Feminism | Posted by Erin F on 12/26/2012
Embracing Femme
Ever since I was 11 years old, I’ve always been femme, to some extent. The extent of my femme depends really on my overall well-being. The better I feel, the more femme I am. The more makeup I put on, the better clothes I wear, the more I take care of my hair.
I remember when I first started getting interested in feminism, when I was about 15, I was going through a really tough period of my life. I was depressed and was at my least femme. At that point, I also thought that beauty and fashion were patriarchal constructs designed to subordinate women and I stayed as far away from looking femme as I possibly could. I became angry and would always think to myself “why don’t men …
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Feminism | Posted by Cheyenne T on 11/28/2012
“How Do I Look?” “Do You Think He Notices Me?” And Other Useless Questions
As our culture evolves, I find that one of the most important aspects of our evolution is technology. From the wheel to the internet, every invention has contributed to a change in the way we go about our lives. This is why I think the media plays a key role in the way we conduct ourselves.
My parents have always said that they didn’t have to experience the publicity that technology has brought to society to the same extremity that we do. It gets worse for every generation and the surplus of messages about how we should live our lives has grown to be outrageous. Everything is accessible to everyone at any time.
Our culture has become hyper-sexualized due to the evolution of the media. It’s so hard not to …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Gina S on 07/18/2012
The Headline Project
As a little project, I recently decided to compile the gender presentation as depicted in the headlines on various popular ‘news’ websites over 3 days. Having rolled my eyes so strenuously as to pop several blood vessels at the ridiculous scandals I’m subjected to each time I checked my email, I decided to monitor sites like AOL, Yahoo, and MSN News to dissect how they depict famous women.
Day 1
AOL’s headlines regarding famous women:
“Brittany Spears flaunts assets”
“See what (Kate Middleton’s sister) Pippa’s wearing at Wimbledon”
“Who’s the British beauty showing off her armpits?” (No, I’m not kidding…)
“Miley Cyrus wears daring LBD”
“Megan shows off baby bump in bikini” – (Translation: “show off” = wearing a biking while pregnant and famous).
MSN messenger news:
“Katy …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Melissa King on 07/14/2012
Saturday Vids: My Body…Finally
I love to see women who are comfortable and confident in their skin despite being a different size or shape than what our society markets as the ideal. I love seeing a woman who doesn’t lose her confidence or her great smile just because she has a blemish.
I don’t think we see enough of real women’s bodies (shapes, sizes, blemishes) in a positive context. Even amongst friends, we often hide what we think are our imperfections. I think that if we were exposed to more of what is real and natural, we would all be more comfortable and confident with ourselves
The women who participated in this project are women in my life who I find beautiful and who I knew would want to speak out on this topic. …
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Grace on 06/25/2012
Perfectly Normal
I don’t have a diagnosed eating disorder and that makes me sad. That might sound like a strange thing to say, but what I mean is that I think it’s wrong that my daily obsession with counting calories, my attempts to drink copious amounts of green tea because it supposedly speeds up your metabolism, and my complete inability to forget about my weight is pretty much considered normal. Wikipedia informs me that “Eating disorders refer to a group of conditions defined by abnormal eating habits that may involve either insufficient or excessive food intake to the detriment of an individual’s physical and mental health.”
I don’t fit into this category because I never fell ill, no one ever commented that my weight was unhealthy, and no one worried, …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 06/2/2012
Saturday Vids: Miley Cyrus on The Conversation
I’m not going to pretend like I haven’t been critical of Miley Cyrus / the Disney machine in the past. But I was recently watching an interview with Miley Cyrus on an episode of The Conversation, and I have to say: I was incredibly impressed. It seems like Miley has grown into a really independent, interesting young woman who is trying really hard to figure out who she is despite controlling pressures, specifically controlling pressures on her sexuality. I definitely recommend checking it out here or here (it’s the first 10 minutes…but then an interview with Melissa McCarthy follows and that’s pretty great, too).
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 04/11/2012
Why The Media Assault on Ashley Judd Is Larger Than A “Puffy Face”
A couple days ago, I, like millions of other college students across the country, logged on to Facebook as a pathetic attempt at procrastination. I expected to flip through some of my friends’ newly posted pictures, maybe like somebody’s status– the usual – but instead was faced with something extraordinary. My newsfeed was inundated with links to an article written by Ashley Judd—the kind of article that, as a young feminist, I have been waiting to read for a very long time.
In response to a swell of criticism regarding her “puffy” appearance, or what feminist blog Jezebel has cleverly titled “Judd-puff-maggedon 2012,” Judd recently penned an article for The Daily Beast, calling out the media for what she saw as “pointedly nasty, gendered, and misogynistic” commentary …
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Feminism | Posted by Gina S on 04/2/2012
The Flip Side of the Coin, or Just Because I’m Skinny Doesn’t Mean I Have An Eating Disorder
It’s a common presumption in our society that if you’re female, tall and skinny, you have it all. You are the perfect woman: you have the attributes of a high fashion model, and you should be extremely self-confident because you have it made. The truth, however, is much different.
When I was younger, I was bullied for five years because of my height and weight. “Oh they’re just jealous because you’re tall and skinny,” my well-meaning family members would say. “They just want to be like you.” But they didn’t want to be like me, because I was miserable beyond belief and the bullying was making me pick out tiny little things about myself that I hated. One by one, I listed off all the many things I hated about …
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