Is There a Future for Women in Politics?

     According to the huffingtonpost.com, 1.7 million students graduated from college in 2011. Over 50 percent of these college graduates are women. After graduation, women then make up 67 percent of the workforce; however, women still find themselves making less money than men. The Huffington Post claims that "in order for women to achieve equal pay at work and equal representation in the government, we must invest in young women after they leave the classroom."
     If women want to be successful in politics, they must first learn the in's and out's of the government and different political programs. This article discusses the different things women can do to achieve a higher seat in politics, as well as recruit more young women.

50 "Creative" Sexulized Ads

I found a list of "creative" ads on inspirationfeed.com that different companies use to promote their products. These particular ads are a little different, however. These ads consist of hypersexualized women and men. For example, some of these ads include sexual innuendos and even nudity. I know that you are probably thinking many of these ads are clothing ads or cologne ads, but some of them have absolutely nothing to do with  either one of those types of products.

The Anatomy of the Perfect Woman

I wonder, how is it that a man has the right to define the perfect woman. This article on menshealth.com describes the ANATOMY of the perfect woman.
This article talks about the physical perfections of the "average dream girl." A few things that they include in the article is the perfect woman should have small feet, she should have narrow hips, she should have long legs, and get this, she should even have brown hair!!! I don't know if I will ever understand this... Take a look for yourself!

Female Referee in College Football

I don't keep up with sports, so I might be a little late in reporting this but I thought it was so great that a women is a referee for college football. Do you think this says something about the evolution of sports? In the past this would definitely not have happened! What do you think about this? I feel like it's strange though that it has taken this long for this to happen.

Ikea Photoshops Women Out of Saudi Arabia Catalog

In America we photoshop to look "perfect" and in Saudi Arabia they just photoshop them out completely. I thought that this was surprising that Ikea would let this happen, but more than anything this made me sad for the culture of Saudi Arabia. In America, while we are trying to fight for contraceptives in Saudi Arabia women are being cut out pictures for reasons like, "she was considered lazy. Her sin: she was lying down on a sofa, enjoying a book."  What do you think? 

Mother-Daughter Porn Duo

Is this real life? Huffington Post's 'Weird News' segment never ceases to amaze me. Jessica, 56, and Monica Sexxxton, 22, (yeah, I know) from Tampa, Florida share a special bond of mother and daughter- and they like to shoot sex scenes together. The pair have been creating original content as The Sexxxtons for their site for the past year, and claim that, for legal incestuous reasons, they've never touched each other, even while in the same room, touching the same people, or having sex at the same time.

A Beverly Hills psychiatrist called it "emotional incest."

I think there's something deeper than that going on here, yikes.

How Sexy Should Pregnant Women Be?

In the new issue of Touch Magazine, former playboy model Holly Madison comments on whether celebrities are being "too sexy" in their pregnancy shoots for the media, saying they should focus more on being "beautiful" rather than "sexy."

What do you think? I feel like a sexy pregnancy shoot could empower a woman- in the sense of celebrating her femininity and what her body can do. Now whether it can be "too sexy," I feel like that's pretty subjective. And, honestly, do the celebrities really care anymore?

Mom Drops Weight, Inspired by Her Daughter

Now, if there's any good reason to feel motivated to improve your body and your health, this is it. Mother Cacia Griggs, 26, dropped 112 pounds when she became extremely concerned about her weight after breaking her daughter's, 4, bed while tucking her in one night. The mom says her daughter immediately took notice of her new body and was quoted saying, "She was already starting to copy my bad eating habits, asking for the fizzy drinks and junk food that I was eating. The thought of subjecting my beautiful little girl to a lifetime of weight-battling misery and ill health was too much for me to bear." Check out the rest of the article, here. 

The Journal of Pediatrics recently published a study claiming parental weight to be the first determining factor on whether a child will be obese. I just thought it was great that this mom was inspired by health reasons and for her child's future and safety, rather than the media. 

Kim Kardashian Tweets Cleavage Photos

You'll remember the presentation a group did that focused on the "Me in My Place" brand the other day, well, I had made a comment about how women posting nude or semi-nude photos of themselves on the internet wasn't to empower themselves, but to feel empowered by gaining approval from others, particularly their male audience.

I think this photo Kim Kardashian tweeted out the other day that's being called "racy" is the perfect example. Do you think she looked at this before she posted and thought, "My face looks great," or, "This photo really shows off the car I'm talking about?" I doubt it.

The Year in Sideboob

I'm sorry classmates, but I couldn't bring myself not to post this. The Huffington Post has garnered a lot of attention for focusing on the "sideboob" of celebrities, and they've released their slideshow of the sideboobs of 2012.

Nothing about this is empowering, though I'm not particularly offended by it. Is it porn? Probably not. It's the epitome of the internet.

Anne Hathaway Starved Herself for 'Les Mis'

I hope you're all as excited to see Les Mis this Christmas as I am, but this almost makes me not even want to go see the movie.

Apparently, Anne Hathaway had to completely starve herself, for a total of 13 days of shooting, in order to play her role as a dying prostitute. Now, losing and gaining weight for roles seems to be a common thing in Hollywood, but is this really okay? I just can't bring myself to see it as being necessary, or by any means healthy.

The full article is from Huffington Post. What do you think?

Augusta National adds women

Earlier this year Augusta National admitted its first two female members into its exclusive golf club. The club had been a men only group since opening in 1932.  This is such a small step in the world of sports but worth mentioning. Golf is thought of as being male dominated but woman are beginning to make waves in the sport.  Here's the link to the article: http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/8284599/augusta-national-admits-condoleezza-rice-darla-moore-first-two-female-members

Are these for real?

Target Women 3

"Interested in sex? But afraid of having a baby? Try birth control!" In just that opening joke, Haskins sums up what every birth control commercial should say, but never do. This might be my favorite Target Women of all time. The way she mocks how these ads talk down to women, how they avoid discussing "sex," and finally, how ridiculous it is for a woman to nonchalantly explain the fine print of a birth control pill at a bar. And dear lord, when she tries to punch the words that say "Eat Burrito?" Amazing. Anyways, this is just the top of the Target Women iceberg and everyone should go watch the rest here.

Target Women pt 2

 

 When I went on YouTube to watch the following Target Women, this ad played before my video. Featuring blatant lines about "what women want," I was amazed at the irony of featuring such a guilty ad before a video devoted to analyzing and mocking them. Anyways, Lady Friends!

"We're all part of the sisterhood of shoe lovers." I think what makes the "lady friends" sales pitch particularly insidious is that it reduces women and female friendship to a product obsessed pitch session. From cooking to candles, the ladies are chastising their friends and keeping them in the cult of true consumer womanhood. Also, the part where Sarah Haskins laughs like a crazy person at 1:00 is genius.

Target Women pt 1

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if Regina Lawrence hosted "The Soup" on E? No. Well, that doesn't really matter. The important thing is Sarah Haskins has already made this fantasy a reality and it might be the funniest thing you see today. In each segment, Haskins takes on an advertising trend focused on women. She then dissects and mocks the ads, pointing out the shameless stereotyping that surprisingly flies under the radar when we're just sitting on the couch. Here are three of my favorites.

Target Women: Yogurt

"Say more stuff I generically relate to then go to a wedding!" I think this one might have been the first Target Women I saw. Yogurt commercials targeting women are ubiquitous, but until Haskins pointed it out I don't think I'd ever realized how banal and semi-insulting they were. I mean, all commercials feature people talking unrealistically about products they enjoy, but the campaign to make yogurt the "official food of women" had to come somewhere. Now whenever a yogurt commercial pops up on TV, I can't help but watch it through my Sarah Haskins lens.

Dykes to Watch Out For

Though we in this class now associate the name "Bechdel" with the gender representation test she spawned, the original work that Alison Bechdel was known for was a comic strip called "Dykes to Watch Out For." That's actually where the test originated. A sampling of strips are available on her website, but for anyone in delving more deeply into the lesbian-centric narrative should probably pick up the compilation, Essential Dykes to Watch Out For.

Revenge

I like to watch the TV show Revenge on ABC. I don't know if anyone else in the class enjoys it as much as I do, but I really like how powerful the female lead character is.  She doesn't let anyone or anybody get in the way of her ultimate goal...revenge.  But that's just season one, season two has totally changed my view of the show.  What started off as this head strong girl has turned into this love sick character that is beginning to fail at her goal.  I don't know why the writers changed it all of a sudden, but they have definitely changed the female character. I wonder how many TV shows actually stay true to there strong female characters, or if they tend to make them seem more like the lovestruck women just for ratings. I hope that this was not the case for this show.

One Million Moms Angry again

The organization One Million Moms are upset at JC Penny again for using Ellen DeGeneres for holiday commercial, the Huffington Post reported. A few months ago this group got riled up over the same issue. I dont really understand why this group is so upset. JC Penny is not promoting a gay/lesbian lifestyle. These comments were made by the group. "Funny that JC Penney thinks hiring an open homosexual spokesperson will help their business when most of their customers are traditional families," the organization wrote on its website. "By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years."Very ridiculous.

Perfume Ads

Does anyone else hate perfume ads as much as I do?

Maybe it's not so much that I hate them, but more that I have no idea what they are trying to sell until see the bottle. This doesn't just pertain to perfume either. I was looking through a magazine the other day, and the first 5-7 pages were all ads, I had to look pretty hard to figure out what they were trying to sell in each of them.

Here's an example.