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 →
App Camp For Girls: building confidence and iPhone apps
App Camp for Girls is redefining the common image of a software developer. Step aside, guys. The new faces of software development are middle school girls. And the future will look a lot less typical. Summer camp here is less crafts and s’mores, more design interfaces and Xcode. Instructed and mentored by successful female designers… Continue Reading →
Fund this Kickstarter project! Slut: A Documentary Film
“i love u also i want u to let me squeeze ur boobs.” Another quote from Emily Lindin’s The UnSlut Project reels us in. We covered this project in early May, but just to bring you up to speed: Emily was the sixth grade “slut.” She kept a diary at that time, and decided to… Continue Reading →
The BodyCon competition encourages advertisements that subvert the “ideal” body
The Butterfly Foundation in Sydney, Australia, a charity that supports people with eating disorders and negative body image, has created a new video competition that aims to expose the media’s representation of beauty. “The Body Con” is a competition encouraging entrants to “create a 30 second advertisement that confronts the belief that being in control… Continue Reading →
Fabulously fat: The Adipositivity Project
Scrolling through the news on my phone the other day, a headline caught my eye, “Turning the Lens on Fat Shaming.” Given the unusual title, I was intrigued; what was this story about? The link led to a video highlighting The Adipositivity Project, a grass roots initiative started by two photographers, Substantia Jones and Haley… Continue Reading →
Menstruation: it’s only as big a deal as you make it
Have you ever wondered what sex ed might have been like for your grandparents? If you have, check out this 1946 video – made by Disney – called “The Story of Menstruation.” At first, all I could see were the ways in which it is outdated and incomplete. It debunks taboos that are completely alien… Continue Reading →
“Ugliness” is only skin deep
A few weeks ago, I came across a clip on YouTube that made me pause and reconsider everything I’d ever thought about “beauty.” Up until then, I found good looks quite admirable. I reveled in the relief of watching TV shows where people morphed into creatures that more closely fit society’s definition of “pretty”. I… Continue Reading →
Lean In and keep the conversation going
I know I’m a little late to the Lean In conversation but luckily the conversation has not stopped since the publication of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In in March 2013. Hitting New York Times’ bestseller list and selling more than 600,000 copies in three months is no small accomplishment. Sandberg received a lot of mixed responses… Continue Reading →
The “Nu” image of woman
Editor’s note: Images contain nudity, potentially NSFW. The Nu Project is a series of photographs that exposes the great diversity of women’s bodies. Nude, in their homes, and happy, each woman photographed exudes an infectious sort of confidence, a silent declaration: “Here I am! This is simply how I am.” The photographer, Matt Blum, began… Continue Reading →