Part 2: Myth versus reality In my last post, I laid out how girls* are still objectified, judged, and put in boxes by our toxic media culture. We looked at the reasons that social media encourages girls to judge themselves and each other harshly. All of this points to an urgent need for media education… Continue Reading →
Why teach media literacy to teen girls? (part 1)
The first time I saw “Killing Us Softly,” Dr. Jean Kilbourne’s take-down of the toxic, dehumanizing culture that surrounds women in advertising, it was 1996. I was a naïve sophomore at the University of Michigan who had been raised, above all, to be pretty – with Victoria’s Secret catalog pages and Self magazine workouts pinned… Continue Reading →
Victoria’s Secret, you are going down (and I like it)
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 →
Why Shrill’s body positivity comes with a bite
Oh Shrill, how we love thee! This week, we watched all 6 episodes, and this show earned its spot in our Gallery of Winners for its awesome, real body positivity — with a funny, sharp attitude. Read more in our Gallery of Winners and contact the makers of Shrill to tell them you want more!
The “Good Old Kiwi Bloke” — do you recognize him in your country?
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 →
The uncontrollable cost of beauty
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 →
What the #ToyLikeMe campaign can teach us about the body acceptance movement
Toys enable kids to explore and reflect on the world around them, which is why it’s so important that they identify with their dolls and action figures, but why is that so often not the case? The #ToyLikeMe social media campaign began with Rebecca Atkinson, Karen Newell, and Melissa Mostyn, three mothers from the UK who realized how rarely toymakers… Continue Reading →
Would you really want to keep up with Kylie Jenner?
Last week on Cosmopolitan.com, assistant fashion and beauty editor Brooke Shunatona published an article in which she chronicled living like Kylie Jenner for a week (because who else would a successful, apparently functional adult want to live like?). After a week dealing with extraordinarily long nails, walking in extraordinarily high heels, and wearing an extraordinarily painful waist trainer that resembles… Continue Reading →
The day I fell in love with Amy Schumer
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 →