Ellen Degeneres has a new line of girls’ clothes at Gap Kids, and it looks pretty great, but “gender neutral” it’s not. The Gap Kids website says that they are “dedicated to supporting girls just as they are, whether they skateboard or dance, wear dresses or jeans.” The clothes feature slogans like “Be your own… Continue Reading →
Nicki Minaj: so much more than her body
Nicki Minaj’s body is (regrettably) the media’s sole focus whenever she’s in the spotlight, but an ABC family sitcom based on her family’s immigration from Trinidad in the early 1990s is about to change all of that. Young Nicki, written by Kate Angelo and produced by Minaj herself, will focus on Minaj’s life growing up in Queens, New York,… Continue Reading →
You’re allowed to get married if you’re fat
Being in my late 20s, I’ve spent a lot of time in the last few years going to weddings, including the weddings of a lot of my closest friends. I’ve watched as they stressed out about their extended families and worried about what music to play; I’ve talked with them as they picked dresses and… Continue Reading →
How to give everybody a bikini body
As a kid, I loved going to the pool, the ocean, really any swimmable body of water. I was an expert swimmer and an even better mermaid. Every summer, my older sisters and I would throw seaweed over our bodies, search for the best, most shimmery mussel shells, and dive into the very cold, salty,… Continue Reading →
5 signs you were born to be an About-Face blogger
I know what you’re thinking: The About-Face blog is so utterly fabulous, it must be written exclusively by mythical blogging creatures and media-literacy gods. Not true! Though it may seem like mere mortals are incapable of writing the glorious content we publish two times a week on our site, I’m here to tell you that our… Continue Reading →
In defense of the “before” girl
In some ways, I look like the “before” girl in romantic comedies. You know, the one with the frizzy hair and the chunky glasses? If only I would straighten my hair and take off my glasses, then I, too, could be beautiful! At least, so says romantic comedy logic. As Rachel Paige at Hello Giggles… Continue Reading →
Lesbians are girls, too: Why no one’s immune to media
I have a superpower. I am immune to the power of media. Yes, you heard me correctly. Bring on your Victoria’s Secret Fashion Shows and Hardee’s ads and watch their influence fall harmlessly away from me. For as a lesbian, I “do not care about the standards of beauty created for me by society.” Wait…what?… Continue Reading →
You are not a number: How scales can become large-scale problems
How would you react if you saw the number on your scale go up five pounds or down five pounds? It has become common for people to react to minor weight fluctuations with extreme measures (i.e. “I gain five pounds, and I go on a fast.” or “I lose five pounds, and I eat way… 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 →