Recently in Media Category

So I was listening to the radio a little earlier when they announced that Katy Perry, singer of hit songs "I Kissed A Girl" and "Hot N' Cold" (I think) will be preforming on YouTube, for millons. Let me remind you that these are the people we can't reach when we sit in their class rooms and define words like acceptance, abuse, empowerment and gender. It begs me to wonder who is paying for her to come on one of the world's most effective world wide information sharing systems to pump her over defined gender sterotypes.

"I kissed a girl and I liked it" sounds like oh, maybe that could be a good song to help create awareness and foster an welcoming for the lesbian community. But then it switches and you hear something about how it's okay because she has a boyfriend and you start to realize, hmph... never mind, no one's ever going to be on my side and get that much airtime.

Then her next single hits the airwaves and in her smooth voice you hear the words "you change your mind like a girl changes clothes" well, if that hasn't already sent you spiraling.. you find out she's getting free advertising on YouTube. Marvelous.

My question; who's paying for this? Who is using her full, lullaby perfected voice to undo all of our progress? Because, it is starting to look like one hell of an effective tool.

Ever since a friend mentioned this to me it has bugged me, but recently I have finally gotten around to looking at this
People take pictures of strangers walking around minding their own business and post it to this website so people can judge their fashion or more often, their bodies. This makes me nervous when I go out in public, I wonder if someone is taking a picture of me without my permission and putting it online. What do you all think of this?

A local club comes out with these advertisements about once a week. They end up all over our school and tucked under the windshield wipers of all of the cars.

This gives new (and terrifying) meaning to supporting our troops.

...I never go to the club without my boa of ammo.

Liquid Ice...Liquid Fail.

After her husband became the first black president of the US on Nov. 4, Michelle Obama made "the power statement of her political career" earlier this week when she... wore a red dress to the White House. What's more, that statement was apparently that she is "powerful but not threatening."

Yeah, they went there.

It's probably true that at this time, in this campaign, Barack Obama winning the presidency was the most important goal. And the article does pay lip service to the fact that double standards that make it necessary to "soften" smart (and black, but they don't say that ) women are unfair.

But if that's so, then why does this article claim that making "The Dress her uniform" is the most important message we've gotten from her? Why is her "power statement" supposedly that she is "too feminine" and "sexy" to be "sitting in on cabinet meetings"? That's not power, sounds more like subordination.

Michelle Obama has made, and will continue to make, incredibly powerful and important statements. And they have nothing to do with dresses or being "too feminine" to do anything.

As I perused the CNN headlines with my morning tea I came across this title-
"My REAL life as a call girl."

Intrigued and thinking perhaps here was a counterpoint to the glamorous portrayals of prostitutes found on TV I decided to take a peek. This heading caught my eye right away, half-way down the page- "Victims or not?" Seeing red I started to read CNN's attempt at a fair and balanced discussion of the sex work industry and the women in it. What I found was a half-hearted attempt at discussing the harsh and complicated reality of sex work amidst a lot of talk of the celebrity call girls and their fabulous lives. Perhaps others on this site have different views, but it just really escapes me how this is even a question. Do you see a lot of privileged white men with all opportunities available to them taking the "easy way out" and turning to sex work to pay the bills? Because you know, its so self-affirming and sensual and in no way degrading or psychologically damaging. This issue is very personal to me due to the prostitution ring that frequents my Boston neighborhood and the time I have spent talking to these women (a lot of them mere girls really) or simply sitting in my window at night and watching them walk the streets, getting in and out of cars while their strung out boyfriends or pimps sit in a doorway nearby sipping a slurpee and snacking on Cheetos. Now I am not saying there aren't some good parts to this article, but all in all, it falls far short of the sort of thoughtful discussion this topic deserves. Ugh, note to self- avoid CNN before the caffeine has set in.

There have been many posts criticizing PETA’s ad campaigns on Feministing, and really, it’s easy to see why.  PETA consistently uses naked female bodies in its advertising, a tactic which seems to promote the objectification and sexualization of women as well as encourage the use of certain bodies (read: white, young, beautiful) in the media.  Still, I wonder, in what ways do PETA’s campaigns subvert social norms and empower women?

I came to this question after reading an enlightening article, “Image events and PETA's anti fur campaign,” by Lesli Pace.  In the piece, Pace dissects PETA’s *anti-fur campaign from a traditional feminist perspective (as Feministing has done time and again) and then from her own perspective.  I won’t recap the traditional feminist perspective, because I think most know it, but here is a summary of her own thoughts on the matter:

I just wanted to call your attention to the new "Things Are Getting Interesting" Remy Martin advertising campaign, and in particular the image (posted prominently near Penn Station in Manhattan) depicting two women in chains (one African-American, one Caucasian, looking for some reason really quite ecstatic and as if they are about to eat each other alive). The image is also available at www.getinteresting.com .

The press release for the campaign quotes Vincent Duhem, Vice President of Marketing for the company, Remy Cointreau, USA, Inc.(RCUSA), and mentions that the campaign was developed by the advertising agency La Comunidad. I plan to write to both companies and am interested in hearing your thoughts on the image.

I'm hoping to engage others who have found the ads upsetting in expressing their views in the most effective way possible. Somehow I don't think feminist women are their target audience, do you? So I don't know what effect a letter-writing campaign could have in itself. Any suggestions? I'm basing this on the ad, common sense, and the press release itself, which explicitly spells out the target audience of "influential, social, and multicultural urban males, ages 25 to 35".)

Thanks for listening,

K.

Hi, I just wanted to comment on a recent book search I was doing on BarnesandNoble.com. I was searching the bestsellers of the "Gender Studies" section and the ENTIRE FIRST PAGE was a list of books either by men or about men and boys, i.e. how to understand boys and men's souls.... Sad for me, a women's studies/sociology major, that I thought that the first thing that would pop up would be books along the lines of Jessica and Courtney's. I guess that just exemplifies how much we live in a world of "man-as-norm". 

I

While I've just about had enough of this election and am totally ready for it to be over, this article points out a really interesting facet of this election cycle.

The View is sounding more and more like Fox News.

If it bothers you, like it bothers me, that there is a right wing nut, talking, yelling and cancelling out the other voices on Barbara Walters show the View, please write Bill, the View's producer about it. Click on Ask the View