are” soundtrack. Considering that the song in the trailer was Wake Up by Arcade Fire, I was interested to see what would be included in the movie. (By the way there’s a flurry of thoughts up there in my mind about this movie…many summed up by SWPL as always…). However, I was happily surprised to see that Karen O is featured pretty prominently on the soundtrack. Which reminded me…Karen O is a badass I haven’t featured in a SWAS post yet!
Karen Lee Orzolek, better known as Karen O, is the lead vocalist for the New York rock band Yeah Yeah Yeahs. …
More >
Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 10/3/2009
Glamour Keeps the Body Love Coming
So, my Mom is kind of Ellen DeGeneres’s biggest fan, and more often than not at 4:00 pm the sound of the Ellen DeGeneres Show’s theme song resounds throughout our house. This past Thursday, as part of one of my more recent campaigns of procrastination against a Lit paper, I wandered over to watch with my Mom.
As much as I also love Ellen, and love the show, her guests are usually celebrities who really irk me for their lack of a) talent and b) interesting things to say. But today, replacing such guests, were a group of beautiful women, who I didn’t immediately recognize.
Oh, hey, they’re not famous, I thought. Then, oh, hey, they’re not suffering from an eating disorder they like to shrug and call “just diet …
More >
Feminism | Posted by Diane A on 10/2/2009
Homecoming Week Montgomery Blair High School Style
My name is Diane A, and I lead the Women’s Advocacy Group at Montgomery Blair High School in Silver Spring Maryland. One of our most active members, Nellie B, is already a contributor to the f-bomb.
These are some photographs of the hallway Women’s Advocacy decorated for our school’s Homecoming week. Our decorations didn’t exactly fit into the designated “Las Vegas” theme, but they definitely caused a stir. I gathered facts from articles and organizations, and my club sponsor printed out a list of feminist quotes. At our first meeting, members spread out along the hallway and picked the facts and quotes they found most personally relevent, and wrote them on big pieces of colorful construction paper. We arranged these posters, along with other cutouts and symbols, to create …
More >
