My Problem With "Maggie Goes On A Diet"

I discovered Maggie Goes On A Diet during one of my morning rituals (I tend to start my days with a cup o' joe and a few interesting Yahoo! articles). As the above video explains, the book, aimed at girls as young as 6 or 7, is about an overweight 14-year-old who decides to go on a diet after being teased mercilessly by her classmates.

I probably don't have to tell you that Maggie has sparked a lot of controversy. The media has been raving about so-called "mommy bloggers" who are up in arms over how the book mishandles sensitive body image issues, but what I noticed after sifting through the comments on several news articles is a slightly different attitude:

"There is nothing offensive about this book, unless you're living in denial. Girls do tend to obsess about their weight and image far more than boys, so choosing a girl as the main character makes sense." 

"God forbid she take up an activity that causes her to lose weight. What an awful message." 

"This book is a good thing. The last thing this world needs
is more fat chicks."

I'm not usually a fan of chatspeak, but I think that last statement warrants a big-ass smh.

I have no objection whatsoever to children's books teaching healthy eating habits and the value of exercise, but as a former (and current) Fat Girl this book is offensive. Society has always done a bang-up job of making girls feel like crap about themselves, and this book is the icing on the cake — or should I say, the no-calorie sweetener on the high-fiber oatmeal?

What could have been an uplifting book about a girl eating wholesome foods, having fun playing outside, and ultimately feeling good about herself (without other's approval) turned into a social commentary about the unacceptability of being overweight in our society. Maggie is a loser when she's fat. Nobody likes her. The boys all point and laugh. But then she drops X number of pounds and people are putty in her hands. She becomes the star of the soccer team, people know her by name and want to be her friend, and boys even think she's cute — the ultimate triumph! *gags*

I'm not denying the fact that there's an obesity problem in this country and I'm certainly not knocking the importance of a balanced diet and exercise. But there's a way to deal with these issues without telling little girls that their physical appearance and value as a person are inextricably linked.

Miss Representation (Documentary Trailer)

"Because You Think Being A Girl Is Degrading"

(Above) Do androgynous models catch flack for rocking the very concept of
gender binary to its core? Well, if they do, they're probably too
busy making snow angels in piles of cash to notice.

When I was in 8th grade, my teacher wanted to liven things up by giving us a debate topic that was a tad more risqué than usual, at least by middle-school standards. The topic was: Is it better to be a girl or a boy? Not "which sex is better?", but literally "which sex has the better end of the deal?"

I remember being excited by this question. As a little feminist-in-the-making (which at that age probably translated to "Woo! Girls rule!"), I had my answer perfectly formulated before anybody else had time to blink: 

Obviously, girls have it better because we have more freedom when it comes to doing the things we want. Girls can play sports and do other "guy stuff" and people think it's cool. But poor boys, if they want to knit, or bake, or do stereotypical "girl stuff" people make fun of them for it.

I was confident with this answer. It felt rock-solid, and I didn't think anybody would be able to come up with a good counter-argument when it came time to duke things out in the classroom. Truth be told, I can't remember what words were exchanged that day, but I do remember feeling utterly betrayed when my friend — a Korean chick who, to this day, is still one of the coolest and funniest people I know — sat on the boys' side of the argument. I just couldn't understand why she thought boys had a better deal in life. What happened to sisterhood?

Looking back, I realize now that my friend (who I'll call Ki-Jyeong Mung for legal reasons) was smarter than all of us. While the rest of us girls sat in smug satisfaction that we had a pretty good set-up in life (We could choose to be tomboys or girly-girls! How liberating!), we didn't understand the deeper implications of our opinion. When a girl is admired for kicking tail on the basketball court but a boy is called every number of degrading names for wearing a holiday sweater that's too "feminine," what is that really saying about the female gender?

After all these years, I finally get it. And I think this picture (which quotes a Madonna song) sums "it" up perfectly.

Friends, Romans, feminists . . . lend me your faces!

Show the world (or maybe just a
few hundred people) what a
feminist looks like!

I hope you've all had a chance to check out my Faces of Feminism project. On November 24th (yep, Thanksgiving) I'll be publishing a special post to showcase as many  supermegafoxyawesomehot* feminists as possible! 

I want to shatter any stereotype that erroneously assumes feminists are all cranky, hairy white women with cacti shoved up their backsides (no offense to my cranky, hairy white women friends). 

Feminists come in every shape, size, color, age, nationality, gender — I shouldn't have to list anymore classifiers to make that point. Just take a look in a mirror and you'll see how truly unique and awesome a feminist can be . . .

Now that I've (hopefully) buttered you up, I desperately need your help! My goal is to collect at least 100 feminist photographs by November 17th, so I need you all to send in your most epic, badass pictures to include in the post!

You can send your pictures to teenagefeminist@gmail.com (make sure to title them "This Is What A Feminist Looks Like"). To show my thanks, I will be more than happy to link your picture to your blog/website, just make sure to include the link in your email!

If you're looking to climb up a few more rungs on my I-love-you ladder, you can help me by spreading the word about this project to all of your "feministy" friends. Feel free to re-post (and tweak) any of the following:

Facebook:

Society is stuck on a very narrow-minded image of what a feminist "should" look like, but in November Danielle B. from Experimentations of a Teenage Feminist will be publishing a special post titled "The Faces of Feminism" to show just how diverse the feminist community really is! Feminists, please help Danielle by submitting a picture of yourself for her to post! Photos can be sent to: teenagefeminist@gmail.com!

Twitter:

Attentions feminists! Submit your photos to this 

blogger's "Faces of Feminism" project! 

http://teenage-feminist.blogspot.com/p/

faces-of-feminism-submit-photo.html

Tumbler (post stolen from this cool chick):

Danielle Burch, who runs the lovely blog Experimentations of a Teenage Feminist is doing a blog post this November featuring The Faces of Feminism. To be a part of this, all you have to do is email her at teenagefeminist@gmail.com with a picture of yourself and if you’d like, a link to your blog. Go to her blog for more information! I submitted this photo [link "this photo" to a photo of yourself!] the other day because it’s basically the most badass picture of me ever. Please let all your feministy friends know!

____________________________ 

*Any A Very Potter Musical fans out there? 

Life According to Google (Men vs. Women)

Is Google an elusive window into the complex minds of internetizens, 

or just an annoying friend who likes to finish all your sentences?

SlutWalk Seattle and the Awesomeness that Ensued

I was so excited to attend SlutWalk Seattle with my friend Sera two weekends ago. Seattle got a very interesting makeover (see pictures above) when hundreds of people gathered to protest an all too common (and completely ridiculous) notion: that women "should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized."

As the event's website explains:

People aren’t assaulted because they invited it or enticed others to it by looking a certain way; they’re assaulted because somebody chose to assault them. Saying that survivors could have protected themselves by not looking like “sluts” implies that the survivors are at fault and creates a culture in which the heinous crime of sexual assault is seen as no big deal.

This was my first real "protest." I probably saw more skin that day than I've seen in my entire life, but the fact that people could be so bold in order to make a point (i.e. it doesn't matter what you're wearing — or not wearing — rape is never okay) was truly inspiring. In my nothing-fancy Seinfeld t-shirt and jeans I felt a little intimidated at first, but once I started talking to random people and asking to take their pictures, I realized that these were some of the kindest and most activism-driven people I'd ever met in my life.

Sorry for the cliche, but you really can't judge a book by its cover.

The event itself consisted of marching from Cal Anderson Park to Westlake Center, both in Seattle. The atmosphere was incredibly positive and uplifting, even though we got a visit from the infamous Westboro Baptist Church. If you've never heard of WBC, they've gained national media attention for protesting the funerals of fallen soldiers and spreading their hateful, homophobic, anti-Semitic religious dogma at a variety of high-profile events. WBC hates Jews, homosexuals, the U.S. military, sluts (and many others, I'm sure), and are known for their bold, colorful signs that say everything from "Aids Cures F*gs" to "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

I was excited to see WBC in person. I wanted to see the idiocy up close.

I didn't get any good shots of WBC in Seattle, so I had to Google a photo.
This is actually one of the less offensive pictures I found!

But, I don't want to waste time talking about these assholes. If you'd like to spend the next hour or so yelling at your computer monitor, I suggest you Google them. *smiles*

For me, the most surreal and passionate and amazing part of the protest was when everybody chanted together. Hundreds of voices tangled to create a gigantic, powerful echo; we rattled the entire city with sayings like "Wherever we go, however we dress, no means no, and yes means yes!" and "When women's rights are under attack, what we do? Stand up! Fight back!"

If you can imagine the strangest collection of people ever — men, women, children, the elderly — of every orientation, color, body shape, and style of dress — all united by a common cause, that's what SlutWalk Seattle felt like. Being a feminist can feel lonely and alienating when it seems like the world is against you, but last Sunday I was embraced by an entire community of people who were willing to risk anything to fight for women's rights.

Another poignant part of the day was when we heard from Cee Fisher, a member of a socialist feminist organization called Radical Women. At one point she screamed "Show Seattle what a feminist looks like!" into her microphone, and everyone in the crowd pointed to themselves and repeated the sentiment.

I'm not a loud person by any means. But when Cee Fisher challenged us to show the city — neigh, the world — what a feminist looked like, I pointed to myself and screamed along with everyone else.

You know those times when you feel so impassioned you just want to cry?

That was one of those moments.
____________________________

There were some very powerful speakers at SlutWalk. We heard from feminists, a spoken word artist, and even people who've experienced rape and sexual assault first-hand. Here's a video of one speaker who nearly had me in tears. A recent women's studies major and graduate of the University of Washington, this woman explained what she had to go through to convict her attacker.

More Pictures:

• SlutWalk Seattle 2011 (Flickr)
• SlutWalk Seattle Photos (Facebook)

News Articles:

• Reclaiming Stereotypes by Kirsten Johnson (UW Newspaper)
• SlutWalk aims to empower women through a bold message by Elizabeth Dinh (Komo News)
• Rape awareness aim of Sunday's SlutWalk in Seattle by Katherine Long (Seattle Times)
• Hundreds march in Seattle 'SlutWalk' demonstration by Tonya Mosley (King 5 News)

For Every Girl, For Every Boy

What advice would you give a budding feminist (who just happens to have an anti-feminist stepmom)?

It can be extremely frustrating when
people just don't *get* what
we're about.

There's no escaping it: at some point or another every feminist is going to have to deal with people who aren't exactly supportive of our cause. 

But what happens when these people are our best friends, our neighbors, or our very own parents?

The question below was submitted to me by Serena, a relatively new feminist who's experiencing some friction with her stepmom. Serena gave me permission to post this question on Experimentations in hopes of hearing different perspectives.


What would YOU do in Serena's situation?

Hello! My name is Serena. I have been reading your blog off and on for a while now and well, I finally feel comfortable asking you something. 

Here goes: I am really new to feminism and . . . enjoy learning everything I can. My problem is my parents, my stepmother in particular. Feminists are the enemy and there is no changing her mind, which is fine, but I don't like being backed into a corner. 

Recently, I was [arguing] that pregnancy was unfair and that men got the lucky end of the reproductive stick. Well anyway, she starts talking about men's rights and it's all the feminists fault for taking away men's parental rights. Her comments really took me by surprise and I had nothing to [say back] . . . so I was wondering if you had any material that I should read so I can have an intelligible debate with her. Now that I think about it, every time I say something good about feminism, she comes back with "they took men's rights away from them." 

I hope I made sense. Thank you for any help that you give me, I really do appreciate it.

Stereotypes about femininity got you down . . . ?

About a month ago a woman from HighWire, a program at Lancaster University in the UK, contacted me about a video made by some of her students. On top of earning PhDs, they're part of something called the "EmpowerMe" project. How cool does that sound?

The video advertises a new (and fictitious) product called Gendolene, a bleach of sorts that can be used to eradicate femina stereotypica, or stereotypical femininity, via the color pink.

The video's only a minute long, but it's a clever commentary on the "pinkification pandemic" that's taken the world by storm. Here's what the makers of Gendolene had to say on their website:

"The power of Gendolene isn’t something that comes in a bottle. It’s our collective ability to resist and reverse the tide of pinkification that has gradually washed its way across so many toys, clothes, accessories and household items targeted at girls and young women.

Our goal is to challenge the production and marketing of items that simply reinforce restrictive and damaging stereotypes about what it means to be a girl.

The culture of pink segregates boys and girls into different aisles. In one it’s cool to be active, adventurous and explore the world; in the other it’s cool just to look pretty and explore as far as the next pair of shoes or shade of lipstick.

We think it’s about time manufacturers and retailers join the 21st century and find new ways of engaging with our young people that promote equality and empowerment for all, irrespective of the body we happen to be born into."

I can already see somebody reading this and thinking "so that's what feminists want, to get rid of all the pink in the world?" Puh-lease. The video is speaking to the fact that when institutions such as "femininity" and "masculinity" are rigid and narrowly defined, everyone is affected - men and women alike!

Update (1/11/2011) - Becci from the EmpowerMe Project would like to add:

"I think that its really important for children's toys to inform and prepare children for the diverse and complex world that lies ahead. We should therefore be providing our children with a wide range of toys which not only support their physical and cognitive development, but that also develop their understanding of how 'real' men and women look, behave and interact with the world, as opposed to distorted and often unobtainable representations."

Sting Operation Results Part #1: Hollister

Life's Big Question #283: Why don't the models
in clothing ads ever wear any clothes?

Well, as I sit here in the gentle glow of my brother and his girlfriend playing through a stack of new video games (Santa brought me a Chuck Norris t-shirt and feminist literature!*), I would like to wish everybody a very happy Christmas, Hanukkah, Festivus, or whatever the heck it is that you celebrate. If your family is anything like mine, today should consist of comfy pj's and incessant snacking . . .

Anyway, it's taken me long enough, but I've finally summoned the strength to write about last Saturday's sting operation. I am, however, realizing that if I want to do this thing right it's going to take a lot more than one post.

For those of you who didn't scroll down a few notches to read my last post, the girls from Real Beauty Revolution and I conducted a little sting operation at a nearby mall last Saturday. Each dressed as a different stereotype (see below), we infiltrated several stores (that sounds cooler than "walked into") to see how the workers would react to us. We wanted to see how blatant discrimination is in today's society - be it against sex, physicality, economic status, or otherwise - and while I can't say that we got any 100% conclusive results, it was a very eye-opening and, strangely, empowering experience.

I've decided to go about this one store at a time. I apologize if I'm keeping anybody on the edge of their seat (anybody?) but I've got a lot to say, and I don't want to glaze over anything just to keep a modest word count. So, what better way to introduce Operation: Anti-Discrimination than to recognize the lovely ladies (or better yet, kick-ass chicks) who made it possible:



From Left to Right: Lacee, Carrie, Jenny (eating Lorrie's head),
Lorrie (having her head eaten), Holly, Tia, Saundra, and Tamara.



If you look a bit closer, we're loosely divided into three categories:

• The Rocker Chicks: Tamara, Saundra, Lacee and I (though I'm not in the picture) were somewhere in the goth-to-rocker spectrum.
• The Preps: Lorrie and Holly suffered from what one might jokingly refer to as "preppy-princess-itis."
• The Normies: Tia, Carrie, and Jenny were dressed normally . . . though "normal" easily passed for "grubby" in some of the stores we went into.

In a pre-operation meeting at a nearby Krispy Kreme (that pretty much felt like we were planning a bank robbery), we devised a brilliant plan to enter our targeted stores in three waves. First, two or three girls would enter a store and plant themselves near some workers without being too conspicuous. Next came the stereotype "operative" who was different depending on the store (i.e. the person who would look most out of place). And finally, a second round of "observers" as we called them would meander in to play extra sets of eyes and ears. It was the stereotype operative's job to wreak a little havoc - ask questions, seek help, simply exist - but it was the observers' job to mentally log everything and anything that was going on around them.

In all the weeks it took RBR to plan Operation: Anti-Discrimination, I only had one request:

"I want Hollister."

Meaning, of course, that I wanted to be the stereotype planted in the blasted place because I've heard too many horrific tales of discrimination and abuse not to want to check it out for myself. And going into that skinny paradise as a PLUS-SIZE WOMAN who's been the victim of understocked and sizist stores her entire life (and who also warrants capital letters to contain her fabulosity*), I felt like some kind of crusader for every girl out there who's been told her thighs were too big, her boobs were too small, or . . . well, just think up some misogynist crap that's been fed to you.

*Did I really say "fabulosity"?

If you want to know the truth I was quite happy with my get-up, but only because it was what I wear on a daily basis. Donning a slightly worn Dream Theater cap, Iron Maiden t-shirt (with "Best of the Beast" printed on the back in bold, red letters), old jeans, fuzzy striped socks, messy locks, and a mocking expression, I felt like a warrior geared up to face her demons.

Lorrie was a good partner in crime for
our first stop! I have more pictures of
The Girls to show in future posts :)

I was nervous up to the second we stepped inside the store, which was dimly-lit and smelled as if it had been fumigated with cologne, but thinking back, I don't know why I was so worked up. Maybe because I had never been in there? Because my brother and I have always made "snooty" comments when we pass it in the mall? Because I half-expected the place to look like some "beautiful peoples' nightclub" where I would be the freak attraction? I dunno.

Life Lesson #4,313: the Teenage Girl mind isn't always rational.

Anyway, I slithered into Hollister with my new friend Lorrie in tow (our established "preppy" stereotype). Our million-dollar idea was to act like we were trying to find a shirt for her mom. Now I know what you're thinking: a prep and a rocker joining forces? But I knew finding a shirt for me, a plus-size girl in an old Iron Maiden shirt, would be a stretch. And besides, stereotypes suck.

"So, Lorrie, you're looking for a shirt for your mom?"

"Yeah, she likes blue."

"What size?"

"Probably XL."

"Don't you mean 2XL?" Wink.

"Oh, yeah!"



*Hypnotic voice* I am a young, attractive,
white female. You want to be me . . . and
even though you'll never come close, Hollister
clothes might help. A bit. *Demon voice*
BUY THEM!

We searched for a tag that didn't say XS, S, or even M, but (unsurprisingly) came up empty-handed. Holding up those shirts that were purportedly medium made me feel either (a) that I was a size XXXXXXL by Hollister standards, or (b) that I had cast some wacky spell and everything was shrinking around me. The shirts were so small.

"I dunno Lorrie, I've never been in this store before" I said in my best acting voice, yet remaining entirely truthful, "they must have a plus-size section in the back somewhere."

By this time - with secret agents planted all around me, falling from the rafters even - I worked up the gumption to trot over to the counter to a wide-eyed, perfectly trimmed employee. She had pale skin (shock?) and curly brown hair, but I made a mental note that she probably still fit Hollister's "beautiful employee" requirement.

"Hi, we're trying to find a shirt for her mom . . . but I noticed the sizes only go up to Large."

"Yes . . . our largest size in women's clothing is 11."

Mock disappointment.

"Will you be getting a plus size section any time soon?" I asked, chuckling a bit and trying to seem personable. "It just seems funny to only go up to size 11 when the average person can't fit into that."



Blink, blink. I guess whatever the heck I said didn't compute. The girl looked at me - my senior by only a few years - and said she "wouldn't know the answer to that."

I thanked her for her time and left, muttering disappointments about the store to Lorrie as I shook my head like a reproving grandmother. I hadn't felt overtly discriminated, but one of the observers, Jenny, noticed that the oh-so-lively store clerk "grimaced" as I was walking away. When I asked Jenny what that meant she said "It was a why-would-you-ask-that sort of look."

Now, is that enough for me to convict Hollister of any sort of crime?

*Sigh* No. And I was so ready to sue any sucker who looked at me funny.

But that was only the beginning of the epically-titled Operation: Anti-Discrimination. We also went into Hot Topic, Torrid, Gamestop, Macy's, Nordstrom, Abercrombie - and I even stood up to annoying, holier-than-thou idiots at Spencers when I called one of their sexist shirts into question.

More about that later! So stay tuned!

_______________________________________________

*Santa, being the wily fellow he is, brought me The Purity Myth by Jessica Valenti! I mentioned the book in an earlier post but haven't had a chance to read it until now. It's pretty freaking amazing, considering I lapped up the first 80 pages in about twenty minutes. It's all about the ridiculosity of a juxtaposition women face each and every day: pressures to be sexy on one side (think: pornography, 15-year-old sex icons, padded bras for children), and pure on the other (think: crazy idiots who blame sex education for promiscuity and measure womens' worth by their hymens).

It just amazes me that people could be so closed-minded about sexuality, propagate an archetype in which girls (i.e. pretty, young, white girls) are only worth something if they're virgins, and find a way to blame feminism for virtually everything.

My eyes have been bulging like crazy reading the book, and I'll look up and begin to rant - but then I realize it's only my brother and his girlfriend there, and they don't appreciate a good fem-rant . . . *pouts*

P.S. If anybody's looking to get me an early Christmas present for next year, the next "Valenti gem" on my list is He's a Stud, She's a Slut: And 49 Other Double-Standards Every Woman Should Know!

Random Thoughts for a Friday Afternoon: Abortion, Diets, and Krispy Kreme Donuts

There have only been about two days in the past few weeks where I actually got some free time, so while I regret not writing for a while, I don't blame myself. After all, it's hard to write anything interesting (let alone coherent) when your eyes are about to fall out of your head from exhaustion. But anyway, you know when you get into one of those crazy "thinking" moods? I've been like that a lot lately, just thinking, thinking, thinking. Here are my random thoughts for a Friday afternoon:

Abortion. I realized the other day in an epiphany-kind-of-way what being pro-choice is really about. People make pro-choicers out to be inhuman baby-killers (and I'll admit, I would never want that stereotype on my head), but it's a lie. When a woman has an abortion it's not as if she just bops out of the clinic whistling "Singing In the Rain." Having an abortion would tear anybody up inside.

Pro-choicers don't celebrate the act of ending a baby's life, but they do respect women enough to allow them to make their own decisions about their own bodies. That's what we're celebrating: the fact that we are intelligent creatures capable of intelligent, rational thoughts. Why should I let some governor in [insert state here] dictate what I can and cannot do with my body?

I'm not sure if the statistic "77% of anti-abortion leaders are men. 100% of them will never be pregnant" is true, but if it is, dang. How can they make decisions about something they will never, ever experience for themselves?

Maybe if we did more to make abortions unnecessary in this country - like amp up sex education in schools; make contraception more accessible to at-risk couples; and make it easier for single, pregnant women to receive report (financial and emotional) - women wouldn't have to suffer so much.

Overall? Being pro-choice doesn't mean that you're anti-life.

Diets. I haven't really blogged about my weight loss struggles before, but I'm horrified to admit that I've gained back nearly three-fourths of the weight I spent nearly a year losing. I let stress and school get the better of me, and used that as a (lame) excuse to drown my sorrows in Oreos and cheesy enchiladas. Well, I hopped back on the weight loss bandwagon two days ago, and I'm feeling a load better. I'm approaching things differently this time, and believe it or not it's all because of what I read in a random Yahoo! article.

The article said that when women try to lose weight, we're way too hard on ourselves. Instead of "Oh wow, I lost a pound!" we tend to say "Aww man, I only lost a pound?"

Well, no more.

I'm going to start celebrating little successes. If I get it in my head that this is a short-term "diet," I'm going to crash and burn. It's way less pressure to think of this as a lifestyle change, something I can stick to from now on. I'm going to make good choices and drink lots of water, of course, but if we're having pizza one night - dammit, I'm having pizza.

If you want to get healthy and start tracking your food, check out Livestrong.com. Sign up to use one of its features called The Daily Plate - it's great!

For an A&F clothing ad,
something invariably seems
to be missing.

Operation: Anti-Discrimination. Okay, this doesn't have a ton to do with Krispy Kreme donuts (though my group and I will be enjoying them on the day of our "operation"). What is this "operation," you say? On December 18th the girls from Real Beauty Revolution and I will be going under-cover at a nearby mall as different stereotypes to see how people treat us. I'm completely stoked because I'll finally be facing my demon: Hollister.

Whenever my brother and I walk past Hollister we plug our noses and make "snooty" comments. I absolutely abhor the store.

As an overweight woman I'm really interested to see how they react to me, if at all. I'm going to wear sweatpants, a sweatshirt of some sort (I've got a lovely one with my brother's face on it!), a cheap-looking bag, and no makeup. I might pretend that I've never been in the store before, and innocently ask if they have my size...

A part of me hopes we won't experience discrimination in any of the stores we target, but a larger part - a biased, immature part - wants to bust some suckers.

Am I biased against stores that routinely judge and treat customers like crap (i.e. Hollister, A&F, Nordstrom)? Yes.

But that'll make the results that much more interesting when I post them on the 18th!

I'd Like To "Juice" Jose Canseco's Head

Hey everybody, I'd just like to make a disclaimer that because I'm back in school, I won't be able to post as frequently as I'd like to. (But don't blame me, blame the two hours of Calculus homework we're getting each night!) Anyway, here's my response to another article by Maureen Dowd called Where's the Road Beef?:

In this article by Maureen Dowd, we’re given a glimpse into the world of major league baseball via Jose Canseco’s Juiced, where behind the glitz, glam, and bobble-heads, America’s boys of summer are using terms like slump buster and road beef to describe women. What is a slump buster, you ask? “It could mean [a woman who is] big, or ugly, or a combination of both,” says Canseco, and it’s how some of our beloved hard-hitters are coping with a bad season. As former Chicago Cubs first baseman Mark Grace put it, they’ll find “the fattest, gnarliest chick” possible and (to put it lightly) use them.

I use toilet paper. I didn’t know it was acceptable to use human beings.

Dowd’s article isn’t exclusively about Canseco and friends; in the grand scheme of things it’s about archaic standards of beauty, and the stigmas overweight women face each and every day. As she points out, “TV is full of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ pairings, with fat, lazy husbands and foxy, impressive wives.” But do we ever acknowledge relationships between slender guys and larger women? No. We live in a society where women are judged by their looks and men for the size of their wallets, and heaven forbid we reveal the face of “real” women who don’t have money to shell out for liposuction, implants, or Botox - and who wouldn’t want those things, anyway.

This article hits home because I can relate to it. I’m sure a lot of women and young girls can relate to it. Feeling like an outcast, feeling like your worth is determined by your body . . . it’s an unfortunate, unavoidable reality. And even if Dowd doesn’t call us to do anything to change the mentalities of locker rooms everywhere, her last line deserves an Emmy: “One thing is for sure, though. Guys who look at fat women as ‘slump busters’ are fatheads.”

The (Big-Breasted) Curse of Women in Video Games

Video games. Sweet, succulent video games. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day . . .?

Um, sorry about that.

Though my gaming experience hardly compares to my brother’s (who I swear was playing Zelda: A Link to the Past in the womb), I still consider myself a full-fledged gamer, and a darn good one at that.

But what does it mean to be a gamer and a girl? "Teenage boy" and "video game fanatic" are often synonymous, but the same can't be said for someone like myself. In fact, in her article What Women Want, Aleah Tierney suggests that to be a girl and a gamer is to be "a stranger in a strange land . . . a male-created virtual space."

Unfortunately, I don’t think Tierney is that far off. According to We need more women in games, an article by blogger Jacob Aron, women represent nearly 38% of all gamers, but only 11% of game developers. But when you think about it, is it really shocking that more women aren’t lining up to work at places like Nintendo, Capcom, and Konami (just to name a few)? Childhood I-want-to-be-a-ballerina fantasies aside (hey, don’t look at me!), women are taught to be practical. *Puts on sarcastic tone* Why risk doing something so math- and science-oriented like developing video games when we should be flexing our natural abilities as helpers and nurturers?

Video game developing just doesn’t appeal to most women (sadly enough), and that’s probably why a majority of the game universe has been molded around puke-inducing male fantasies of macho, gun-totting heroes and exotic, large-breasted women.

Though they make up only 49% of the US population, research shows that 85% of all video game characters are male - and that figure rises to 90% for characters that players can actually control. Excluding race as a factor (which is another issue entirely), male characters in video games are as diverse as ever. They can be bulky-as-heck, gaunt, or average-looking. They can be triumphant heroes, shady villains, or your Average Joe off the street. They can be hunky, intelligent, sleazy, or badass - it doesn’t really matter. There’s no end to the possibilities of what male characters can be.

Expectations for female video game characters, however, are much more constricted. They're often forced to play the “helpless princess” role, giving a male lead the chance to flex his muscles and "save the day." Female characters are also constantly portrayed as meek, shy, submissive, innocent, naïve - the list goes on and on. I’ve even noticed that 4 times out of 5, fantasy-game-women are given roles as healers or sorceresses rather than sword-wielding warriors. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with having supernatural abilities (heck, I wouldn't mind having a few myself), but it makes me think back to the whole "women are supposed to be helpers" theory.

Helpers. Sidekicks. Servants?

Now, for those of you who don’t play video games, I hope you don’t think they’re all sexist piles of crap! On the contrary, there are plenty of awesome, strong women who hold their own against male counterparts (Samus Aran from Metroid and Jill Valentine from Resident Evil both come to mind). But I do have one gripe . . .

Women in video games are always, always, always inhumanly “beautiful.”

Whereas male characters can place anywhere on the scale of attractiveness from “purposefully repulsive” to “god-like," video game women always have to fall under the latter category. With physiques that make Barbie look average, these characters have impossibly long and slender legs; skinny waists (but wide hips); and breasts that mimic medium-sized watermelons. Just type in “women in video games” to Google Images and you’ll see what I mean!

What the heck? Do you think the people who created these - um - overly-endowed characters just sat down one day and said “so, how big do you think we can get these puppies"?

Because it seems pretty frivolous to me.

I’d say the body proportions of 90% of female video game characters are a huge insult to women in real-life. What is it, video-game-developer-who-lives-with-his-parents, we're not good enough for you?

Aleah Tierney wrote about her own frustrations when playing Tomb Raider for the first time. The game’s lead (Lara Croft) is often seen as a beacon of female empowerment, but Tierney didn’t exactly see things that way:

I couldn't wait to load and play Tomb Raider when it first came out, but when I saw Lara, I just couldn't take the game seriously. The giant twin pyramids mounted onto her chest look like something she could use to impale her enemies. In many ways her kick-butt presence is a triumph, but the designers' decision to sexualize her to the point of deformity angered me. I couldn't get past her proportions, so I put the game away. I'm waiting to see if Lara (or her designers) will evolve in future versions of the game.

I don’t think Lara’s changing anytime soon, pal. In fact, video games are becoming more and more sexualized as time goes on - and as kids (people in general, actually) are becoming de-sensitized to staggering levels of violence and sexualization in all areas of the media, I don’t see conditions improving for video game gals anytime soon.

It’s kind of funny, actually. I can play the bloodiest, goriest games ever - the kind with chainsaws, zombies, and flesh-eating dogs - and they don’t bother me a bit. Why? Because killing zombies is hardly something I’m going to pick up as an actual hobby (and I don’t foresee a People for Zombie Rights group anywhere in the near future, so I'm not offending anybody by takin' them out). But the gender stereotypes and hypersexualization in games? That affects us. And it sucks. It really, really sucks. Because no matter how kickass a female character is - like I said before - as soon as you type her name into Google Images you’re going to be bombarded with twenty pages of fan art of the woman flashing her (mutant) breasts. It's degrading.

So I’ll be sticking to my survival horror games, thank you very much, because zombies don’t care if you’re male or female - or whether or not you have gargantuan jugs - they’ll try to eat your brains either way :)

Are you a female gamer too, just looking for a little support? Check out this site!

Feminist Perspectives on Popular Movies: Heroine Content

Despite jokes like The Action Heroine’s Handbook, a guide that ridiculously suggests being able to “choke a man with your bare thighs” is the staple of any successful heroine, strong, kick-ass women are something to be celebrated in popular culture. But I’ll admit, it’d be a lot easier if they weren’t always overshadowed by their male counterparts. Seriously, we’re so used to brawny, fearless, save-the-day heroes - that female characters are often shoved on a back burner, occupying a variety of stereotypical roles that range from nagging mothers, to helpless victims, to my personal favorite (i.e. the bane of my existence) prostitutes. Now I’m not saying that women are always typecast this way, but you have to admit there seem to be a lot more Supermen on TV and in the movies than Superwomen. And even when fictional female characters do exhibit qualities that make us glow with pride - bravery, for example - they’re not always given the credit, or even the attention, they deserve.

Well, a friend of mine turned me on to a site earlier today that I simply have to share, and with the awesome tagline “feminist and anti-racist thoughts on women kicking ass,” how can you go wrong?

Heroine Content is a site by women, for women. Basically, it’s a creative center where insightful authoresses analyze movies (and, to a lesser extent, books and TV shows) through feminist and humanist perspectives. And in case you’re one of those people who think activists stick to watching old, stuffy nature documentaries - think again! This site is for the modern woman, and even if we like our rom-coms and tear-jerkers from time to time, we also like sci-fi, horror, and heart-pounding action.

Not only are the women who contribute to this site witty, they’re just plain thoughtful. They seem like the type of gals you’d want to have coffee with (or in my case, hot chocolate), and don’t try to over-complicate things or use flamboyant language just to seem legit. They’re down-to-earth and honest, but at the same time have no problem calling out sexist crap when they see it.

It’s just fascinating to read what these women have to say because they actually give women in movies - the ones who are usually overlooked or written off as “lesser characters” - the attention they deserve. The review that really spoke to me (oddly enough) was for The Book of Eli, a movie I saw about a month ago with my parents. Skye (the reviewer) mentioned how Peter Howell of Toronto’s thestar.com called the two female leads “hot hookers”; if you’ve seen the movie you’ll understand why that is complete and utter bull . . . dog. These women live in a post-apocalyptic world and are constantly threatened with sexual violence. “So,” Skye writes, “Peter Howell calls them ‘hot hookers.’ Gee, I wonder what he thinks of non-fictional women who are in abusive relationships, or who are forced into prostitution by threat of violence?”

Ssssss . . . burn.

Heroine Content is a cool site (cool enough to earn a spot on my Favorites taskbar!) and definitely worth a look-see or two. Heck, it might even save you a disappointing trip to the movie theater!

Drawing Strength From Going Against the "Beauty Grain"

Man, I'm exhausted. My inner-feminist got a good workout this week (even if I didn’t).

First it was watching an incredibly stereotypical episode of Disaster Date (see Cram another feminist stereotype in there, why don't you?), then it was listening to a bitter Youtubian trying to tell me why "women have it so easy in life," and then kindly reminding him why that wasn’t necessarily true. And now, go figure, a Facebook comment has got my vigilante juices flowing.

You see, I was making my usual rounds on Facebook (scrolling down the homepage to see if anything juicy was going on) when I noticed one of my classmates talking about possibly getting her hair cut. Now don't get me wrong, her hair is absolutely gorgeous - long, shiny, and black, the kind wig-makers would kill for - but I'm a huge fan of short cuts (no pun intended). Naturally, I chimed in with a good pat on the back and “atta girl,” but it wasn’t long before a couple of boys jumped in and disagreed, saying short hair most certainly wouldn’t be cute.

Miffed, I asked: "What's wrong with short hair?"

Nothing, apparently. Except the girl in question "wouldn't look as cute" with it.

"Well, it's not your decision to make!” . . . is what I would’ve said, if I weren’t such a civil person. (Facebook is no place for a fight. Back alleys are so much better . . .)

But seriously, this isn't a stand-alone case. Whenever a girl talks about getting her hair cut on Facebook (yeah, teens have too much time on their hands), it's always girls who show support, and guys who seem to have massive coronaries. I know it's a biological fact that men are attracted to women with long hair (you know, because it signifies "youth" and "fertility," stuff 16-year-olds really care about), but it's the 21st century for cryin' out loud! If we want to get our hair cut short - or do anything that contradicts outdated standards of beauty - what's stopping us?

In fact (and yes, this is going to sound really cheesy), I'm starting to realize the power one can draw from going against the grain. The beauty grain, that is.


For starters, my hair is short. Not a big deal, right? But you're talking to a girl who only had about three trips to Super Cuts in her entire childhood, and who had waist-length hair until the 10th grade. But I've never felt more alive since adopting a short do, and I couldn't care less what type of hair boys prefer. Because short hair - that I can tease mercilessly, that hardly needs brushing, and that creates the most awesome bed-head ever - makes me feel light, free, confident, and fierce.


Something else I've taken for granted until recently is natural beauty. I’ve always seen it in others, but when it comes to myself I’ve always felt the need to hide my imperfections (especially at school) with healthy doses of foundation and mascara. I can even remember the one time I didn't wear makeup to school (because I was so gosh-darned tired), and I ended up feeling self-conscious all day. It sucked big time.


But these days, seeing as I can’t get my license for another six months and my parents both work, I’ve been stuck at home all summer. In other words: no makeup.

Have you ever really looked at yourself in the mirror? I mean really looked?


Astrid Alaud posed a similar question when she asked if we’ve ever actually “tasted” a carrot. Not just ate it, but tasted it. She suggested that “we can’t taste the beauty and energy of the earth in a Twinkie,” and similarly, I think there’s no better time to marvel at the beauty of humanity as when we’re completely "natural."


I know (now) that when I look in the mirror it doesn’t matter whether my eyelashes are long and luscious or straight and stubby, if my complexion is perfectly tanned or perfectly pink, or if my blemishes are covered or just there. It really doesn’t matter. But when I take a minute to actually study myself, feel my face in my hands, or jack it up into an uninhibited smile, I see a girl who’s funny, and dorky, and smart, and corny, and above all passionate about a lot of things. And that’s when I think I know . . . scratch that, that's when I know what magazines are missing these days. Not just me, but us. The real us.


All I’m saying is: don’t let other people tell you how to live your life. Don’t shy away from getting your hair cut (or try to grow it out!) just because you think boys will like it, and don’t wear makeup because that’s what girls are “supposed” to do. Glam yourself up as much (or as little) as you want because it makes you happy, because it makes you confident, and because it makes you want to take on the world. Look in the mirror - really look - and be proud to see what you see.


Despite what Dallas Cowboy cheerleader and/or Hollister employee recruiters would have you believe, there is no single definition of “beauty.” So let's make up our own rules, okay?

Cram another feminist stereotype in there, why don't you?

This is funny. No, really, you're going to laugh. You see, I was all geared up to write an article about "female role models in popular culture" when a chance encounter gave me some new material - and pissed off energy - to work with. It's a little after 11:00 AM on a lazy summer Tuesday, and with nothing better to do (that's a lie), I was flipping through the Tube when MTV's Disaster Date caught my attention. Funny how things work out.

If you're not familiar with the show's premise (as if the title isn't descriptive enough), evil people set up their BFFs on fake dates with actors who are programmed to behave as sloppily, loudly, rudely, [insert negative adjective here] as possible. Basically, they taper their act according to what their "victim" despises the most. So if Jimmy hates a messy eater, you can bet his date is going to be shoving nachos down her throat. Or if Suzy hates nerds, her date is going to be a Level 27 Dragonlord who spends his spare time collecting Pokemon cards. In other words, stereotypes to the max.

Well, meet our latest Disaster Date victim, Antoine: a "player" who hates "girls with hairy legs, girls who boss him around, and most of all, feminists."

That's okay, take a minute. Just let it all sink in.

Now if you're not sufficiently pissed, meet Antoine's date Crystal, a "strict feminist who's gonna show Antoine why women are the superior gender."

Who knew that in a five-minute span MTV could cram every feminist stereotype into one neat little package? From the misconception that feminists have hairy legs to the plain fact that they're "whiny bitches" who make men their whipping boys, Crystal portrays it all with the elegance of a B-movie actress. Actually, that's being generous.

But the sad part about this whole thing isn't that we're actually spending chunks of our lives watching crap like Disaster Date (and other MTV treasures like The Real World or The Hills), these "dates" are supposed to be a window to the types of people we, as a society, disapprove of. We hate slobs, people who chew with their mouths open, and public burpers. We hate over-emotional, whiny girls and dead-beat guys, over-bearing perfectionists and religious fanatics. And apparently, we also hate feminists.

It just makes me so angry. Popular culture does a lot to dictate how people view certain issues, and when shows like these make it seem like "hip, young people dislike feminists," how do you think the Average Joe (or Jane) - who doesn't know a single thing about feminist ideology - is going to react? Shame on you, MTV.

But you're not the only culprit.

The general consensus in the media seems to be the "I'm not a feminist, but" theory. And if it's not that, it's the "everybody hates feminists" message that I addressed before. I mean, thinking back I've never really heard a television character come right out and say they were a feminist. Sure, there are a few strong female characters that we can respect (see my article TV Women Who Break the Mold), but do we ever hear the f-word? Nooooooo . . .

Well, let's do something. Even if it's a little step, even if it seems totally pointless, it's going to make me (and hopefully you) feel a whole heckuvalot better. Here's the link to the episode of Disaster Date we've been talking about. There's a comment box on the bottom of the page. Are you thinking what I'm thinking? I say we tell MTV exactly how we feel about their episode.

Here's the link to the blasted episode. Now, attack!

Update (7.28.2010): Check out this awesome comment from Rach, a fellow blogger! She really busted MTV in the you-know-what!

Feminists are all kinds of people--men, women, gay, lesbian, bi, straight,..okay you get the idea. We're all different! I don't understand why feminists have to be stereotyped as man-hating, non-shaving, "reverse sexist", possibly lesbian women. While there are a few radical feminists who DO exhibit these traits, they're in the minority. Feminism isn't about hating men or wanting women to be the "dominant sex"; feminism is about wanting equal rights for everyone, everywhere. By producing this episode, MTV is perpetuating an unfair stereotype attached to a very important movement. In fact, this whole show is about mocking those who do not fit society's expectations...seriously, can't we all just grow up?