Passionate activists! Quiet behind-the-scenes helpers! Education-minded world changers! Join About-Face in getting the word out about how young women are affected by mainstream media!
Next meetup: Wednesday, January 14, 2009, 7-9pm
Check out our Volunteer page for more details!
- J.B.
Add comment December 4th, 2008
Here’s an incredible short film by Andy Huang about how hard we try to be something we’re not, and never will be. 4 minutes. Very worth your time, and safe for work.
http://www.dailymotion.com/videox1km3dOne question: I can’t figure out what’s happening at the end. Why is “she” trying so hard to get to the TV? What do you think is going on?
-J.B.
2 comments October 29th, 2008
High heels for babies? We don't think so.
My mother has always called high heels “modern-day foot binding.” Foot binding was a practice in China to wrap, bend, and even break women and girls’ feet to keep them small so the feet would be perceived as more appealing. The damage was extensive, and many women were permanently disabled. Although the damage is less severe with high heels, the principles are the same.
Now a company called Heelarious is selling high heels for infants 0 to 6 months. This product is marketed as a joke but there are very real implications and consequences of having these shoes in the world. In addition to grooming babies into the painful practice of wearing these types of shoes, creating versions of very adult products for very young girls is very problematic. Women’s high heel shoes are made to accentuate certain aspects of women’s bodies to make them “sexier” (i.e. flex one’s calf; make one’s butt stick out, etc.). Do we really want to sexualize our 4-month-old babies with these shoes? The animal prints the baby shoes come in only exacerbate the sexual connotations.
Want to take action? You can e-mail the company at sales@heelarious.com, or call them at (425) 646-HEEL. You can also contact Lindsay Lefler, the Vice President of Corporate Communications at 913 S. Mansfield Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036, or at lindsay@distinctiveassets.net. There is also a way to e-mail through the website.
-A.Y.
1 comment October 27th, 2008
I have never been a fan of the ridiculous Axe Vice Body Spray commercials, the ones where women uncontrollably become porn-star-esque when in the presence of a man wearing the Axe scent. You know, the ones where everything is wrapped up in the male ego. My issues with the campaign were only exacerbated when I saw the “Naughty to Nice Program” viral video on the Axe web site.
This “comical” take on the old television show Scared Straight is offensive to me on many different levels. As with the Axe commercials we see on TV, the women in this video have no sexual motivation of their own. No matter who the guy is, if he is wearing the right scent (i.e. Axe) it will literally drive women sexually crazy. The underlying message being that “women don’t really have preferences, and if they do they are so easily manipulated that it doesn’t matter.” Because the women don’t have a sexual point of view in this video, they are, yet again, merely sexual objects in existence for male pleasure.
This video also very clearly highlights the line between what is and what is not acceptable behavior for women. The clip starts out with a news anchor stating that “squeaky clean nice girls [are] turning into lust-crazed vixens.” This statement, and many others like them in the video, informs the viewer that women can’t be “nice” and simultaneously have sexual feelings. What era are we living in? Why can’t we acknowledge that people are multifaceted and that a woman can both bake cookies and have sexual desires at the same time!? Have we as a society still not realized that humans are sexual beings? I guess not.
Lastly, the part that truly got under my skin is how the imprisoned women were portrayed. They were locked up for having a sexual appetite, and made to appear less attractive than the cashmere-clad girls coming in to be rid of their “wild ways.“ The women behind bars shown in the yard were significantly older, didn’t have the “ideal” body type, and were loud and abrasive. All characteristics considered unattractive for women. (I guess that is where the “humor” comes in this commercial–the idea of “unattractive” women being in prison for their sexual aggression.) Though these women are shown in the prison yard, they are not the ones who have the major speaking parts. Thinner, younger-looking, and all-around softer women — you know, characteristics we are repeatedly told are attractive – play the hard criminals in the Scared Straight scenario.
This video has many layers and just as many things to be offended by. I can not stand the images and messages put out into the world by Axe.
Take action! Start by sending Axe an e-mail by clicking here. Another way to take action is to talk about why these kinds of images are harmful. While helping others to understand these harmful messages, you can encourage them to stop spending their money on products like Axe that use degrading images of women to try and sell their products.
-A.Y.
Add comment October 24th, 2008
According to news reports, CosmoGirl is officially being taken off the newsstands beginning January 2009! I don’t know about you, but I never really understood the difference between CosmoGirl, ElleGirl, Teen Vogue, Teen People, and Seventeen. Some may be more fashion-focused than others, but in the end, don’t they all share the same mindless content?? “How to make him want you” “What to wear to prom” “How to lose your muffin top,” followed by the ever-so-contradictory “Be proud of those curves.” How about the publishers of these magazines save their time and oh-so-creative brainstorming sessions and compile all the contents into one magazine and call it VoguElleTeen (sounds like Ovaltine!)?
Then, they should take the money they saved and invest in creating a magazine that pertains to the other 99% of teenage girls out there. You know, like discussing issues around how to choose a great college program, volunteering abroad, and saving up to travel instead of buying a whole new wardrobe again! Embracing your individual style, teaching your best friend how to avoid negative media messages, etc. The tone would specifically be about empowering the readers and in no way would she see questions like “What does he think?” Because in all reality, her potential goes beyond how she should appear, act, and think for others, so why bother covering that in a magazine that is solely for her?
We want to hear your ideas, and if you are a teenager, tell us what you want to see covered in teen magazines. Please enter in the comment box below.
–A.J.
1 comment October 14th, 2008
