Exciting lives of fencing aside, at least we know floor-scrubbing still for women.
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Vintage Ad of the Day
Exciting lives of fencing aside, at least we know floor-scrubbing still for women.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Linkfest!
Feministing: AP nominates two horses for "Female Athlete of the Year"
The Hathor Legacy: Gendered Holiday Expectations?
Jezebel: Your Boyfriend Sucks: The Worst Fictional Dudes of the Decade
f-bomb: The Prince is Safe Now
Racism Review: "The Blind Side": Sandra Bullock, White Women & Racism
The Hathor Legacy: Gendered Holiday Expectations?
Jezebel: Your Boyfriend Sucks: The Worst Fictional Dudes of the Decade
f-bomb: The Prince is Safe Now
Racism Review: "The Blind Side": Sandra Bullock, White Women & Racism
Thursday, December 24, 2009
12 Days of Christmas Memories
Last year, I counted down the days to Christmas with clips from 12 of my favorite Christmas specials. I dropped the ball on doing this again 12 days before Christmas, so as a special treat, here they all are today! Happy Holidays, everyone!
Day One: A Claymation Christmas (1987)
Day 2: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)
Day 3: A Chipmunk Christmas (1981)
Day 4: Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
Day 5: ALF's Special Christmas (1987)
Day 6: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Day 7: A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
Day 8: A Garfield Christmas Special (1987)
Day 9: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Day 10: Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)
Day 11: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Day 12: Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
Day One: A Claymation Christmas (1987)
Day 2: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (1978)
Day 3: A Chipmunk Christmas (1981)
Day 4: Mickey's Christmas Carol (1983)
Day 5: ALF's Special Christmas (1987)
Day 6: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
Day 7: A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
Day 8: A Garfield Christmas Special (1987)
Day 9: A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
Day 10: Pluto's Christmas Tree (1952)
Day 11: How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Day 12: Pee Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special (1988)
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Feminist Flashback: "The First Feminist Slasher Film" on Degrassi High
It's not every day you hear the word "feminism" this many times on a TV show without poking fun at it. And in 1990, after a decade of backlash.
Enjoy:
Enjoy:
Monday, December 21, 2009
One Little Star
Just found out from Shakesville that Alaina Reed Hall, who played Olivia on Sesame Street, has just passed away after a battle of breast cancer. I have to say the news made me tear up immediately, and I went straight for this song from Follow That Bird:
Linkfest!
The Angry Black Woman: Picture Yourself
The F-Word Blog: Setting Boundaries in 15 Words or Less
Muslimah Media Watch: Tavakoli’s Triumph: Scores in Chadors
Sociological Images: Gender, Technology, and Toys R Us
Shakesville: Army Gets Tough on Pregnancy
copyranter: After Six put the "yes" in polyester.
(This was going to be a Vintage Ad of the Day, but copyranter beat me to it, and with a priceless title.)
Two Posts on Disney's The Princess and the Frog:
Racialicious: Open Thread: The Princess and the Frog
Feministing: The Princess and the Frog: A Feminist Fairytale
And, finally, Chocolate Cake. From EpiCute: The Cute Food Blog:
The F-Word Blog: Setting Boundaries in 15 Words or Less
Muslimah Media Watch: Tavakoli’s Triumph: Scores in Chadors
Sociological Images: Gender, Technology, and Toys R Us
Shakesville: Army Gets Tough on Pregnancy
copyranter: After Six put the "yes" in polyester.
(This was going to be a Vintage Ad of the Day, but copyranter beat me to it, and with a priceless title.)
Two Posts on Disney's The Princess and the Frog:
Racialicious: Open Thread: The Princess and the Frog
Feministing: The Princess and the Frog: A Feminist Fairytale
And, finally, Chocolate Cake. From EpiCute: The Cute Food Blog:
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Erasure and The Problem With Christmas Cards
This is my first Christmas as half of a married couple, which means that the majority of the Christmas cards coming to our house are addressed like this:
I'm sure she's right, and the last thing I want to do is seem ungrateful for getting Christmas cards from our friends and family, but I can't help feeling sort of like Maude does in the first minute of this clip:
Maude: I want to be me, Walter. I want my own identity!
Walter: You want your own identity? I'll give you your own identity. Here! Your button for the convention. Now, please. Stop being a pain in the fedlock.
Maude: (looking at nametag) "Hello. My name is Mrs. Walter Findley." Mrs. Walter Findley. Walter! How come your button doesn't say "Hello, I'm Mr. Maude Findley?!"
Walter: Because that's not who I am!
Maude: (waving nametag) And this, Walter, is not who I am, either.
This is something I've written about before, and the way it makes me feel is still exactly the same. After getting the mail one day this past week, I started a text message conversation about it with Katie:"Mr. and Mrs. Daniel [Last Name]"
Me: I just think it's such a tasteless tradition to address people that way.
Katie: I'll bet the people doing it think the opposite, if that helps.
I'm sure she's right, and the last thing I want to do is seem ungrateful for getting Christmas cards from our friends and family, but I can't help feeling sort of like Maude does in the first minute of this clip:
Maude: I want to be me, Walter. I want my own identity!
Walter: You want your own identity? I'll give you your own identity. Here! Your button for the convention. Now, please. Stop being a pain in the fedlock.
Maude: (looking at nametag) "Hello. My name is Mrs. Walter Findley." Mrs. Walter Findley. Walter! How come your button doesn't say "Hello, I'm Mr. Maude Findley?!"
Walter: Because that's not who I am!
Maude: (waving nametag) And this, Walter, is not who I am, either.
Linkfest!
The Gay Gamer: What is it with Nintendo's inability to animate skirts?
IEEE Spectrum: Math Quiz: Why Do Men Predominate?: (Via Feminist Philosophers)
Professor What If...?: What if Santa brings out the fat-haters?
stuff white people do: enjoy white-guilt redemption fantasies
Awards Daily: 2009: Women Owned the Movies
IEEE Spectrum: Math Quiz: Why Do Men Predominate?: (Via Feminist Philosophers)
Professor What If...?: What if Santa brings out the fat-haters?
stuff white people do: enjoy white-guilt redemption fantasies
Awards Daily: 2009: Women Owned the Movies
Saturday, December 19, 2009
Vintage Ad of the Day
What weirds me out almost as much as the giant super-imposed man-face is that the copy in this ad makes absolutely no mention of it. The male gaze at its ever-present best.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Vintage Ad of the Day
"Empire Grenadier speakers blend with any decor."
Even when your "decor" consists entirely of naked woman!
Even when your "decor" consists entirely of naked woman!
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Linkfest!
Fat a Lot of Good: fat photography
The Hathor Legacy: Two and a Half Men, Men, Men, Men, Manly Men
Sociological Images: A Sociology of Dirt
Jezebel: Photoshop Horrors Hall of Shame: 2000-2009
Diary of an Anxious Black Woman: Moving Yet Sloppy Portrayal of a Harlem Girl: My Review of Precious (Spoilers)
(This post is a couple of weeks old, but it's new to me and too good not to include.)
The Hathor Legacy: Two and a Half Men, Men, Men, Men, Manly Men
Sociological Images: A Sociology of Dirt
Jezebel: Photoshop Horrors Hall of Shame: 2000-2009
Diary of an Anxious Black Woman: Moving Yet Sloppy Portrayal of a Harlem Girl: My Review of Precious (Spoilers)
(This post is a couple of weeks old, but it's new to me and too good not to include.)
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
When "Too Much Treble" is Thinly Veiled Code for "Too Girly"
I caught NBC's a capella singing group competition "The Sing Off" for the first time last night, and this group was totally my favorite:
I loved this performance and was totally won over by this kick-ass all-female group, which is totally rare in a capella, only to be surprised and saddened when the judges told them they really needed to work on their low end, and that their performance was "too treble". Especially since the judges seemed to completely flip over the all-male groups that may have had lower voices but were all over the place and less in tune.
Now, as a flute player and a soprano who majored in music in college and got a music degree before moving into Women's Studies, I have my fair share of experience in the music world, and I am all too familiar with the hierarchy set up in most musical ensembles in which lower voices are always, always favored over higher ones. The idea at work, which does have some musical validity, is that the lower voices (bass voices in a choir, low brass in a wind band, basses in an orchestra, etc.) provide a tonal foundation to the sound and make it seem fuller and more resonant. I'm down with that. I get it.
The problem with this is that, more often than not, those higher voices in musical groups are disproportionately sung or played by female musicians, which, when coupled with the higher sounds of the voices and instruments themselves, contributes to a culture within the music world in which higher instruments/voices are coded "female" and are therefore devalued, and lower instruments/voieces are coded male and are therefore celebrated.
This leads to a climate in which female singers are told that they are "a dime a dozen" and that there are always too many flutes, and that brass bands and brass choirs are distinguished, percussion ensembles are awesome, and flute choirs and woodwind ensembles are a joke.
I have so much more I could say about this and so many more examples of how this plays out in the music world, but I just had to put it out there that there is a whole lot of subtext to telling an all-female singing group that they sound "too treble".
I loved this performance and was totally won over by this kick-ass all-female group, which is totally rare in a capella, only to be surprised and saddened when the judges told them they really needed to work on their low end, and that their performance was "too treble". Especially since the judges seemed to completely flip over the all-male groups that may have had lower voices but were all over the place and less in tune.
Now, as a flute player and a soprano who majored in music in college and got a music degree before moving into Women's Studies, I have my fair share of experience in the music world, and I am all too familiar with the hierarchy set up in most musical ensembles in which lower voices are always, always favored over higher ones. The idea at work, which does have some musical validity, is that the lower voices (bass voices in a choir, low brass in a wind band, basses in an orchestra, etc.) provide a tonal foundation to the sound and make it seem fuller and more resonant. I'm down with that. I get it.
The problem with this is that, more often than not, those higher voices in musical groups are disproportionately sung or played by female musicians, which, when coupled with the higher sounds of the voices and instruments themselves, contributes to a culture within the music world in which higher instruments/voices are coded "female" and are therefore devalued, and lower instruments/voieces are coded male and are therefore celebrated.
This leads to a climate in which female singers are told that they are "a dime a dozen" and that there are always too many flutes, and that brass bands and brass choirs are distinguished, percussion ensembles are awesome, and flute choirs and woodwind ensembles are a joke.
I have so much more I could say about this and so many more examples of how this plays out in the music world, but I just had to put it out there that there is a whole lot of subtext to telling an all-female singing group that they sound "too treble".
Linkfest!
Bitch Blog: I'll have a blue Christmas without you (making my doctor's appointments for me)
Women & Hollywood: Cross-Post: An Open Letter from One of Your 51 Perecent by Ashley Van Buren
Bits & Pieces: Ne dis jamais jamais
(a lovely post from one of my favorite scrapbookers)
Women & Hollywood: Cross-Post: An Open Letter from One of Your 51 Perecent by Ashley Van Buren
Bits & Pieces: Ne dis jamais jamais
(a lovely post from one of my favorite scrapbookers)
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Aprons and Toolbelts
Apparently, the people we bought just bought our house from were the Mail-Order Catalog Queen and King of Central Ohio, because our mailbox is stuffed with them daily, giving us the opportunity to peruse them and consider purchasing everything from American Girl dolls, to fruit baskets, to hunting gear. Yesterday's catalog came from a company called epersonalizedgifts, and flipping through the "gifts for kids" section, I noticed all sorts of crap like this:
See what they did there? Clever trick. It's pretty much the exact same product, sold at the exact same price, only the pink version (the one with the girl's name stitched on it) is a "crayon apron" and the bright blue and red version (intended for boys) is a "crayon tool belt".
Seriously, people? Is this really necessary? Will it really damage a little boy that much to call his little crayon apron an apron? Does a little girl really require hers to be pink and have some ruching?
I call bullshit.
And another thing, catalog! If you're going to market a diaper bag to a male parent, you don't need to call him "Mr. Mom", implying that there's something inherently mother-(i.e. woman)-ly about carrying one. You can call him Dad.
See what they did there? Clever trick. It's pretty much the exact same product, sold at the exact same price, only the pink version (the one with the girl's name stitched on it) is a "crayon apron" and the bright blue and red version (intended for boys) is a "crayon tool belt".
Seriously, people? Is this really necessary? Will it really damage a little boy that much to call his little crayon apron an apron? Does a little girl really require hers to be pink and have some ruching?
I call bullshit.
And another thing, catalog! If you're going to market a diaper bag to a male parent, you don't need to call him "Mr. Mom", implying that there's something inherently mother-(i.e. woman)-ly about carrying one. You can call him Dad.
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Vintage Ad of the Day
The best comment on this ad at the Vintage Ads LJ Community:
60% creamier than a T-bone? How creamy is that? None creamy, that's how much.
Also enjoyable:
What the hell size scoop do these people have?
Saturday, December 5, 2009
New York Senator Diane Savino speaks on the Marriage Equality bill:
My friend Erin shared this awesome video today on Google Reader:
I commented that the only thing that bothered me about it was that there wasn't thunderous applause every time she made an obvious point. Instead, there was only nervous laughter at her jokes.
I commented that the only thing that bothered me about it was that there wasn't thunderous applause every time she made an obvious point. Instead, there was only nervous laughter at her jokes.
Friday, December 4, 2009
Vintage Ad of the Day
My friend Colleen shared this on Google Reader recently, and I believe the only word for it is "EWWWWW!"
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Cleveland, Akron and Summit County Pass Inclusive Municipal Non-Discrimination Ordinances
Go, Ohio! As reported by Equality Ohio:
Last night, Cleveland City Council voted 21 - 0 to protect against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on gender identity and expression. Akron voted 10 - 2 to do the same based on both sexual orientation and gender identity and Summit County voted 11 - 1 to pass a countywide ordinance protecting against discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Thanks to all the advocates and coalitions who have worked long and hard to see these much needed protections finally included in municipal law!
We encourage Cleveland, Akron and Summit County citizens to thank their councilpersons. You can find Cleveland councilpersons' contact information at www.clevelandcitycouncil.org. Akron councilpersons' contact information at http://www.akroncitycouncil.org/Find_your_Councilperson/ and Summit County councilpersons' contact information at http://www.co.summit.oh.us/council/index.htm
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