Here’s something I find disturbing: The cover of April’s Women’s Health magazine. Here are some of their cover stories: “20 Easy Ways to Look Hot Now”; “Drop 5 Pounds-Eat Your Way to a Smaller Size”; “You’ll Own Spring in the Coolest Shoes, Bags, Jewelry, and More”; “The Single Best Anti-Ager Most Women Skip”; “Working Out… Continue Reading →
Two reasons why the princess rap meme isn’t really that funny
Are they blowing up your newsfeeds these days, too? Those two-minute vignettes that string together hilarious rhymes while perpetuating horrible stereotypes of girls and women? Yeah, those. So far, there’s Snow White vs. Elsa (with 28 million+ views) and, more recently, Cinderella vs. Belle. [media url=”youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeZXQf77hhk/A&W=415″] Despite their sassy tone (and Sarah Michelle Gellar’s funny… Continue Reading →
All-natural or all-sexist? Carl’s Jr. does it again
Why go all-natural? Carl’s Jr.’s latest burger commercial can tell you. “I love going all natural. It just makes me feel better,” says a voluptuous blond woman wearing little more than…well…anything. This woman, who has hobbies, goals, dreams, and a personality that we know nothing about, is the spokesperson for the new All-Natural Burger at… Continue Reading →
Advertising and porn: Why can’t we tell the difference?
What is porn, anyway? Is this porn? Is this? How about this? How do you know? It’s been said that porn is hard to define, but “you know it when you see it.” So what do we see when we see porn? Documentary filmmaker Rashida Jones… Continue Reading →
“Era of the Big Booty”? No thanks.
I’m not a prude, and I don’t like to judge other women’s personal choices. But I do care an awful lot about how women are portrayed (and portray themselves!) in the media. We’re now averaging 13.6 hours of media consumption per person per day, which means the stories we see played out in the media… Continue Reading →
Why the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover brought me to tears
Why did the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover bring me to tears? (Hint: It had nothing to do with wanting to look like the model.) It was because I have no idea how I’m going to explain the image to my two sons (ages six and eight), who love sports and are about to be… Continue Reading →
Great Super Bowl for women and girls, right? Wrong.
After so many years of incredibly degrading, sexist, and sexualized ads, the ways women were represented in this year’s Super Bowl commercials, overall, were much less problematic and insulting. It sure seems like advertisers have been listening to what gender equity activists have been saying for many years. So this is great. Sexism in the Super… Continue Reading →
We’re getting Wonder Woman!
In my last post, I bemoaned the lack of a Wonder Woman movie – but it seems I spoke too soon. DC has announced that they will release a Wonder Woman movie in 2017. Yay! Not to be outdone, Marvel followed with an announcement of a female Captain Marvel movie for 2018. And Sony’s female… 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 →