Objectify This

The case Redding vs. Safford Unified School District #1 was decided by the Supreme Court this week.  The 8-to-1 decision was awarded to Savana Redding, who as 13-year old girl, was strip-searched by school officials when she was suspected of carrying prescription-strength ibuprofen to school, each of which would have had the strength of two [...]

This photograph is by Francesca Woodman, a fantastic feminist photographer who killed herself in her twenties several decades ago. Her work is haunting, because she treats the female form and the objectifying gaze of the camera and manages to make it beautiful.
From Johannesburg, the story of Dumisani Rebombo, one rapist repenting, asking his victim’s forgiveness, [...]

Recently I was listening to this episode of This American Life (Act Two, to be precise) and realized that the American Muslim community is experiencing a frightening witch hunt.
In short, Masan Azbahi  was an Obama campaign liaison to Chicago’s Muslim community until he was accused of being a terrorist.
Why? Because he had once served on [...]

Are women’s magazines bad for women?
It might seem like a stupid question. But when, as the New York Times reports, a University of Missouri study “found that looking at women’s magazines for 1-3 minutes had a negative impact on women’s self esteem. So imagine what happens if we’re bombarded by these images every day.”
This suggests [...]

Geek chic is in.
Even the New York Times knows it. While in previous years that would mean that it’s already passé, Obama has ushered in a celebration of the passé - both a revival of the cult of the individual and a trumph of sincerity.
I know that it’s odd to label the onset of our [...]

Hat tip to Bust for their coverage of this well-heeled event in their August/September issue: there’s a a new annual parage of feminist men who strut their stuff and walk the walk, literally.
The “Walk a Mile in Her Shoes,” which bills itself as an “International Men’s March Against Rape, Sexual Assault and Gender Violence” — [...]

I’ve been listening to the London-based Simian Mobile Disco, a music production team who call themselves “Electro/ Psychadelic/ Alternative” on their Myspace page. They are composed of two guys named James (foreground, left) and claim to sound like “good, old-fashioned, analogue party music” (as their wacky Brit-ball spelling has it).
Specifically, I’ve been listening to their [...]

The New York Times recently reported that yet another rapist is being let off of the hook - as the majority are. Nearly 95% of men standing trial for rape in the United States and the United Kingdom are cleared of all charges, which is a shocking number considering the social, personal and political [...]

According to Pulitzer-Prize winning feminist, biologist and journalist Natalie Angier, biological anthropology started out as an attempt to make a ’science’ out of  objectifying women (mainly by conflating culturally determined elements of attractiveness with the work of evolution).
Such research incites dispute because it supports oppressive cultural standards of beauty with pseudoscience, and thus presents women [...]

Back in the day, in 1776, when our Founding Father and future second president John Quincy Adams was helping to draft the constitution, his wife, (Founding Mother?), Abigail Adams, asked him to “Remember the ladies” in that august document. He replied, in a letter, “Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine [...]

So Lena Chen. Here’s a refresher course. She’s a sexblogger from Harvard who tells stories about her sexploits, with strategically placed psuedonyms and (presumably) enough privacy to retain her sanity and, oh yeah, sell some advertising.
Recently, some trouble was roused when her vindictive ex published naked pictures of her on the internet, thus ruining [...]

So, I’m a girl. I know this may come as a shock. But don’t worry, I’ve had my cooties shots.
Chances are, there are some other girls in your life. If so, you might care to hear about this article published in Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience by Associate Professor Maryjane Wraga of the Psychology department [...]

Hat tip to Broadsheet for this inspiring story of how Nordic artist Morten Traavik uses beauty pageants to subvert modern standards of beauty. In a country where 23 years of civil war has left 80,000 people disabled, Angolan society objectifies survivors of violence as passive victims and dismisses them as useless to society. Although the inclusion [...]

I went to a dinner party a while ago, and it was really nice. I was camoflaged in adult clothes, and standing around with adults, chatting, and this child ran through. The child hesitated on the edge of our circle of tall obstacles, and then darted into the middle and out the other side. The [...]