Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 11/11/2010
Not So Gleeful: What’s Wrong With GQ’s Latest Shoot
So, I know this is kind of dated, but please make fun of me, consider my humble excuse of being a senior coming up on college application deadlines, and then attempt to enjoy!
The reaction from feminists to the “Glee” themed photo shoot in the newest issue of GQ – a popular men’s magazine – wasn’t exactly surprising. The shot, which was done by infamous photographer Terry Richardson (no stranger to overtly sexual photo shoots and even sexual harassment claims) features three of the main stars of the Fox TV show in almost pornographic poses. Of course, there has been plenty of uproar concerning the fact that these overtly sexual images are borderline pedophilic – due to the fact that these actors portray teenaged characters and cater to a …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 10/28/2010
My Feminist Photo Shoot
By now, some of you may be aware that I (on behalf of this here ole’ webblog) was recently chosen as one of 12 “new” feminists by More Magazine. Obviously, this is an amazing honor, and the fact that I’m in the same article as some of my all time heros (Jessica Valenti is mentioned in the article and I was freakin in the same room as freakin Shelby Knox!) is kind of mind blowing. And Jane Lynch is on the cover. As a Gleek, and more importantly as a Christopher Guest mockumentary fan (that’s really where it’s at) and just general supporter of Jane Lynch’s mind blowing awesomeness, a better cover girl probably couldn’t have been chosen.
However, the concept of having a “feminist photo shoot” …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Kate T on 07/27/2010
Free to Be You and Me
On my last procrastination streak, in addition to watching dozens of videos of young children singing pop songs on YouTube, I stumbled upon a gem from my childhood – all 44 minutes of ‘Free to Be… You and Me’. I don’t know how many of you watched, read or listened to ‘Free to Be,’ as kids, but for those who didn’t, it is a movie, book, and CD created in 1972 dedicated to entertaining kids without reinforcing gender stereotypes – boys are told its okay to cry, “mommies’” and “daddies’” jobs are unrelated to their gender, and princesses travel the world and remain single. I still remember my first “feminist moment” when, at age six, my jam sesh to ‘William’s Doll’ was interrupted by my dad saying that it was …
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Feminism | Posted by Kate S on 05/28/2010
Affirmative Action?
Maren H. wrote a great piece on the importance of feminism and focused on gender discrimination in hiring. It coincided with something that ticked me off today so here is my rant.
As my tradition-bound boarding school continues to figure things (substitute with race, gender, sexuality, etc.) out, the issue of gender disparity arose in Academic Council, a committee of department chairs and major school authorities. Of course, as a student, I am not supposed to know about this but let’s just say that I have my ways.
A lot of faculty members are leaving the school this year, which means that our only female academic department chair, an English teacher, will be leaving as well. As a result, the Academic Council—composed of the movers and shakers of the …
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Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 04/27/2010
Being An Ally
In December, I attended the National Association for Independent Schools’ Student Diversity Leadership Conference, which I blogged about here. This conference, which brought together high school students from across the country to talk about diversity, inspired a friend of mine and I to start a diversity club at our school. We had no idea how hard pulling this off would be.
While there were teachers at our school who had attended the conference with us and who completely supported us, our efforts at starting a club were completely ignored by the student body. We concluded that much of the disinterest had to do with the fact that our school is overwhelmingly white and pretty much conforming to stereotypes across the board.
Getting kids at our school to understand that …
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Awareness | Posted by Julie Z on 12/14/2009
What I Learned at SDLC
When I told my friends I was going to SDLC, the Student Diversity Leadership Conference, they all asked the question I’d both anticipated and dreaded. “How can you go to that?” they asked, “You’re white.”
I didn’t really know how to answer at that point. In a way, I had wondered the same thing when I found out that my school would be represented by 7 black students and me. I knew diversity was more than race, and I knew that I would inevitably learn a lot by going to this conference, but nevertheless I was a little uneasy.
In the airport, walking towards the flight for Denver, the confusion felt by my friends seemed to be mirrored in the faces of others we passed. I’d never really been stared …
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