New Favorites: Garfunkel & Oates

via Slog

Spring 2011

This is it, the last semester.

• Good Girls/Bad Girls
• Principles of Case Management
• Wellness Through Yoga
• Practicum in Human Development & 120-hour internship

This is OBVIOUSLY a Shampoo Ad

Her giant, barely covered breasts were the first clue, right? There's also a blonde one, if that's your preference.

via feministing

I'm Not Sure What This Is

But it sure is creepy and effective.


via feministing

“Z-Warrior Barbie in Battle with an Iguana”

From Reuters:

A piece by LaVonne Sallee titled "Z-Warrior Barbie in Battle with an Iguana" sits on a display at the "Altered Barbie" exhibition in San Francisco, August 11, 2008. Welcome to San Francisco's annual "Altered Barbie" exhibition, where the iconic doll of American pop culture is cut up, glued down, juxtaposed with all sorts of objects and transformed in a new mode of self-expression.

From SFGate:

For the sixth annual show, the theme is recycled and reusable materials, which many of the 60 artists have used to represent distorted body image, as well as to create everything from fashionable Barbie outfits to anatomically correct versions of the doll. The exhibition also includes quilts, print making, poetry, film, workshops on altering Barbie and "self-marriages," ceremonies intended to help people appreciate their capacity to control their own lives.

Check out more images of the peculiar and satirical art at Reuters and at SFGate.

What She Said

From Jezebel:
Should Women Stop Using the Word "Douchebag"?

...I don't use the word douchebag. I'm prone to "asshole" or "fucking jerk." And I like faux-swearing, like "mothertrucker" and "shut the front door, you son of a businessman." But it seems like "douchebag" has been growing in popularity lately. The same way I would never call someone who is not brave a "pussy," I don't know that calling a stupid, irritating or reprehensible guy a "douchebag" is a good idea, since the negative connotation comes from the fact that a douche is something only a woman uses.

Where "asshole" is not gender specific, "douchebag," "douchenozzle" and "twatwaffle" are specifically designed to insult a man by associating him with something feminine. A douche is for the vagina. Since when is being exposed to a vagina a bad thing? Is it okay to use "douchebag" because, as we all know, douching is not really necessary and actually can be harmful to your vaginal health? How many people who use the word actually know that?

On the other hand, I know that some words just become part of the lexicon and take on new meaning. So that when you think "douchebag" you just think "jerk" or "asshole" and not Summer's Eve feminine care. And I would never say something like "women should never use this word!" Freedom of speech is a beautiful thing.

But just like the Cleveland Indians logo, Darkie toothpaste, and those super-popular Sean John "No Bitch Ass Ness" T-shirts, "douchebag" makes me uncomfortable. Am I alone?

Its Cool to Talk about Birth Control with Your Friends in Extremely Specific Terms in a Casual Setting, Like a Nightclub

Happy period control to you, Sarah Haskins!


via Feministing

All the Green Girls are Doing It

CAUTION: This post contains talk of lady parts and menses.

I'm not too fond of putting bleach or rayon on my body so I don't know why its taken so long for me to decide not to put them in my body. Today I ordered my first Diva Cup, a reusable, non-absorbent menstrual cup that is made of silicone. It is latex-free, plastic-free, dye and color-free and hypoallergenic. From what I've read, the ladies love this shit.

Like I said, I've been thinking about trying a Diva Cup for a while. I'm not fond of the ongoing expense of tampons and, depending on what you use, the waste involved adds up quickly which is also an issue for me. If you're using most commercially manufactured tampons, the waste is up to and including paper, cardboard and plastic and the actual tampon itself. Organic, unbleached tampons address the issue of bleaching but still create waste that must be disposed. Pads are certainly the less environmentally-sound option. The Royal Institute of Technology of Stockholm did a life-cycle assessment of pad and found that

...the crucial process in the whole life cycle is the LDPE processing. Even though cellulose constitutes more weight percent of a pad, it doesn’t have so profound environmental impacts. It is due to high energy consumption of LDPE production and using oil as a raw material which is very valuable as an energy source. That is why the main impact from pads life cycle is fossil fuel use. Foresting and cellulose processing is much more environmentally friendly than plastic production. Most of the impacts come from raw materials processing and pads production; transportation also makes its inputs but not so large.

We are rapidly switching from plastic to canvas bags because of the significantly positive impact on the environment. I know my change from disposable tampons to the reusable Diva Cup is overdue.

Additionally, since I've been on birth control, my cycle is exceedingly lighter. I am constantly struggling with the following dilemma: should I be putting this foreign object in my body to absorb when my flow is so negligible? I've switched to low-flow options but the primary issue is not addressed by that adjustment.

I'm really happy I've made this decision. The Diva Cup will quickly pay for itself and the benefits inherent in its use make the minimal disadvantages seem even less important. I'll let you know how it goes.

Cultivating Girls with Precarious Ideas about Sex One Purity Ball at a Time

Every year, the Purity Ball makes the news and I lose my mind a little bit. The Ball is a formal, primarily Evangelical event attended by girls as young as four and their fathers. The girls pledge to remain pure and virginal until marriage; the fathers pledge to protect their daughters' virginity.

Let's begin with a creepy excerpt from Nancy Gibbs' July 17th article (The Pursuit of Teen Girl Purity) in TIME magazine:

Kylie Miraldi has come from California to celebrate her 18th birthday tonight. She'll be going to San Jose State on a volleyball scholarship next year. Her father, who looks a little like Superman, is on the dance floor with one of her sisters; he turns out to be Dean Miraldi, a former offensive lineman with the Philadelphia Eagles. When Kylie was 13, her parents took her on a hike in Lake Tahoe, Calif. "We discussed what it means to be a teenager in today's world," she says. They gave her a charm for her bracelet--a lock in the shape of a heart. Her father has the key. "On my wedding day, he'll give it to my husband," she explains. "It's a symbol of my father giving up the covering of my heart, protecting me, since it means my husband is now the protector. He becomes like the shield to my heart, to love me as I'm supposed to be loved."

Kylie talks with an unblinking confidence about a promise that she says is spiritual, mental and physical. "It's something I'm very proud of. I plan to keep pure until marriage. It's a promise I made to myself--not pressure from my parents," she says. She speaks plainly about what she wants in her life, what she thinks she has the power to control and what she doesn't. "I'm very much at peace about this," she says, and looks out across the twirling room. "I don't feel like I need to seek a man. I will be found."

These messages provided by these events and the parents who encourage their daughters participation are incredibly complicated. The messages insinuate that girls' worth is dependent only on their sexual activity or inactivity. And aren't these parents getting a little too involved in what's going on between their daughters' legs?

Perhaps providing a thorough sex education (including issues about emotions and self-esteem, peer pressure and hormones, STIs and contraception, pregnancy and responsibility), empowering girls to make their own decisions and being prepared to love and respect them after they've made their own decision, good or "bad," is the way to cultivate a sense of worth and strength in these maturing girls. In a time where abstinence-only sex education is a widespread and Congress-endorsed, albeit irresponsible, means of "teaching" students throughout the country, it is imperative for kids to be given as much information as possible and to be allowed to make decisions without fearing repercussions and crushing guilt.

From Feministing:

Flowery language and valorizing these days doesn't change what purity balls are about: the ownership and fetishizing of young girls' sexuality. Perhaps someone should remind Time of that fact.

via Feministing

McCain, The Incoherent Mysogynist

From ThinkProgress:

Earlier this week, one of Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) top advisers, Carly Fiorina, argued for McCain’s free-market approach to health care by noting that “there are many health insurance plans that will cover Viagra but won’t cover birth-control medication” and that many “women would like a choice.” But, as ThinkProgress noted, Fiorina’s argument was undermined by McCain’s 2003 vote against legislation that would have required insurance coverage of prescription birth control. When asked about the disconnect on his campaign bus today, McCain nervously replied, “I certainly do not want to discuss that issue“:

Q: Earlier this week Carly Fiorina was meeting with a bunch of reporters and talked about it being unfair that insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. And -

McCain: I certainly do not want to discuss that issue. (uneasy laughter)

Q: But apparently you’ve voted against (McCain laughter continues)

McCain: I don’t know what I voted -

Q: Voted against coverage of birth control, forcing health insurance companies to cover birth control in the past. Is that still your position?

McCain: I’ll look at my voting record on it, but I have, uh, (5 second pause) , I don’t recall the vote right now. But I’ll be glad to look at it and get back to you as to why, I don’t -

Q: I guess her statement was that it was unfair that health insurance companies cover Viagra but not birth control. Do you have an opinion on that?

McCain: (after 8 second pause) I don’t know enough about it to give you an informed answer because I don’t recall the vote, I’ve cast thousands of votes in the Senate. I will respond to - it’s a, it’s a (nervous)

McCain’s stumbling answer is reminiscent of when he was asked in March 2007 about public funding for contraceptives and he could only reply, “whether I support government funding for them or not, I don’t know.”

Wow. McCain's floundering for a response to minimal pressure on this issue is so unbelievably inauspicious that its frightening. Yikes!

via Feministing