The first time I stepped into Forever 21, I was amazed: A store at the mall actually had clothes I liked, at affordable prices, bearing “Made in the USA” labels! (At the time, I naively believed “Made in the USA” meant sweatshop-free. I later learned this is far from true.) Though I still prefer thrift […]
Beauty
Beauty norms are societal standards that dictate ideal physical appearance and vary across cultures and history. Despite being unrealistic, norms are instilled in women from a young age, harming those who feel they do not fit the mold.
How Does Nicki Minaj Influence Black Girls?
Nicki Minaj is poised to make a splash with her sophomore album, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, on April 3. After head-turning appearances at the Grammys and the NBA All-Star Game and with Madonna at the Super Bowl, followed by reports that she landed a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi, she has emerged as the new […]
Future of Feminism: Freedom from Body Shaming, Regardless of Size
While I’ve already spent some time discussing the dangerous ways the media sexualizes women and girls, and how it gives the false impression that to be attractive, popular and interesting you must be skinny and hyper-feminine, today I want to switch things up little and talk about the body acceptance movement (also called “size acceptance” […]
If the Clothes Fit: A Feminist Takes on Fashion
Fashion, like so many other things associated primarily with women, may be dismissed as trivial, but it shapes how we’re read by others, especially on the levels of gender, class and race. In turn, how we’re read determines how we are treated, especially in the workforce—whether we are hired, promoted and respected, and how well we are paid. That most ordinary and intimate of acts, getting dressed, has very real political and economic consequences.
Maybelline’s Latest Infantilization
Maybelline’s brand of lip gloss, “baby lips,” is a straightforward example of the infantilization of adult women: We should be worried about the infantilization of women for two reasons: First, it’s directly related to the sexualization of young girls. As I wrote in a previous post: …on the one hand, women are portrayed as little […]
#NoShaveNovember Raises Hairy Gender Questions
When Ms. magazine asked me what I thought about #NoShaveNovember, I had never even heard of such a thing, and I couldn’t quite grasp its point. Maybe this is because I participate in something called No Shave Forever: I don’t shave my armpits and only occasionally shave my legs. So I looked up the #NoShaveNovember […]
When the Sweet Spot Becomes a Sore Spot
Q: I’m a 21-year-old lesbian. A problem has popped up in me and my girlfriend’s sex life. When we practice tribadism with just skin, after a while a very small raw spot will show up, bringing with it a sharp pain. Both of us have this problem. Neither of us is clean-shaven, but we do […]
No Comment: The Sexist T-Shirt J.C. Penney DIDN’T Remove
This week, feminists celebrated a victory when J.C. Penney halted the sale of a girls’ T-shirt that reads “Too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me.” The shirt, suggesting girls should be too consumed with their looks to care about being smart, was pulled from the company website after […]