In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

“As Fat As Monroe”

She fumes: “I’d ban anything that is too small or too tight, unless you’re slim and toned. I’m sick of seeing flab bulging all over the place…I’d kill myself if I was as fat as Marilyn Monroe.”

I have some choice words for Elizabeth Hurley, but I’ll let you guys take care of this one.

via Mac

Leaving The Dollhouse

I have always had a little crush on this girl:

Heather Matarazzo hated high school. The 22-year-old actress, best known for her movie roles in ”Welcome to the Dollhouse” and ”Saved,” said she has known since second grade that she was attracted to other girls. But shame forced the actress into years of silence and self-destruction. She abused drugs and alcohol. She ran away from home.

Yesterday, Matarazzo described her experiences to more than 500 teachers, students, and parents who attended the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network of Boston’s 15th annual conference at Brookline High School. As the keynote speaker, Matarazzo drew tears and applause when she described her struggle to gain acceptance of her sexuality.

”It was such a burden, because I had to pretend to be this person that I wasn’t,” Matarazzo told the audience…

…Jiovani Robles and Valdir DePina, eighth-graders at the Academy of the Pacific Rim, a charter school in Hyde Park, attended the conference to support their gay teachers. Robles said he had not known until hearing Matarazzo’s speech that gay youth struggled so much for acceptance. He said his Catholic parents had taught him to respect everyone. But the boys said the conference opened their eyes to how much work still needs to be done to teach tolerance in schools.

I hated these conferences in high school (god, I hated high school), in part because they always turned into Cryfest ’99 so a particular set of kids could prolong their absence from class. But maybe that is unfair. Judging from the last paragraph, if these boys are honest, talks like this might actually make a difference.

via JC. Again.

A Brief Moment of Intellectual Superiority

I’m glad I opted for college:

Love is likely to thank for Paris’ newly angelic demeanor. She was joined at the W Hotel after-party by her new beau, Greek shipping heir Paris Latsis.

“He’s definitely the one,” she said, explaining that Paris Un et Paris Deux met way back in 1997 in a Hilton-owned Monaco club called Jimmy’s.

“Paris and I met when he was 14 and I was 16,” she said. “I had this fake tattoo on my back, and he came up and was like, ‘Is that real?’ and I totally lied and said, ‘Yeah.’ He’s like, ‘That’s hot,’ and I’m like, ‘I know.’ Then he said, ‘My name’s Paris,’ and I said, ‘My name’s Paris.’ Then we danced all night.”

“He always gives me nice gifts,” she said.

Thinking about (ick!) Reality Television

I am Thomas. I am guest-blogging. If you know me at all, you know me from my comments here, and at Feministing and Mouse Words.

This from Feministing. Now, we can all be adults and admit that we have each succumbed and watched some crappy reality television (though each of us probably secretly thinks that the garbage everyone else watches is worse than the garbage we watch). Or, even if we don’t own a television, Idol and some of the others are so ubiquitous that events on these shows have been treated by the MSM as real news. In an effort to keep this phenomenon from further atrophying my brain, I’d like to pause to actually think about it.

Some contestants in game shows called “reality TV” get kicked off for making porn (define it how you like). Some don’t. Some get kicked off for committing acts of domestic violence (I’m speaking of Big Brother, here). It looks like many more don’t — This jerk, the guy from “Who Wants To Marry A Multimillionaire” and others.

Here’s the question: is it completely ideosyncratic? Do producers just wing it? Are the networks or producers actually trying to apply criteria of any kind?

I assume at some level, they are just trying to maximize the audience and keep the advertisers from getting skittish. But are they flying blind? Do they test run each contestant “scandal” by some advertisers before making a decision? How does this work? Of course, what they do in the end is a reflection of their biases no matter how they purport to reason to the conclusion — but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to know how they get there.

Big & Beautiful

Intro: I’m Trish and I’m normally at Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman. Thanks Lauren for giving us all the chance to guest-blog! I thought I’d take this opportunity to share a link.

Leonard Nimoy has taken a series of beautiful photographs of large nude women. Note that this link will lead you to photographs of naked women. They’re artistic, but use your best judgement as to whether or not that’s work-safe.

Nimoy’s second book of photography will focus on the women of the Fat Bottom Revue. He says: “They are interested in fat liberation. Their self-esteem is strong. They will tell you that too many people suffer because the body they live in is not the body you find in the fashion magazines.”

via Big Fat Blog

Pimps and Bimbos

Weirdest beginning of an article I’ve read in awhile:

Motorcycle daredevil Evel Knievel cannot sue a Web site that published a photo of him with two women above a caption reading “You’re never too old to be a pimp,” a U.S. appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The term “pimp” was probably intended as a compliment, the court said. But Knievel said, “What good is law in the United States of America if five or six goddamn bimbos are going to rule against it?”

What good is free speech law? Evel. For real.