We recently had the pleasure of joining David Fletcher on his show, “Reality Check,” which airs on Public Reality Radio. He’s a feminist dad of five daughters and an example of why we need men to be an active part of the feminist movement. We talked about Rush Limbaugh, Women’s History Month, the feminist/parenting dilemma and why we need better feminist icons in kid culture. Listen in here and help us extend the conversation via @thesexyfeminist.
Another ‘Having It All’ Myth Promotes Media Illiteracy
March 19, 2012 By 3 Comments
Guess what, ladies: you can totally have it all! You’re winning! You’ve come a long way, ba… You know the hard sell by now. Modern media pays as much attention to disproving the need for feminism as it does to the season finale of The Bachelor—an oxymoronic scenario if ever there was one.
The Atlantic is the latest to send this dangerous message. In an article entitled, “A Working Woman’s World: Out-Learning and Under-Earning Men,” the mag outlines the results of a poll that declares, among other things, that 75 percent of women believe they can advance as far as their ambitions take them in the workplace, regardless of their gender. And 71 percent report never being discriminated against because of their gender.
Wow, progressive stuff, right? Except: wrong. This “trend” story is based on a poll of 1,000 people. This sample can hardly represent the majority of women in our country, much less make a grand statement about the state of gender equality. But this happens all the time. Little nuggets of information are lifted from out-of-context quotes, articles published (but fact checked?) by other media or skewed polls such as this and picked up by news wires. They’re then published in national media (again: fact checked?) and inspire headlines such as, “feminism, who needs ya?” or declare that, “women can have it all!”
Links for Sexy Feminists: PETA’s Sexism, Kristen Schaal Love, Motherhood vs. Feminism, More
March 16, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Ugh, we’ve long wrestled with the PETA problem. That is, the organization that does the good, important work of standing up for abused and neglected animals is kind of a sexist douchebag. Can we maybe send a message without objectifying women, just once? Feministing puts it best: “No matter what your non-profit works on, no matter how good the cause, no matter how important the activism, no matter how badass of a social justice crusader you think you are, no matter how progressive you identify, it is NEVER OK to throw women under the bus.”
Kristen Schaal has long been one of our feminist crushes and we’re thrilled we can now enjoy her gawky brilliance on our favorite feminist TV show, “30 Rock.” But just as we loved Tina Fey’s cameos on her old gig at SNL once she left, we hope Schaal never stops being The Daily Show‘s Senior Women’s Issues Correspondent. This week she illuminated the fact that Republican policies on women are far more offensive and damaging than anything an overweight talk show host can say.
We recently came across this article from 2008 (Google Alerts are weird sometimes). It bears noting for its controversial, fascinating topic. In it, the author, Rebecca Walker, talks about how her mother, famous feminist author Alice Walker, ruined her childhood because of her radical feminism. Walker says her mother viewed motherhood as a form of servitude and disowned her children so that she could realize her feminist identity and enjoy the independence she felt she deserved. It’s fascinating and complicated—you have to read it. Then tell us what you think @thesexyfeminist or @femimommy, where we talk about motherhood and feminism.
This week in Rachel Maddow: The thinking woman’s talking head answers Vanity Fair‘s Proust Questionnaire this month. Here’ our favorite tidbit: “Q: What do you consider the most overrated virtue? A: That’s easy: chastity.” OK, that one is tied with this: “Q: What is your greatest fear? A: Becoming dickish.”
There’s not nearly enough feminist comediennes in the world. Here’s a new fave of ours: Katie Goodman and her, “Probably Gay – The Homophobia Song.”
Obama Campaign Targets Women: Thanks, Mr. Limbaugh!
March 15, 2012 By 2 Comments
The Obama campaign is launching a concerted effort this week to target women, The New York Times reports. And as long as this isn’t the kind of woman-targeting that involves trying super-hard to sell us yogurt, this seems like great news. Not because we love being focus-grouped, but because we love being listened to. And the fact that Obama’s handlers see an opportunity in this all-too-long conservative War on Women means that we’re winning.
Many have wondered why Rush Limbaugh’s recent attempt at slut-shaming law student/contraception rights superhero Sandra Fluke caused so much uproar. That is, they’ve wondered why this particular “mouth dump,” as Jon Stewart recently called Limbaugh’s regular diatribes, of all his disgusting mouth dumps, got so much attention. Was it because Fluke is a private citizen, as opposed to regular political targets like Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton? Maybe. But I suspect it’s because he was calling her a “slut” for wanting basic insurance coverage of contraception, something most women in America want. I think it’s because in calling her a slut, he was calling the vast majority of American women sluts. And we don’t love that.
Ways Women’s History Is Cool
March 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment
As we continue to celebrate Women’s History Month, we look back at some of the ways we’ve covered ladies throughout time — click on the links to read more about …
Women who served in the SS as death camp guards. Yes, even they battled sexism amid the horrific deeds they committed.
Gay women dealing with the pressures of newly legalized gay marriage. Our writer faces down suddenly being “traditional.”
Manifesta author Jennifer Baumgardner on Third Wave feminism and beyond. She’s psyched to see where the “Fourth Wave” takes us.
Feminist icons from kid culture. In summary, Miss Piggy rules.
The best feminist books of all time. There’s no better time to pick up classics like Women, Race, & Class, Backlash, and Female Chauvinist Pigs.
‘Game Change’: An Almost-Sympathetic Sarah Palin
March 11, 2012 By 2 Comments
Granted, HBO’s Game Change is no great feat of filmmaking. It offers little new insight into the Sarah Palin origin story. And yet I found it compulsively watchable, for two related reasons: because Palin makes for good TV, even when she’s being portrayed by someone else; and because Julianne Moore is doing the portraying.
Palin is no feminist icon, no matter what she tries to tell you. But her story is laced with feminist implications, and that’s what made revisiting this terrifying episode in our history — you know, that time when she was almost a heartbeat away from the presidency — compelling to watch with the added insight of retrospect. She was recruited by the McCain campaign, we are told clearly by the film, because the Republican senator was woefully behind in polling with women. And yet she was the epitome of setting back the women’s movement: More anti-choice than her running mate, she refused to even stand on a stage with someone who was pro-life. Not to mention that she did women no favors with her lack of basic current-events knowledge, an unfortunate pairing with her stellar looks. It all only compounded the worst female stereotypes: She was, we learn, a dumb broad with loads of sex appeal and charisma.
Happy Feminist Pride Day, Sexy Feminists!
March 7, 2012 By 3 Comments
Photo by A. Jesse Jiryu Davis
We hope it’s clear from our name that WE ARE FEMINISTS, and we think it’s important that every woman in favor of equal rights calls herself one, too. We also hope you all declare your feminist pride today for Feminist Coming Out Day, International Women’s Day, whatever you want to call it. To not call yourself a feminist implies there’s something wrong with being one — we need to own the word and fight for what it means. In the past year, SlutWalks swept the nation, and that’s totally cool — let’s own “slut,” too, while we’re owning things — but good lord, we hope we can embrace “feminist” if we can embrace “slut.” And yes, Rush Limbaugh, we just called ourselves sluts. Because, of course, we’re assuming, due to recently highly publicized events, that being a slut means standing up for women’s rights and being very brave.
So: Happy International Women’s Day, feminists, sluts, and all!
Oh, and if you’d like to buy one of our cute shirts like we’re wearing in this photo, please visit our CafePress store.
Oscars Fashion Redux: Why Can’t We Be Nice?
February 28, 2012 By 3 Comments
I adore fashion, particularly red-carpet parades of the rich and famous during awards season. It’s not the most feminist of customs (it’s the kind of idealism that can lead to a distorted self image) but it’s as American as baseball. Celebrity worship is one of our past times, for better or for worse. Seeing our icons float across a crimson sea in works of art, high on excitement is a form of voyeurism that makes me happy. If only it didn’t get so ugly, so quickly.
Fashion chatter—both professional and amateur via social media—has become awfully mean spirited. More often than not, women are the targets and the critics. It makes me wonder if loving the fashion parade is a betrayal of feminism.
It always starts out sweet and complimentary. Red-carpet reporters ask everone, “who are you wearing?,” tell them they look gorgeous and congratulate them. Moments later, the insults begin. Fashion bloggers try to out-snark one another. Newspaper reporters slip in casual insults to make their copy stand out on the wires. And the worst comments come from average anyones. Message boards, Twitter feeds and Facebook updates in the past 48 hours have focused on the “stupid,” “tragic,” “blah,” “slutty” or “boring” of certain women in certain dresses. In my feeds alone, Angelina Jolie was objectified (too hot) and vilified (too skinny). Jennifer Lopez was slut shamed (really too sexy). Meryl Streep and Glenn Close were called old (these folks have been unfollowed, trust). And everyone tried to find a way to insult Melissa McCarthy without calling her fat.
Sexy Feminists Read: ‘The Girls’ Guide to Dating Zombies’
February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Need we say anything beyond that awesome title? Just in case, we’ll add that Lynn Messina‘s adorable mocku-relationship book/chicklit novel (buy it here!) takes place in a near future when a virus has turned “99.9999 percent of human males into zombies,” thus making dating … challenging. We talked to her about books for ladies, zombies, vampires, and challenging relationships.
Since you wrote about being a “chicklit” author for us, first we’ll ask: Is this chicklit?
On one level, it’s absolutely chick lit. I self-consciously and intentionally hit every chick lit convention I could think of. But I poked fun at them too. For example, my characters frequently drop the names of famous designers, but they are the most ridiculous names I could think of. So I’m not sure if something can be the thing and the thing it satirizes at the same time.
And how do you think that market has changed in the time since you wrote Fashionistas?
Publishers would have me believe that the chick lit market has completely dried up since Fashionistas. My manuscripts have been roundly rejected for being chick lit at a moment when chick lit no longer sells. In the meantime, I think readers have gotten more sophisticated. When chick lit blew up, publishers increased their output to the point where they couldn’t sustain quality. Readers figured that out quickly enough and grew suspicious and scornful of the label, a label that, to be fair, invited a fair amount of scorn all on its own. I’m not sure where the market is now–whether the backlash is still in full force or starting to recede. Personally, I’m trying my darnedest to create a backlash against the backlash. How am I doing?
Links for Sexy Feminists: Resilient Ovaries, Math Lessons from Mom, and more …
February 27, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Our ovaries may not be shriveling as much as we thought!: Or at least they might not in the future thanks to stem cell research reported on CBSNews.com
We’re so over people thinking girls are “hard-wired” to suck at math: Jezebel breaks down some new findings, showing, mostly, that moms need to talk about math with their daughters more
More on Chris Brown: YourTango explores whether abusers can reform
This is just sort-of cute: And it has a photo of Madonna in the English countryside with chickens; thanks, Hello Giggles!