Feminism | Posted by Emily Rose on 03/27/2013
Why My High School Needs Roller Derby
I go to a public high school, and have recently expressed interest to the administration in starting a school roller derby team. However, I was first met with resistance and then refusal by the authorities. The general assessment was the sport was too dangerous for the public school to allow. However, when one takes a look around, they will see that football is a high priority. How different are these two sports, really? Both are contact sports, and despite its portrayal in the media, roller derby does have rules prohibiting certain potentially dangerous moves. The biggest difference to those who have been asked is that one is played primarily by males, who are considered “tough” enough to play a contact sport, while one is played by females, who are, in …
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Feminism | Posted by Amy A on 07/19/2011
Why I Don’t Wear Makeup
I’m 17 years old, a rising senior in high school, and I am unusual among a lot of my friends for this one reason: I don’t wear makeup.
That’s not to say I have never worn makeup, because I have, on occasion. I’ve worn it for two of the four high school dances I’ve attended, for the occasional band concert or dress-up day, and for the school musicals (although then it was stage makeup, a completely different matter). I have never worn makeup for a school picture. Why? It’s not like I’m heart-stoppingly gorgeous or anything. I am an average looking girl, but I’m comfortable with that.
There are a couple of reasons why I don’t wear makeup. One main reason is that I really like sleeping. I would much …
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Feminism | Posted by Aleka Raju on 02/8/2011
The Right to Learn
“Everything we shut our eyes to, everything we run away from, everything we deny, denigrate or despise, serves to defeat us in the end.?” – Rigoberta Manchu Tum.
Women are quite possibly the most disadvantaged section of the human population. With the onset of the 21st century, their status in society has improved, yet at the same time it remains far behind what the radical feminists envisaged during the feminist revolution.
I think to myself that even all the money in the world can’?t change men?’s attitude when it comes to allowing women and young girls the right to learn. As Indian society becomes more westernized, Indian girls are rebelling. However, their attempts are proving to be very futile because at the end of the day they’?re still …
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Feminism, Pop-Culture | Posted by Julie Z on 01/19/2011
Beauty Pageants: What You Should Do Instead
I usually don’t pay attention to beauty pageants anymore. My reasons for hating them are pretty obvious and I’ve written about them here before. They blatantly objectify women. If they’re boosting “self-esteem,” as pageant promoting talking heads often claim they do, then it seems to me that said confidence is mostly based on being held up as a figure of immense beauty in a global society where beauty is valued above all else. And while confidence is great, that’s a pretty shallow and transparent thing to feel confident about. And I get that a woman should be able to do whatever the hell she wants (within reason) and that entering a beauty pageant is a choice, but if we cut the shit the “ugh” factor here is a little …
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Pop-Culture | Posted by Cherokee S on 01/11/2011
Music Video Girls: Exploitive or an Industry of Independence
UK TV Channel BBC3 once in a while produces something worth taking a look at, and the minute I saw an advert for their latest one-off documentary endeavour – “Music, Money and Hip-Hop Honeys” – exploring the job that is ‘The Music Video Girl’ – I was intrigued.
Music videos are a subject that I often bring attention to. It is impossible to turn on the latest music channel without being bombarded with a series of greased up women jiggling their bits around in front of the camera. Of course, we can’t forget the men parading around them with the,‘Yes, these are my bitches,’ attitude. Unfortunately, apart from pop starlets like Katy Perry – that’s a post worth of discussion right there – this is mostly a ‘Hip-Hop’ …
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Feminism | Posted by Jocelyn A on 11/18/2010
“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 …
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Feminism | Posted by Julie Z on 11/17/2010
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 …
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