Is anyone else fed up with having to be nice and sweet to be accepted as a feminist? Anyone else tired of wrapping their feminist message in smiles and politeness? Well I am, and Emma Watson’s speech at the special event for the United Nation’s HeForShe campaign just confirmed my frustration. WHY OH WHY is it so… Continue Reading →
Free The Nipple does more for women’s bodies than any push-up ever could
A half-moon shaped incision was made and my nipple was flipped open. Then a slice of my breast was cut out, containing a tumor. It had to happen. The tumor was uncomfortable, at times painful, and without taking the whole thing out and analyzing it, cancer couldn’t completely be ruled out. I still think it’s… Continue Reading →
Stop making movies about douchebags
Let me introduce The Douche Test! It is a gender portrayal test for movies, to use alongside The Bechdel Test. The steps are simple, just ask yourself: 1) Does the male lead character not threaten, objectify, make fun of, or in any other way mistreat a woman during the movie? 2) Does the lead character… Continue Reading →
I cringe every time a woman is called a “girl”
We hear it all the time in TV and movies: Women being called “girls”. Someone saying, “Hey, you should meet this girl” while referring to someone in their 30s, or, “The girls are here” about women in their late 20s. It’s happening so often that it’s even put in the titles of TV shows without… Continue Reading →
How to love TV and movies with a media industry that doesn’t love you
Watching movies and TV shows is my number-one hobby. I used to review movies for a newspaper, and even if it was in so many ways a dream job (having a movie theatre to yourself is pretty cool), I often headed back to the news desk with a racing heart and sentences pounding in my… Continue Reading →
Look how sneaky Old Navy’s advertising can be
I couldn’t believe what I saw on a bus ride the other day. From my seat, I noticed Old Navy’s storefront windows in downtown San Francisco covered with the big and screaming tagline ,“Here’s the SKINNY”, alongside a picture of a girl wearing the impossibly constricting “skinny” jeans. An online ad for the same pants looks… Continue Reading →
The Camp Gyno high-fives our periods
Menstruation demonstration! The Camp Gyno video shows that it can be simple to make the monthly “red badge of courage” seem pretty cool and laid back – even fun! I can’t decide what my favorite part of the video is, but it comes down to one of these two: when The Camp Gyno casually uses… Continue Reading →
Hand a girl a camera and the sexist media industry can start looking for the exit
Being critical towards media messages is vital, but at some point, we need to actually produce new material for when (not if) the sexist TV shows, movies, and commercials finally dissolve. This is the rocking attitude behind Camp Reel Stories. Camp Reel Stories is a media camp for teenage girls located in Oakland, California, where… Continue Reading →