If Beauty Is Inside, Why Do We Hate Our Guts?: Pop Culture, Sexism, & Body Image
Learn moreReaders share the positive impact that Beauty Is Inside has had on their lives
Learn moreMen's t-shirts like these are sold in this store's "humor" section & feature the most incredibly witty phrases ever uttered by 14-year-old boys, including such gems as "Nice tits, too bad about your face" & "Hey slut let's fuck". Brilliant stuff, I tell ya. Especially the image below - "I have the dick, so I make the rules" - which was clearly inspired by GOP lawmakers.
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.
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 ...
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.
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."
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.
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.
Chicago, 1922: These women were arrested for wearing one-piece bathing suits that revealed too much leg. What trollops.
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."
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.
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.
... or that we shouldn't complain about sexism here because women have it worse in other countries.
"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!
Quote is actually by Emily Maguire in the intro to Ariel Levy's book, Female Chauvinist Pigs.
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.)
