Posts by
Ashley Judd
(Fyi - "inter alia" means "among other things")
Hopes & Dreams
And golly, that casserole sure looks swell!
“Perfect”
We see photos like this all the time in the media. Many of us compare our "flawed" bodies with the model's seemingly "perfect" one, & then feel like crap. But here's a reality check that shows how this model morphed into "perfect":
1) nose narrowed
2) breasts enlarged & brought closer together
3) protruding ribs removed
4) waist narrowed
5) belly pooch flattened
6) skintone lightened & smoothed out
7) hips made curvier
8) inner thighs slimmed
Morality
If a religion offers justifications for sexism, racism, or homophobia, then maybe that belief system isn't so moral after all.
The Rights of the Minority
The majority should not get to decide whether the minority can enjoy the same rights that they get to take for granted. This should be common sense.
The Good Old Days, Revisited
When people start waxing poetic about the good old days of the 1950s, here's a little reality check. This appeared in the New York Daily Mirror: "If a Woman Needs it, Should She Be Spanked?" And here's what four fine Brooklyn men had to say ...
Toys for Girls & Toys for Boys
Buzzfeed has compiled a collection of "16 Ways the Toy Industry Is Stuck in the Stone Age". In spite of how much social progress women have achieved, toy makers haven't gotten the memo. They're still defining playtime for girls and playtime for boys along strict gender lines, and they amount to something like this: "Girls: please clean the kitchen. Boys: do science. ... Boys: guitars, war, roller coasters. Girls: pink home decor, baking."
(Note how the pink "My Cleaning Trolley" says it's for "Girls Only". Yeah, no shit.)
Check out the rest here.
You Think I’m Beautiful, but You’re Wrong
We are mirrors -- we teach children how to feel about themselves, not only through our words, but also through our actions. We can tell a child that she's beautiful, but if we're constantly denigrating ourselves, she'll learn to see herself in that same critical light. Here's a beautiful example of how one mother's experiment to help instill a healthy body image in her daughters ends up helping her to improve her own:
"'Look at me, girls!' I say to them. 'Look at how beautiful I am. I feel really beautiful, today.' "I see it behind their eyes, the calculating and impression. I see it behind their shining brown eyes, how glad they are that I believe I am beautiful. They love me. To them, I am love and guidance and warm, soft blankets and early mornings. They have never doubted how wonderful I am. They have never doubted my beauty. How confusing it must have been for them to see me furrowing my brow in the mirror and sucking in my stomach and sighing.
"How confusing it must have been to have me say to them, 'You think I am beautiful, but you are wrong. You are small and you love me, so you're not smart enough to know how unattractive I am. I know I am ugly because I see myself with mean eyes. You are my child and I love you, but I will not allow myself to be pretty, for you. ... No matter how much you want to be just like me, I can't be beautiful for you and I don't know why. "It's working, a little bit. I've even stopped hating myself, a little bit."
Read the rest here.
Scarred for Life
The worry about how to explain homosexuality to kids has more to do with the parents' fears about homosexuality than kids' inability to understand. Kids are quite open to learning. Adults are the ones with the problem.
Real Men Take “No” for an Answer
I'm not usually a fan of saying "real men" do this or that, but in this case, I concur!
Happy Holidays
Exactly! Just say something nice and respond in kind. It's the intention behind the greeting that counts. The passive aggressive declarations about keeping the "Christ" in Christmas and being bothered that the cashier said "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" -- this isn't about sharing the joy of the season. It's about being a bit of a Scrooge.
Trollops
Chicago, 1922: These women were arrested for wearing one-piece bathing suits that revealed too much leg. What trollops.
The “War on Men”?
The "War on Men"? Seriously?! In this Fox News article (are you surprised?), writer Suzanne Venker makes the ridiculous claim that more and more men are shying away from marriage because:
"Women aren’t women anymore. ... In a nutshell, women are angry. They’re also defensive ... That’s because they’ve been raised to think of men as the enemy. Armed with this new attitude, women pushed men off their pedestal (women had their own pedestal, but feminists convinced them otherwise) and climbed up to take what they were taught to believe was rightfully theirs. ...
Whaaat? "Women had their own pedestals"? Oh, does she mean like back when we didn't have to worry our pretty little heads about voting and all that political nonsense? Or does she mean back when our only option in life was to get married, have kids, and stay home and we didn't have to worry our pretty little heads about working outside the home? I have a feeling that her concept of being on a pedestal means being subservient, holding a supporting role, and letting men make all the big decisions as leader.
"But what if the dearth of good men, and ongoing battle of the sexes, is – hold on to your seats – women’s fault? ... [The media has] put women front and center, while men and children sit in the back seat. But after decades of browbeating the American male, men are tired. "Fortunately, there is good news: women have the power to turn everything around. All they have to do is surrender to their nature – their femininity – and let men surrender to theirs."
Hear that, ladies? You're emasculating the menfolk! If you ever want to get married, stop browbeating them, stop trying to steal their jobs, and get back on your pedestal in the kitchen! Let the men take the front seat for once! Stop the War on Men! And for Christ's sake, stop being a damn feminist! They ruin everything.
Read the rest here, if you can stomach it.
This Is a Bitch
Here's the small print: "Sexist & homophobic words are violent & they're everybody's problem. Realize words have an impact even if you don't see it. Challenge sexist & homophobic language. Use different words. Change the subject. Support people who are being harassed. Use humor to change minds. Violent words support violence. Everybody has a backbone. Use yours."
Read more about Backbone Zone.
This Woman Has Rights Too
I've recently started posting a few original memes here and on my Facebook fan page (which has over 2,700 fans -- so please check it out!). As an artist, I enjoy creating these images. I add a small mention of my website, Facebook page, and logo to my memes in case they're shared. Unfortunately, another fan page on Facebook, Women's Rights News (which has about 100 times more fans than I do and should know better), has shared several of these images, but cropped my info off.
I realize that memes are found all over the Internet and it's hard to know where most originate, but when a meme actually has the originator's info on it, it's just not cool to crop it off or cover it up! I just found out that I'm not the only one -- they've done the same thing to several other great pages, such as Feminists United. I can't contact them discreetly, since they don't have a website and they've disabled private messaging and posting to their wall on Facebook, so the only thing left is to comment on their posts, which they ignore. So Women's Rights News, since you've left me with no other recourse and since you clearly follow my page, my latest original meme is dedicated to you!
Here are links to the above memes, which were posted previously on Beauty Is Inside:
- J.K. Rowling: http://beautyisinside.com/2012/10/is-fat-really-the-worst-thing/
- Portia de Rossi: http://beautyisinside.com/2012/10/portia-on-body-image/
- Iyanla Vanzant: http://beautyisinside.com/2012/10/what-we-believe/
- The 1950s Kitchen: http://beautyisinside.com/2012/10/1950s-kitchen/
Worse or Better
... or that we shouldn't complain about sexism here because women have it worse in other countries.
Are You Feminine?
"Do you remember not to stride ... to walk with a spring that looks as if you like to dance?" Why, yes I do! In fact, I often do the Waltz as I walk. I may not get very far, but golly gee, do I look feminine!
Female Chauvinist Pigs
Quote is actually by Emily Maguire in the intro to Ariel Levy's book, Female Chauvinist Pigs.
Tease
Example of men's sense of entitlement over women's bodies. Here's the underlying message: She's a tease, because men wanted to see her topless but she wouldn't do it. But as a woman, she's obligated to show men her breasts if they want her to. But haha - the joke's on her because they got their way after all, whether she was aware of it or not. (And before anyone says that she chose to wear a sheer top without a bra, I speak from personal experience that in certain lighting, black tops are sometimes more sheer than you'd think.)
