Feminism: In Which I Have Choice Words for Ann Coulter That I Will Not Use

Can we please agree to never give this woman airtime ever again? She is a hateful woman who has no regard for the rights of people who are not rich, white Republicans. She makes me question my commitment not to say unnecessarily incendiary things about other women, because believe me, I have some choice words for her, but I will refrain from using them just this once. After taking immense heat for calling the President a retard after one of the debates, she went on Piers Morgan's show to defend her position and complain about being censored by the "word police". I cannot with her or anything she says.

The fact that she wants to disfranchise women and is proud of that fact makes me a little sick to my stomach. (Fun fact Ann, that would mean your vote too...) The fact that she has no sensitivity for those with down-syndrome, and can't seem to comprehend how words become bastardized when used derogatively really make me question how she ever became as highly regarded as she is. Her inability to understand that using the word "retard" to insult someone is equating someone you don't like with people with down-syndrome as though something is wrong with that condition really upsets me. She is deliberately obtuse and hateful. As someone commented on the video, "Retard is a verb. To use it as a noun is insulting." I think that's a brilliant way to put it.

In any case, this woman wears on me and my ability to think good things about the world.

Let's never speak of her again.

Feminism/Uncensored: In Which I Unleash A Sh*tstorm of Ranted Expletives on a Local Radio DJ

I am PISSED.
Last night I spent about an hour in my car, hate listening to the radio.

I was heading home around 7:30pm and listening to "Raw Nitro" on Boom Champions 94.1 FM with Mr. Smooth and DJ Karey. It was their "Make Up or Break Up" segment, and the topic of conversation was essentially a very crass version of What's your number? Intrigued as I am by discussions of sexuality, I listened, curious to see where it would go. I'm not sure why I thought the session would be in any way enlightened, but I had faith in Trinidad. That faith was shattered last night.

Because THIS:

I am so fucking sick of the blatant misogyny coming from the djs on #94.1fm. The double standards are rampant and it needs to stop.
— Cate Young (@battymamzelle) October 18, 2012

Listeners were encouraged to call in and disclose their numbers. Fair enough. What was NOT okay was the way in which the female callers were treated after having done so. There was a CLEAR and BIASED dichotomy between the way the men and women were treated and frankly, it was disgusting.

The men had a nice time of it. They called in their numbers, (some bragging upwards of 900 women, I kid thee not) collected their virtual fist-bumps and went on their way.

But the women who called with higher numbers (varying from between 15 to 35 if I remember correctly  were essentially told that no man would ever want to marry them, (because ZOMG WHAT IS A WOMAN WITHOUT A WEDDING RING?!?!?!?) allusions to loose vaginas included, and those with low numbers (usually 3 to 5) were told that they MUST be lying, and to not call in and lie to them.

WHAT THE ACTUAL, EVERLOVING FUCK IS THIS SHIT? 

In Which I Am Now Peggy Olsen OR I Got A JOB You Guys....

via Freshed Baked Sketches

I am employed. So basically a miracle happened.

I started last Friday, and I'm now officially a copywriter at an advertising firm. I won't say where yet because I don't know if I'm allowed to and I had to sign some scary looking confidentiality contracts...

I'M PEGGY YOU GUYS.

My middle name is even Margaret.

FOR SERIOUS.

Okay now that I've indulged myself and compared myself to Peggy Olsen, (as if) I actually really like this job. I mean, it's been a week, so it might be too early for sweeping assessments, but everyone is really nice, the work is fun and challenging, we drink rum on Fridays.... it's pretty sweet! I'm excited to do a little more and have more responsibility because bored is essentially death to me, and I want to feel like I'm earning my keep.

The only thing that sucks is having to get up at 5AM to beat the traffic and get into town on time. I have been sleeping until 10AM for FOUR YEARS. This responsibility shit is HARD. But it's worth it because getting to work early means an awesome parking spot! Basically, I haven't been here long enough to know anything, but so far, I like what I see and I'm excited to do more and learn more.

And I can't wait until I pull a total Peggy and start running my own department!

Changing the Conversation: The Dove "Real Beauty" Campaign and the Debate on "Real" Women

The Image of Real Beauty?
via Lexis Agency

There are many things that bother me in this world. That's why I have a blog. So I can whine about them in peace, and not harass people who don't want to hear about it. But there's something happening in the body politics debate that has been bothering me in the last few months, and I want to lay it out in the open.

The Dove "Real Beauty" campaign is problematic.

In the last few months, I've seen countless advertisements from Dove touting their dedication to "real" beauty and "real" women. Naturally, all the women in the ads are older, curvier, and often, women of colour.

Now, you must be asking yourself what could possibly be my issue with a campaign that seeks to radically change the definition of beauty? Dove's ads have taken women who are typically ignored by major beauty franchises and elevated them to star status. This is what we've been asking for, right? Dove has finally done what no other company would. They listened. So what's the problem?

The problem with Dove's campaign is that it is working on a zero-sum continuum of beauty. Instead of opening the definition of "beauty" to be more inclusive, it is simply changing it to exclude a different subset of women.

The answer to the beauty question isn't "real women have curves", it's "all women are real, and they're all equally beautiful." By labeling older, curvier women as "real", they are automatically labeling younger, more slender bodies as "unreal", which is obviously not okay. Those bodies are just as real. They are simply different.

In situations where one party in a discussion feels marginalized or ignored, it gets very easy to fire back at the other side on a personal level. The fashion industry has long had a preference for younger, more slender and yes, white bodies. But that isn't the fault of young, slender, Caucasian women. There is definitely needs to be a change in the mean demographics of the fashion industry. We've made strides over the years, and there is obviously still a long way to go. But making these women feel as poorly about their bodies as women of colour and size have felt for years does nothing to elevate our cause. All it does is create a different kind of divisiveness that is equally as sinister.

The answer to the body image question isn't to designate an ideal. That will always leave someone feeling left out and slighted. The answer is to be more inclusive. To accept all diverse body types as acceptable and beautiful. By shifting the definition of beauty instead of expanding it, we're just rehashing the same problems.

Dove's campaign is commendable in what it's trying to achieve but it fails in the execution. It's time we become more conscious of the issues facing women in today's world, and be more mindful not to alienate some women in order to appease others.

What do you think? Do you agree that the campaign is problematic? How do you think the campaign can be improved? What would you have done differently? Let me know in the comments below.