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!

Nov. 7, 2011 @ 6:06 PM _

+ High-res

sizes very

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. 27, 2011 @ 6:07 PM _

I hear that the plus sized princess idea is shelved. Apparently all new princess movie ideas have been put on hold. But what is they were doing a movie with a plus sized princess? Is that something that you would support and stand behind or something you would be critical of?

Size fourteen is the average size of a woman these days and many people think this princess would be more representative of current society. They believe it would promote positive body image and show girls they can be beautiful no matter what their size. It would foster the idea that all women are real women and that women come in all different shapes and sizes.

Others however are not keen on this idea. They don’t believe it is a good idea because they believe it lends itself to teacher young girls that it is okay to be unhealthy.

What do you think?

I’m not really sure what my reaction would be- it depends on the message the princess is sending to it’s young audience and what kind of adventure she leads for the duration of the film. I may be naïve to say this, seeing as I have not seen the last two movies, but I would love to see the princess pictured above without a prince. No, that is not the same as a lesbian princess. I’m merely saying it would be interesting to see a princess who is capable and successful without needing a man to accompany her on her journey. She could have suitors who want to be with her, but she insists she doesn’t want to be held back by a man, for example. Princesses have changed throughout time to accommodate current society, so why not? It would fit the bill.

What kind of princess would you be interested in seeing?

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. 11, 2011 @ 6:06 PM _

 How did YOU become interested in feminism?  And when?

If your answer is longer than you have space for: 

Message me at http://feministblackboard.tumblr.com/ask  or at misslaurenfairbanks@gmail.com

Long Version: I remember sitting in my Junior year English class in high school next to my best friend as our English teacher tried to recruit us to sign up for “Voices of Women. My friend and I just laughed it off, because at the time, he and I were too busy (much to my shame today) making fun of Gloria Steinem.

I was still interested in signing up to take the course because the teacher was someone I respected. Interestingly, I did not get put into that elective, so I went into the councilor’s office, pleading to trade up and out of other classes in order to be placed into Voices of women. Even though I had no luck in switching classes, I stubbornly persisted.

I visited the teacher quite a few times each month just to talk and incidentally, the conversation led to her class. Soon she was giving me articles to read and letting me sit in on her class when mine was cancelled. (which only happened a few times) I soon began collecting stories to send back her way- that definitely primed me for my blog today and also got me paying attention to current events.

The first article I remember receiving from her was a photocopied article about intersex people (that happens to be right beside me). It made me more interested in the truth and tired of hearing jokes about hermaphrodites after I read in the article that the “true hermaphroditic” condition only accounted for five percent of ambiguous genitalia. This example is to illustrate my new found love for the politically correct.

I decided to ask her where the article came from. She in turn loaned me a textbook called “Feminist Frontiers.”

I received the book after school on Monday and had it returned, read and annotated cover to cover, by Thursday. It made me cognizant of all of the different social, political, historical, medical, etc topics that were subsumed by feminism. It was at that time I realized how badly I wanted to be aware of these issues and how much time I was willing to devote to learning. 


If your answer is longer than you have space for:

Message me at http://feministblackboard.tumblr.com/ask  
You will be featured. 

 

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?