Quick read for your Friday afternoon! A CNN piece I was quoted in:
Twenty-year-old, 6-foot-1 Andrej Pejic is a model for success: a women’s size 2 or 4; angular cheekbones; full, pouty lips; bleached-blond hair; and impossibly long legs. Yet the walk down the runway — often squeezed into a ladies’ size 10 shoe — hasn’t always been a smooth and glamour-ridden one.
Bosnian-born Pejic grew up as the younger son to a single mother of two. He spent most of his childhood in a Serbian refugee camp before moving to Melbourne, Australia. While others are quick to attach labels to Pejic — he’s been referred to in the media everywhere from “James Blond” to “gender bender” to “femiman” — androgynous sensation Pejic isn’t so quick to constrict himself to a particular description… [continued]
I don’t think there should be an “acceptable” way to dress or to present yourself according to your gender, so I think it’s pretty awesome that Andrej Pejic has taken the fashion world by storm. As I mention in the linked article, however, visibility can only do so much to counter the existing gender binary, and let’s not forget that profit interests are the reason why Pejic’s strutting down the runway.
In fact, rather than subverting norms, might this trend in gender ambiguity reinforce them? Pejic’s look is first and foremost a source of profit for the agency and designers who employ him. There’s a big difference between appearing androgynous and being trans or gender-queer, but a fashion spread is not going to articulate all those nuances, nor does it even touch upon the kinds of prejudice or outright violence that many trans folks encounter because of the way they dress. Your average 20-year-old transgender person is not a highly sought after model, yet they’re the ones who aren’t insulated from harassment, discrimination, and physical violence. That isn’t to say that Pejic doesn’t encounter ignorance as well, but he enjoys some economic insulation, which shouldn’t be underestimated. Employment is a privilege that many trans people can’t count on (since gender identity and expression aren’t constitutionally protected rights). All in all, I have my doubts about whether this trend actually challenge mainstream ideas about beauty and gender or if it merely fetishizes androgyny.
Georgia Representative Tom Price, when asked how low-income women could access contraception without insurance
I don’t know what country Mr. Price is living in. GOOD Magazine’s Amanda Hess and Nona Willis Aronowitz compiled stories from 25 of their peers (including yours truly) to illustrate the number of people who have been financially constrained in their contraceptive decision-making. And we are the “lucky ones”. Have a story of your own? Share it in the comments or tweet it out under the hashtag #priceiswrong.
Concerned about women’s access to healthcare? Add your name to the list of supporters for the Coalition to Protect Women’s Health Care (whose members include Planned Parenthood, Feminist Majority, and NARAL Pro-Choice America, among others).
where is your line? | Lena Chen: Badass Activist Friday!
The Line Campaign chatted with me for their feminist interview series. I talked about my ambivalence toward the “sexpert” label, dating while feminist, and my upcoming web series on gURL.com. Check it out!
UPDATE: The Women’s Media Center has extended the deadline for its Girls’ State Of The Union contest to December 12th.
Here are TWO opportunities (one new, one previously posted) for creative feministas to show off their talents and win big!
The Women’s Media Center invites girls from all over the United States, ages 14-22, to create a 1-5 minute Girls’ State of the Union video in response to the President’s speech. Like the President’s report, the Girls’ State of the Union will sum up the condition of the country—with special emphasis on the welfare of girls—and an outline of what the President’s legislative agenda and priorities for congress should be.
Five finalists will be highlighted on the Women’s Media Center’s YouTube channel and a group of diverse and talented celebrity and new media influencer judges (including yours truly) will choose the winner. The winner, along with her parents or guardians, will be flown to Washington, DC to present her State of the Union report at the National Press Club in January. For more details on how to enter, check out the official webpage.
Don’t forget that I’m also judging the Feminist Flash Fiction contest over at MookyChick. The prize is £100 and a one-year subscription to BUST Magazine for the writer of the best submission under 200 words. Think: haiku, six-word memoir, etc. Just make it short and sweet. Best part? You can enter more than once!
Good luck, and please reblog and spread the word widely :)
Following up on my post about the recent Twitter campaigns to bring awareness to gendered cyber harassment, here’s a link to a radio segment I did on the topic as part of Jamila Bey’s SPAR (Sex, Politics, and Religion) show, airing on Voice of Russia’s American outlet (AM 1390 in DC / AM 1430 in NYC). Rebecca Watson, the founder of Skepchick and co-host of the Skeptics Guide to the Universe, was also a guest on the show. Rebecca discussed her own experiences with online harassment, which included a troll who was eventually arrested for making death threats against her.
Check out the audio recording of the show at the link above.
For related posts on online harassment, check out the “haterade” tag.
I’m judging an awesome writing contest over at MookyChick, a UK-based alternative women’s site. (You might remember this interview they did with me last month.) It’s easy to enter — the maximum word length for each entry is 200 words — and there’s a cash prize (as well as a feministy one) involved. Here are the details:
Slut shaming. Contraception. Body dysmorphia. Ladette culture. Impossible Disney princesses. The glass ceiling for women in everything from banking to comedy. Acid attacks in S Asia. Systematic rape in Sierra Leone. FGM. Saudi women permitted to vote but not drive themselves to the polling station. Being told it’s, uh, you know, dude, a little bit uncool to call yourself a feminist. Feminism is prevalent in all aspects of society and affects, ooh, pretty much 100% of the population!
To promote feminism in writing, Mookychick is proud to announce a new annual writing competition, FEMINIST FLASH 2011. It’s dead easy to enter, and you should. Right now! Channel your inner Dorothy Parker / Caitlin Moran / Margaret Atwood / Naomi Wolfe and you’ll win wealth, fame and a 1 year digital subscription to BUST Magazine.
The first-prize winner of the best haiku, poem or flash fiction (under 200 words) receives:
- £100 (or your country’s equivalent)
- Publication with a link to your blog on Mookychick
- 1 Year digital subscription to the fabled Bust magazine!
Entries accepted until November 30, 2011. Check out the runner-up prizes and full instructions on how to enter at MookyChick!
Tell your feminist writer pals and please reblog to spread the word :)
Happy Monday! I’m nominated for Most Influential Female Blogger over at College Candy. Check out all the nominees in the different categories and fill out a survey of who you think represents the best of the best — everyone who votes gets entered to win a prize from Rent The Runway :)
For more, check out the full piece, “How To Deal With Judgy Doctors”, on Jezebel.
Throughout October, I’m competing to win my own web series on SHAPE.com. I’d really appreciate it if you supported TheChicktionary.com in the Best Blogger Awards. (It’s super easy to vote, just a click!)
Hi folks, I’m currently up for the Best Blogger Awards at SHAPE Magazine — and the grand prize winner gets their own web show sponsored by the magazine! If you want to see a mainstream women’s website host a video series promoting positive body image and sexuality, please take a few seconds to click over and vote for The Chicktionary.
To promote my blog’s nomination, I’ll be hosting interviews with guest experts and doing giveaways of books, sex toys, and more! Get the first scoop on my social media-specific contests by following me on Twitter, liking my page on Facebook, and signing up for my new monthly newsletter. (I’ll be announcing a giveaway for the first 100 subscribers this week.)
For a peek at some of The Chicktionary’s greatest hits, check out the following posts on fitness, sexual health, mental health, and body image:
On Harvard and (Un)Happiness
Why I Won’t Shut Up About Having HPV
What Sex Blogging & The Freshman 15 Taught Me
The Gym-A-Phobe’s Guide To Having Your Cupcake & Eating It Too
How I Dumped The Pill And Met The IUD
Bad Feminist Confessions: I Just Wish I Were Thin
The Blueprint Myth
Voting ends October 28th and I’m currently at #3. Help me get to the top spot by sharing the link with your friends :)
So kids, I’m a nominee for the 2011 Social Media Award from the Women’s Media Center. If you’ve found my blogging and online communication strategy* to be helpful/entertaining/educational/etc., cast a vote for me here!
Y’all are always asking me for website recommendations, so here’s a tip: check out the other nominees in the category. According to the Women’s Media Center, “The nominees represent a diverse group of journalists, bloggers and tweeters who spread their ‘message’ by using their creativity and resourcefulness via the interwebs through social networking, blogging and mobile outreach.” I’m friends with several of the nominated women, so I can attest that they are as awesome personally as they are professionally. They do some fabulously creative work and represent a really diverse spectrum of interests (they’re not all writers, by the way). On the voting page, you can read bios for each person and click over to their site.
Thanks for voting! And because this IS a social media award after all, I encourage you to reblog, Tweet, and distribute this post widely ;)
* This “online communications strategy” largely consists of sneaking commentary about gender politics in between posts about domestic squabbles and inappropriate conversations I’ve had with my friends. Given my inability to sound or look like an adult in real life, I think I actually make a better impression from behind the computer screen.
