TresSugar

War of the Words - Don't Call It Jihad Anymore!

CitizenSugar — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:30:50 -0700

The war on terror just got a new front: the dictionary. This week, the language officials from the State Department and the Department of Homelands Security use to describe the war is set to get a makeover.

Out: Jihadists; Mujahdeen; Islamo-fascism. In: Violent extremist; Terrorist

Some crack linguists realized that some words may actually boost support for radicals among Arab and Muslim audiences by admitting religious credibility or by offending moderates.

To see a sample from the memo, which is way more interesting than its title, Words That Work and Words That Don't: A Guide For Counterterrorism Communication, read more.

Regarding "jihad," even if it is accurate to reference the term, it may not be strategic because it glamorizes terrorism, imbues terrorists with religious authority they do not have, and damages relations with Muslims around the world.

A HSA version called, Terminology to Define the Terrorists: Recommendations from American Muslims says that the US may be "unintentionally portraying terrorists, who lack moral and religious legitimacy, as brave fighters, legitimate soldiers or spokesmen for ordinary Muslims."

Words are absolutely a potent tool - just consider the dubbing of "prochoice" and "prolife." Who's against either choice or life? But used in context they imbue the adherents of each with a certain credibility. Is it right to eliminate words like jihad because they could have positive connotations for some? Do we need to be careful not to give bin Laden and other al-Qaeda leaders legitimacy by characterizing them as religious figures? Should the war on terror become a war of words?

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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.

President Obama Gets Auto-Tuned

TresSugar — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 13:00:00 -0700

When I came across this video from last night's Jimmy Kimmel Live, I watched it over and over again. I thought I'd share it with you guys, in case you needed a good laugh to start off your weekend! In the clip, rapper T-Pain gives President Obama's healthcare rhetoric the auto-tune treatment. If you've found the healthcare reform debate to be a little dry, this video will surely keep your attention. The good stuff happens about a minute in!

Serena Williams vs. Aunt Flo - Love It or Leave It?

TresSugar — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 09:00:00 -0700

While I think tampons sell themselves thanks to their life-changing qualities, Tampax has recruited tennis great Serena Williams to pitch their lady products in a new commercial. Dressed in her tennis whites, Serena has nothing to fear from Mother Nature, because she's also wearing a tampon! Over the years, companies have appealed to femininity or used the rhetoric of freedom to sell tampons to women. What do you make of the latest attempt?

Tampons and Maxi Pads: A Walk Down Memory Lane

TresSugar — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:15:00 -0700

Whether you call it your Moon Time or the Curse, if you're a woman, you have to contend with a monthly period. Let's take a look at how advertising sold its pads and 'pons to women of yore. Whether it was through distraction (hey, look, a pretty dress!) or through the rhetoric of freedom, advertisers did their best to sell a product women have never really been thrilled to buy.

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Writer Boldly Goes Where No Mother Has Gone Before

TresSugar — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:30:00 -0700

I've had a love/hate relationship with Ayelet Waldman for some time, but the more I read her work and listen to her speak, the more I realize that my ambivalence is with the subjects she discusses more than it is with her: motherhood, work, feminism, and the idea of "having it all."

Waldman, whose husband is writer Michael Chabon, caused a bit of controversy a few years ago when she declared (in a rhetorically bold and questionable move) that she loved her husband more than her children. She said she wanted to contrast herself from the women in her circle she noticed were no longer sexually involved with their husbands because they'd subsumed their identities to being mothers. Although she loved her children, she wanted to make a point she wouldn't sacrifice her identity and sexuality on their behalf. (Needless to say, if I were her kid, I'd have been pretty hurt by that statement!)

To find out more about Waldman and her relationship to feminism, read more.

In an interview with Terry Gross on NPR's Fresh Air, she discusses her new book Bad Mother and the dissonance between the feminism she inherited from her feminist-consciousness-raising mother and the one she and her generation of women inhabits where the lines of choice are blurrier. Particularly, she talks about the abortion she had after a bad amniocentesis result.

"I’m 44 years-old, and I think I’m part of the first generation of women raised with feminist mothers, and when I first was feeling frustrated, angry and depressed about being stuck at home, I really kind of turned on that message. I said this was a lie, this whole thing was a lie. We can’t have it all...

At a very basic level we have the same idea of what it means to be a feminist. I absolutely call myself a feminist, and what I mean by that is that I think your opportunities should not be constrained by your gender, that women should be offered the same opportunities as men, and my mother feels that way too. I think the difference is...a kind of gradation and shades of grey.”

Did your mother teach you, directly or indirectly, about feminism? What lessons did you learn and do you think they're relevant to your life now?

Plastic Surgeons: The Economy Is Affecting Us

TresSugar — Thu, 07 May 2009 15:30:00 -0700

“Business has definitely been flat,” says Dr. Brian Kinney, a plastic surgeon from (surprise!) Los Angeles. And he's not talking about his breast augmentation patients.

At the annual meeting of the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, plastic surgeons expressed relief that although the economy has contributed to the slowdown of the number of cosmetic procedures in the US last year (falling 12.3 percent to just over 10.2 million), more patients are opting for nonsurgical procedures. Botox, its new competitor Dysport, and soon-to-be-on-the-market muscle-numbing creams will all provide revenue as the demand for invasive surgery wanes ever so slightly. What else is going on in the world of plastic surgery? To find out, read more.

There is one segment of the population in which plastic surgery is on the rise: among nonwhite patients. Describing nonwhites as having long been "underserved," Dr. Julius Few, an African-American plastic surgeon from Chicago, says that when he was growing up, it seemed "unfair" that plastic surgery was available primarily to wealthy white people - but things are changing.

So basically, what we are to take from this news story is that no matter what, plastic surgeons can count on women to spend money enhancing their looks somehow, and now nonwhites, too, have the itch for invasive plastic surgery! Note the rhetoric Dr. Few uses - "underserved, unfair" - as if being able to get plastic surgery were equivalent to getting basic health care.

I wonder sometimes what Naomi Wolf, author of The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, would think about the mainstreaming of plastic surgery. Not only do few women critique plastic surgery, but some have in fact embraced it as an almost necessary part of being a woman, like wearing a bra or having a period.

Wolf's discussion of plastic surgery in The Beauty Myth was was under an interesting rubric: violence. Why, she wondered, are so many women willing to spend money they might not have to go under the knife - and even risk death - to have a smaller nose, larger breasts, or conform to a beauty ideal?

What do you feel about the mainstreaming of plastic surgery?

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Glenn Beck's Tactics: Dangerous, Delusional, or Dead On?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:30:01 -0700

By now we all know that Glenn Beck is a little extreme in his rhetoric. Well yesterday he took his impersonation of President Obama to the next level. The Fox News host imitated the president by pouring "gasoline" on an "average American." The manic metaphor was supposed to explain that Barack Obama is setting the American public on fire by apologizing to the "Frenchy French," sort of bowing to the King of Saudi Arabia, hinting toward a change in Cuban policy, taking on immigration, and pushing through his budget. Beck said Obama was "spending money that leads only to slavery."

Take a look, it gets extra intense toward the end, and tell me what you make of it?

Dumbass of the Day

GiggleSugar — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:00:00 -0700

Not only does this defendant on Judge Judy not know how to provide intelligent testimony - you know, the kind that won't get her into trouble - she doesn't understand what a rhetorical question is. When Judge Judy tells you something isn't rocket science, and then asks you what rocket science is, don't define it, followed by an "I think . . ." Sigh.

Obama Unleashes at Dem's Retreat - Productive or Partisan?

CitizenSugar — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 09:30:13 -0800

At the Democrats retreat last night, President Obama sounded more like candidate Obama using tough language to repudiate his Republican critics and fire up the Democratic majority.

Calling his opposition's ideas "tired" and "worn," Obama maintained that Americans had voted against false theories of the past. And he asked Republicans rhetorically: "What do you think a stimulus is? It’s spending - that's the whole point! Seriously.” But some of his strongest language came for his predecessor George W. Bush, when he said:

When they say, "Well, why are we spending $800 billion [when] we’ve got this huge deficit?" – first of all, I found this deficit when I showed up, No. 1. I found this national debt, doubled, wrapped in a big bow waiting for me as I stepped into the Oval Office.

Do you think Obama's new found fighting spirit will help get the US economy back on track?