“Feminist” Advertisements: Exploitation or Progress?
Peggy Orenstein’s “The Way We Live Now” piece in New York Times Magazine a couple months ago explores what she calls the “empowerment mystique,” or using themes of girl power to sell products that have nothing to do with promoting equality. She mentions several recent commercials by companies selling products unrelated to gender or discrimination, such as Verizon and Target, which send a message of empowerment for girls and women. This kind of ad, she claims, manipulates people to associate the company with sincerity and hopefulness. It is also a reflection of a society in which women hold the majority of jobs, and earn more bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, and doctorates than men.
Orenstein draws a distinction between the Verizon ad, which shows a series of young women speaking proudly …
My First Heartbreak: How Feminism Got Me Through It
This past week my boyfriend dumped me. Now, under normal circumstances, recovery would have been simple. At first, I’d turn the radio randomly to any given pop song where a lyric about “looking into each other’s eyes” would inevitably transition into me sobbing, “WE USED TO LOOK INTO EACH OTHER’S EYES. THIS SONG WAS TOTALLY WRITTEN ABOUT ME AND MY PAIN” followed by dramatic, angsty teen tears. Then, there would be a bitch session with my friends as they confirmed that he was in fact always a douchebag and even though he kind of looked like John Mayer that also kind of added to the doucheyness. Knowing my friends, and our love of festively celebrating the fall season, his picture attached to a pumpkin would probably be presented along with …
The age old joke along the lines of ‘woman, get back to the kitchen,’ is pretty much thrown about on the internet and in real life. As a seventeen year old girl, I’ve come into contact with boys who think it’s the funniest thing ever to tell me to ‘make them a sandwich’ or ‘do the ironing.’ Only last Saturday a boy I’d just met told me to get him a beer and when I gave him a scathing look, told me he was joking.
I do, surprisingly, have a sense of humour. I laugh at things that are funny, I like controversial humour and I’m not easily offended. Honestly, it’s not the fact that boys think it’s okay to make jokes out of a woman’s supposed domestic role that …
On Thursday, November 11, 2010, I took back the night. Joined by a small group of passionate college women, I marched across my campus at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to protest the perpetuation of sexual violence against women and to raise awareness regarding the rising seriousness of this issue on college campuses. Proudly walking down busy Franklin Street, we blew rape whistles, chanted verses that asserted our rights to safety at all times, and, most importantly, we walked into the night without fear. For the first time in a while, I wasn’t looking over my shoulder. I didn’t have to carry a can of pepper spray, get out my cell phone and pretend to be talking to my mom, or avoid streets on which I ordinarily …
Paloma Faith (born Paloma Faith Blomfield; 21 July 1985) is a British singer-songwriter and actress. In 2009, she released her debut single “Stone Cold Sober”, then her debut album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, which was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Her debut album stayed within the top 40 album charts for over forty weeks.
After completing her A-Levels, Faith went on to study for a degree in contemporary dance at the Northern School of Contemporary Dance, which Faith describes as “the worst experience of [her] life”. Faith then went on to study for an MA in theatre directing at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design,[5] funding her studies by working various part-time jobs, which included; a sales assistant at Agent Provocateur, a …
I’m sure a lot of you have seen at least one “It Gets Better” video. If you haven’t, it’s basically a project initiated to show LGBT youth that are struggling with their sexuality, and can’t imagine a future as an openly gay adult, especially in the face of bullying. A bunch of celebrities have pitched in speaking from the perspectives of allies and LGBT adults. It’s an awesome project, and Jezebel recently gathered what they think are the top 15 videos. Here are a few of my faves:
Tim Gunn (who opens up about his own past suicide attempt)
“Selfsploitation” delves into the psychology of sending sexually suggestive photos of one’s self by cellphone or posting them on social websites. The project includes drawings (some can be seen below), an essay, and a survey conducted on the artist’s blog.
