Thanks to the advent of social media, we live in a culture where it’s easier than ever to share parts of our lives with others. That’s great news for the body-positive movement, which has started using the Twitter hashtag #ThighReading as a way to celebrate realistic, unaltered depictions of women’s bodies. This trend began after a Twitter user… Continue Reading →
The false empowerment of naked dresses
In May 2015, I wrote a blog for About-Face about Taylor Swift’s recently-released video for “Bad Blood.” In the post, I argued that the scantily clad women in the video were “devalued from being strong warriors to being traditionally sexy females with bodies that exist to be objectified.” I posted it to my personal social media pages, and… Continue Reading →
Same ol’ formula continues in movies
I have basically stopped watching movies. I can’t bring myself to watch more than about two minutes of any movie before the steam inside my head has risen to the point where I need to leave the room or it will burst out, whistling like a kettle. Having observed the film industry for the best part… Continue Reading →
“She’s so beautiful!”: The sexist comment that nobody else noticed
Recently, I was sitting in a room full of people, listening as recent graduates of a medical residency program were congratulated while their photos were shown on a screen in front of the room. When one woman’s photograph came up on the screen, the presenter read the following note from the woman’s family: “To our daughter,… Continue Reading →
Media proves what we’ve known all along: It’s easy to be trans!
(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article contains extreme instances of sarcasm and satire.) Trans awareness is on the rise, especially now that a member of the Kardashian clan has publicly come out to the world as transgender. This heightened exposure of transgender individuals brings attention to the trans community, and since mainstream media is known to portray topics so… Continue Reading →
Hot Girls Wanted!
Imagine this: You’re scrolling through your Instagram feed, looking at pictures of nana-icecream, puppies, and Taylor Swift’s most recent cute outfit when you’re hit with a naked breast attached to a famous model in a sexy pose on a sofa. This is what our world, our society, and our culture are like today. The overly sexualized… Continue Reading →
Fury Road? More Like Furiosa Road!
I went to the movies over Memorial Day, and now all I can think about is Mad Max, Mad Max, MAD MAX! That is, of course, only the title of the movie. Because if I was going to jump up and down excitedly screaming the name of the main character, I would be saying, “FURIOSA!”… Continue Reading →
Just “Bad Blood,” or bad body image?
[media url=”youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo/A&W=415″] Nude bodices, come-hither poses, and full body scans of a barely clothed body: Taylor Swift’s latest video, “Bad Blood,” is the culmination of her sexual evolution, which we began to see with the release of her album 1989 in 2014. Sexual, or at least sensual, lyrics trickle through the album (“his hands are… Continue Reading →
Tina Fey and the bare truth (about shapewear)
The other night, actress/comedian Tina Fey stripped down to her underwear on The Late Show with David Letterman. Ostensibly, it was to “honor” the talk show host ahead of his imminent retirement. But what Fey really did was show the whole world just what it takes for some women to wear a form-fitting dress and… Continue Reading →