Which part of Victoria’s Secret do I disdain most deeply? There’s the catalog! The fashion show. The website. The storefronts. All with their models with exactly the same body type — not the body type of most healthy women on the planet. It’s incredibly awful for girls’ development and women’s mental health, and harmful for… Continue Reading →
We’re pretty excited over here at About-Face to share a brand-new video, “Digging In with About-Face”, where badass women sit on a couch, eat, laugh, and rant and rave about current media and culture issues.
So what do we think about this whole Serena Williams thing? Was she justified to be upset or was she being a sore loser? First, she wore a special “catsuit” created to prevent blood clots (which had almost killed her) in the French Open. This was rejected by French Open officials, who started “One must… Continue Reading →
Here in New Zealand we are still *sigh* perpetuating the old, irritating double standard in advertising, and it’s tiring beyond belief. We continue to have a culture where we champion the “typical Kiwi Bloke”, who is “every man” and his mates, affectionately championed for his ordinariness and always welcomed into the brotherhood. Men in NZ… Continue Reading →
I used to peruse the makeup section every time I entered a pharmacy. The rows of products would stare at me when I walked in, glinting and sparkling, until I would give in and buy an unneeded new mascara or my bajillionth bottle of nail polish. I didn’t even wear makeup most days! But I… Continue Reading →
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 →
The day I fell in love with Amy Schumer, I was preparing my Intro to Psychology lecture about gender. I was searching YouTube for clever clips that I could use, when I came across a video called “Inside Amy Schumer – Last F**kable Day”. The main character, Amy Schumer, comes across her “heroes” — Julia Louis-Dreyfus,… Continue Reading →
The 67th primetime Emmy awards happened this past Sunday, and while I opted out of watching it live in favor of the premier of the last season of Downton Abbey (many tears!), a tweet that night from CNN contributor Rachel Sklar was cause enough for me to drop my cup of tea back into its saucer and… Continue Reading →
Today, more than ever, sex is rampant in marketing, bolstered by the notion that “Sex Sells”, but a new study reveals that this may not in fact be the case. Since the beginning of modern advertising, sexual themes and imagery have been used to sell products. Some of the earliest sexual ads were created by tobacco companies in the late 1800s…. Continue Reading →
