TresSugar

Bra-Burning Never Happened!

TresSugar — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 14:00:24 -0800

Jessica Valenti, founder and editor of Feministing, recently told the New York Times Sunday Magazine bra-burning is a myth. This I did not know! She said:

"Bra-burning never happened. It was completely made up by the media. A couple of women protesting a Miss America pageant threw some bras into a garbage can, and somehow that became this longstanding idea of feminists as bra-burners."

We doubled checked, and Snopes - the Internet's definitive, if sadly designed, myth-busting site - confirms bra-burning never happened. Born out of the 1968 Miss America protest and the dissent du jour being draft-card-burning, a journalist, hungry for a headline, coined the phrase. However, NPR talked to Carol Hanisch, an organizer of the protest, last year and she said, "We had intended to burn it, but the police department, since we were on the boardwalk, wouldn't let us do the burning." Oh, well - maybe the next myth will be true!

Source: Flickr User (nz)dave

"Men's Rights" Groups Say Feminist Society Oppresses Men

TresSugar — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 13:00:00 -0800

We've all heard of women's rights activists, but are you familiar with men's rights activists? MRAs are men who believe that the emancipation of women and the emergence of feminism has led to the oppression of men. (Because, you know, it can't be a win-win proposition!)

Double X provided an extensive exploration of a movement that is trying to appear more mainstream. Here are some MRA claims:

False domestic abuse allegations are rampant.
A feminist-run court system wrongly separates innocent fathers from children.
Battered-women shelters scam taxpayers by transferring federal money to feminists.
Domestic violence laws help mail-order brides fraudulently get green cards.
Men are unrecognized victims of domestic violence themselves.

According to Double X, there's evidence that MRAs have greatly exaggerated many of their concerns about custody and domestic violence. For example, abuse accusations don't automatically win custody for mothers, and often incidents these men count as violence against men are really cases of self-defense. If you think this form of activism sounds too out there to be taken seriously, know that MRAs have had some very real influence. In 2008, they claimed responsibility for helping block the passage of four domestic violence bills.

What do you make of MRAs?

Say What? Sarah Haskins Rages Against the Machine

TresSugar — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:00:00 -0800

“As the Internet and TV and movies all become one scary machine in your living room, it’s important that we all have some level of media literacy."

- Sarah Haskins, who sends up ads directed at women in her amazing Target Women clips on Current TV. She thinks advertisers show how clueless they are about women by doing two incompatible things at once: "trying to still use some of the traditional gender roles, while also trying to match the changes . . . in the past 40 to 50 years."

Berlusconi Insults Women Again - And They're Fighting Back

TresSugar — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Feminism is back in vogue in Italy. Some say it lay dormant in spite of a vibrant '70s feminist movement, but thanks to raging misogynist Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, largely silent Italian women have had enough and are speaking up.

"[T]he scandals surrounding the prime minister have been like a violent slap in the face for millions of women who are just now waking up from a state of passivity," said political scientist Francesca Izzo.

A favorite tactic of the 73-year-old Berlusconi is to disparage the looks of his female political opponents. In a heated debate with 58-year-old opposition party member Rosy Bindi, he said, "You're more beautiful than you are intelligent," to which the annoyed politician shot back, "I am not a woman at your disposal." (Perhaps she was referring to his multiple girlfriends, which finally led his wife to file for a divorce.)

Many American women claim they aren't feminists, but I wonder if they'd change their tune if the president were speaking this way every day! To find out how Italian women are fighting back and to see a clip of a documentary about how women are represented on Italian television, read more

After Berlusconi's nasty comment to Rosy Bindi, pissed off women drafted a petition saying that his sexism was an insult both to women and to democracy. 11 days later, more than 100,000 women had signed it, claiming that Berlusconi participated in the "cretinization of women."

It took long enough for more women to speak up, but it's great they finally did it. Alas, Italian feminists have more than Berlusconi and his rhetoric to fight. In the following clip from filmmaker Lorella Zanardo's documentary Women's Bodies, you'll see that almost all the representations of women on Italian television depict them as sex objects.

Elisabeth Moss: Peggy Olson Is the "Ultimate Feminist"

TresSugar — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 16:00:00 -0700

Elisabeth Moss told New York magazine's Vulture that career women in the '60s weren't trying to change the world but simply trying to improve their lives. She said:

"These women weren’t trying to change everyone's lives; they just wanted to get their chance to do their job, and in that way she's the ultimate feminist."

The definition of feminism is subjective and always changing, but were women like Peggy the ultimate feminists or just the first(ish)?

Say What? National Organization For Women on Letterman

TresSugar — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:00:00 -0700

"As 'the boss,' he is responsible for setting the tone for his entire workplace - and he did that with sex. In any work environment, this places all employees -including employees who happen to be women - in an awkward, confusing and demoralizing situation."

- Terry O'Neill for the National Organization for Women reminding people that David Letterman's admitted affairs with female staffers over the years, although described as consensual, occurred in the workplace and constitute what many people would consider an abuse of power by an employer toward his employees. Because men who are bosses decide who to hire, fire, advance, and give raises to, "consent" is made between two people who are not equals. Letterman has since apologized to viewers, to his entire staff over the years, and to his wife, Regina Lasko, but O'Neill wants people to remember this happens every day in workplaces all over the country. If you'd like to hear what she thinks CBS should do to fix this "toxic" situation, read more.

7 Things I Learned About Girl Power From Watching "Whip It"

TresSugar — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:00:00 -0700

It's rare to see empowering chick flicks (even that genre name is a little annoying), but Whip It, starring Ellen Page, Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig, and the terrifyingly awesome Juliette Lewis, was fun and inspirational.

The film is about teenager Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page), who would rather skate on a roller derby team than don an evening gown and compete in beauty pageants as her mother wants her to. The following is what I learned about that outmoded term "girl power" from watching it:

1. Your mom may not realize she's keeping you down with the same things that kept her down. Communicate with her - it may help you both.

2. Being true to yourself may not just make you happier, it may make everyone around you happier. A lot of unnecessary tension ensues in Bliss's life because she hides her true self from her family.

3. Boys can be fun, but they aren't everything. Wait for the right one (if that's your thing), and in the meantime, find yourself. To find out what else I learned, read more.

4. It's OK to be competitive with other women if you aren't hurting or undermining anyone. Competition between women abounds in both of Bliss's worlds, the pageant world and the roller derby world, some good and some bad. It may not be as culturally acceptable for women to be competitive with each other, but a healthy dose of it keeps you in top form.

5. It's important to find an activity that not only challenges you but brings out your signature strengths. Bliss is certainly challenged by beauty pageantry - but not in a good way. Roller derby brings out her best traits.

6. Friends really can be the family you wish your family was. (Although you should give your family a chance!)

7. Taking risks in your life can pay off. It would have been just as hard for Bliss to continue with the pageant world, but by going out of her comfort zone and reaching for something that scares and excites her, she comes out on top.

Say What? Phyllis Schlafly on Taking Back America

TresSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:37:12 -0700

"I submit to you that the feminist movement is the most dangerous, destructive force in our society today . . . My analysis is that the gays are about five percent of the attack on marriage in this country, and the feminists are about 95 percent."

- Conservative political activist Phyllis Schafly, best known for her opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment in the '70s, at
the conservative "How to Take Back America" conference this weekend. To watch a video clip of her speech, read more.

Do Tell: What Does It Mean to Be a Feminist?

TresSugar — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 06:00:00 -0700

The week the Dalai Lama summed up his definition of a feminist, something he claims to be, very succinctly. He said:

"I call myself a feminist. Isn’t that what you call someone who fights for women’s rights?"

Earlier this month we discussed what it means for a woman to be "empowered," and we noted that there have been various varieties of feminism through the years. Do you, like the Dalai Lama, subscribe to his simple definition of feminism, or has the evolution of the women's right movement impacted what it means to be a feminist?

What do you think it means to be a feminist?

Comment du Jour: Hold My Bag While I Do the Heavy Lifting

TresSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:41:47 -0700

"You can carry my bags and objectify me occasionally. I'm cool with that. I can think for myself though."

- tlsgirl responds to AskMen.com's "relationship correspondent" and her list of feminist demands she thinks women really want men to ignore. It seems most readers took issue with her claim that women don't want to think for themselves.