Dec. 20, 2011 @ 6:20 PM _

Dec. 12, 2011 @ 6:16 PM _

Maggie Goes on a Diet is about a 14 year old girl who transforms herself from a dumpy overweight girl, to a “pretty” soccer star.

What to dislike about this:
1. self published by a male author
2. amazon says its for children 4-8
3. use of word, “normal sized”
4. fodder for eating disorders
5. self esteem issues
6. the book cover- i mean, come on!

Dec. 6, 2011 @ 7:05 PM _

Maya Angelou

Dec. 4, 2011 @ 7:00 PM _

What do you all think of this one?

A self employed photographer found that some girls she had to photograph for senior pictures kept a burn book on the internet. The burn book attacked many other girls in their class and cut viciously into their sexuality, being and choices. The photographer in seeing this decided not to photograph the bullies who made the burn book.

She did not want to spend 2 hours with those bullies trying to make them look beautiful on the outside when they said such hurtful and ugly things to others. She stands with her position and braces herself for any backlash. So far, so good.

Nov. 5, 2011 @ 6:06 PM _

Zooey Deschanel’s letter to Vogue editors.

I love this. I saved it to my phone. It’s really great to see women in hollywood standing up for things like changes in body image ideals. Even though she was under fire herself for being a “pixie girl.” Hmm… does that sound right? I think that’s the name for it. (It’s a girl who is soley in a movie to further the man’s story line.)

Nov. 4, 2011 @ 6:07 PM _

I read something recently in “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” that I thought I would share with you today. It’s about how quickly young girls are capable of being derailed by the exposure of stereotypes. If a group of female college students, all good at math and enrolled in calculus were asked to view a series of television commercials: four neutral ads were interspersed with two ads depicting a cliché afterward they were surveyed and the group who had scene the stereotypes ads expressed less interest in math and science related careers than the classmates who had seen only the neutral ones. The same test was done after having girls try on either a bathing suit or a sweater. Guess which ones performed better on a math test? Interestingly enough, there was no such discrepancy with their male test subjects.

Oct. 26, 2011 @ 6:13 PM _

This womans claim to fame is arguably her title as “Most beautiful woman in the world,” but apparently Elle thinks that even she needs some skin whitening. 

Aishwarya Rai is the leading queen in Indian cinema in case you were not familiar with her. 
The Times of India reported the former Miss World is “furious with the bleaching botch-up” and is considering taking legal action against ELLE. 

More [here] 

Oct. 21, 2011 @ 6:00 PM _

Well that’s a Barbie I’ve never seen!

Aug. 29, 2011 @ 6:05 PM _

Aug. 25, 2011 @ 6:06 PM _

This post dovetails with my previous post on how you got into feminism. 

Again, I will feature your answers. 

Here are mine:
1.  More positive outlook on body and sexuality, consequently more healthy 
2. I am now interested and aware of politics
3. More secure in “self”
4. I no longer slut shame, victim blame, culturally appropriate or gender police
5. I am a better writer and I enjoy writing even more than I previously did
6. Introduced me to strong female role models
7. I now know what, “white, heterosexual, able bodied, cis gendered male” and “gender binary” means

Add yours and we can make a long list!

Aug. 9, 2011 @ 3:48 PM _

Thought ten year old models in ten thousand dollar outfits was ghastly? Brace yourself for Vogue’s latest trend: ten year old models in some very adult poses.

Pictured is Thylane Loubry Blondeau, a ten year old who is making everyone cry out against the sexualizing of young girls.

There is something deeply unsettling about her very mature clothing, pose, makeup and stare, but does this surprise you?

Target sells pink silk padded bras for tweens.
Tween Halloween costumes look like fetish wear.
Abercrombie makes push up bikinis for twelve year olds.

TLC’s Toddlers and Tiaras is on air.
Youtube videos of young girls doing exotic gyrations.

And the pendulum swings to back. Older women are now driven to spend their social security checks on the unattainable potion that produces youth. Do you see this happening? I see it amongst women close to me that I know and love. Lighten skin. Hide wringles. Hide sun spots. Change chin. Raise cheeks. Lotion. Hair dye. More firming lotion. Teeth whitening. Really, do you know how much your mother or aunt or neighbor or teacher spends trying to recapture their youth? It is ludicrous.  

Vogue will help you out with some imagery. How about their other models? You know, the middle aged ones surgically and technologically enhanced to look seventeen again. Oh, there is something just as unsettling with that.

Do you know what diminishes accomplishments and leave us exhausted?
Wanting to be 21 at 9 and wanting the legs of a 13 year old at 35. Being fifty and still worrying about how our legs look in shorts. Being sixty and still fighting the 51 year battle.

Our society is perpetuating a cradle-to-grave expectation of ideal beauty.
When will we put our collective foot down?

Aug. 5, 2011 @ 5:33 PM _

I feel like I haven’t posted anything related to beauty lately, so here you go.

I’m open for submissions if you all want to share anything related to the topic, just to let you know.