This particular soliciation email celebrated the 39th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade and was concered about the future of women’s reproductive rights. And as I’m sure you know, this is something worth getting riled up about…

Most importantly the email announced the winner of the WMC’s “In Your Own Words video contest that asked contestants to tell us what they think the future of feminism looks like” Contest: Echo Zen

Okay — the point of this explanation about a solicitation email is this video — I can’t give money – I haven’t got any but I can use my voice – and so can you! Be clear and loud people, stand up for women’s reproductive rights. No need to be quiet.

For more info and to register, go to http://www.bodyloverevolution.com.

Here’s a very brief rundown of the topics and interviewees:

SCHEDULE (Full schedule is at HTTP://WWW.BODYLOVEREVOLUTION.COM) :

1/31 — FAT ACTIVISM with Peggy Howell, Amanda Levitt & Marilyn Wann

2/2 — FAT HEALTH with Linda Bacon & Ragen Chastain

2/7 — FATSHION with Marie Denee, Rachel Kacenjar, & Yuliya Raquel

2/9 — FAT SEX with Hanne Blank & Virgie Tovar

2/16 — FAT BLOGGING & SOCIAL MEDIA with Marianne Kirby, Margitte Leah Kristjansson & Brian Stuart

2/21 — FAT FITNESS with Jeanette DePatie & Anna Guest-Jelley

2/23 — FAT/QUEER INTERSECTIONS with Bevin Branlandingham, Charlotte Cooper, & Jessica Luxery

2/28 — FAT POLITICS & HISTORY with Paul Campos & Amy Erdman Farrell

Again, the address to register is http://www.bodyloverevolution.com..

Also, I’m not sure how many of you would be interested, but I heard about this by belonging to the yahoo fat studies group – which is perhaps the most awesome and informative “listserve” I’ve ever been part of – the group is super smart well informed and genuinely engaged in thinking about how fat studies and fat-phobia and hatred are with us everyday. Check it out.

Awesome, right?

Cheerleader Melissa Kellerman was barely into the middle part of her 15 minutes of fame when the Dallas Cowboys pulled the plug. Kellerman, a 22-year-old student in her fourth year with the team, became a national sensation on Thanksgiving when she was accidentally tackled on the sideline by Cowboys tight end Jason Witten(notes). CNBC’s Darren Rovell reported that Kellerman was forced to delete her Twitter account after posting two messages on Friday morning about the incident. Her Tweets were good-natured and innocuous.

Those were pretty much the perfect tweets: Clever, self-deprecating and a bit funny. (We’ll even ignore the winking emoticons.) Why did she have to delete her Twitter account? Do the Cowboys believe cheerleaders are only to be seen, not heard?

I love it! A genuine critique of what looks like gender-policing to me!!

My thoughts about this are endless — I find my self in a tizzy about the idea of extremes. In other words, I don’t think we can dictate what other cultures perceive as empowerment. Shrouding – wearing a hijab – may be understood by the Western Feminist as oppression, but it is not always understood by the wearer a source oppression. Let me give you two popular culture references to the opposing opinion. First, an old episode of Jack and Bobbie, which btw was a really good show – you should check it out. In this episode Christine Lahti’s character tears into a Muslim girl’s identity and belief in God as unevolved, uneducated and oppressed. The girl, Hebba responds that wearing a Hijab is part of her ‘liberation’ – fast forward to the second minute to see Hebba’s argument:

Secondly, look at this cartoon:

Clearly – this cartoon about the western feminist perspective’s failure to understand a Muslim woman’s desire to wear a hijab.  So, my point is – I get the complexity here – the idea that there are  women who wear a hijab and still maintain a sense of empowerment and who am I to tell them that they are wrong – that my kind of empowerment is the only kind? And furthermore, I tend to think that we have to – absolutely must – allow for “choice.”

… but I also recognize extremes – which often result from choices that are made in an uneducated, abusive  or oppressed context – I think that porn stars often fall into this category and so can women who are illiterate or uneducated and completely shrouded -or women who are subjected to female castration without a genuine understanding of the consequences. In my gut I feel that this cannot be a state of empowerment because it represents a fanatic extreme that is based on a patriarchal of kyriarchal state. Does it look like empowerment to you?

Still – it’s complicated right — more complicated than we originally think. It is so easy to fall into the trap of seeing your perspective as the right one – but this of course is the flaw of colonialism and conversion – which if you ask me have been at the root of most major atrocities.  And yet — I find myself asking once again…

WTF – What constitutes tempting eyes?

WTF – What constitues tempting eyes?

The ideas that Noah is presenting have always fascinated me – in particular I have wondered why ‘feminized’ or ‘feminine’ men are regularly the fixture on the covers of teen fan magazines and other teen focused media directed at young girls. My thinking and pondering is two-fold – what makes these ‘feminine’ boys typical heartthrobs for teen girls, i.e what is the attraction, and when and why does the shift occur that leads women to pursue or desire traditional or hegemonic masculinity – which is violent and controlling? In some ways, I wonder if these young men look ‘feminine’ to us because they are so young – which ties into the whole idea that as men age they become distinguished – or rather they become more ‘masculine’? Clearly, I haven’t got this figured out but I have thought about it a lot — and  so has Noah over at NSWATM. Mostly, I’m interested in how the switch occurs  – wondering why women – even feminist women -  are attracted to the construct of hegemonic masculinity and define their sexuality in response to it -  (see bell hooks essay, “Seduced by Violence No More”) – when at some point they were attracted to softer, sweeter more compassionate images and ideas. And at the same time I wonder if the softer, sweeter ideas are the products of  a feminine gender identity – the whole Disney princess bit? How will we ever know?

Drifting from the intellectual banter… when I was in middle school I had a thing for two teen heartthrobs, Fred Savage - who I’m sure y’all remember from The Wonder Years – and Noah Hathaway - who was Atryeu in The Never Ending Story.  Early on in grad school, I came across a copy of The Never Ending Story in a five dollar bin. Without a second thought, I bought it.  (Side note: I also bought a copy of Space Camp that day – quality film, y’all.)  Anyway – I got home excited to watch – popped in the DVD and promptly felt like a pedophile. Tis same thing occurred when I re-watched The Wonder Years. Both Noah Hathaway and Fred Savage were kids in these productions, but as I grew my memories of them grew with me. In other words, I remembered men – but they were barely pubescent teens.  Take a look:

Weird, right?

Who was your heartthrob in middle school? Have you taken a look lately? Because I think you’ll find that your tastes have matured and somewhere along the way… Which clearly, we’re thankful for – but when we went from lusting after teens to lusting after men did we also incorperate hegemonic constructs of masculinity into our desire?

Randy noted that the Roxy Logo was similar to the new feminist cupcake logo, which I thought was pretty cool.  We ordered two sandwiches – a mac and chorizo grilled cheese and a fall inspired grilled cheese which had butternut squash, raisins and granny smith apples – can you say yum?!?! The food truck idea is so awesome – I am totally going to look this up from now on — in fact, I’m thinking I need to share more of my food exploits with y’all. Because to be honest, when I’m not thinking feminism, I’m thinking travel and food. So, if in Boston on a Friday afternoon, definitely hit up Roxy’s Grilled Cheese – they park outside the public library in Copley Square.

Secondly,  I wanted to share this gem, which they were selling at a novelty store on Newbury St:

I don’t have a whole lot of deep thoughts to go with this moment – To be honest, my first reaction was to giggle but ultimately, I think I’m offended by the ‘designer beaver’  because it’s objectifying and represents the vagina a plaything to be manipulated.

Finally, there was  another weird objectification moment at the Copley Square farmer’s market – Have y’all seen the PETA Pilgrims?  I didn’t have a camera with me, but here is an example:

Apparently sexy pilgrim outfits promote tofurkey…  This is not the first time that I’ve seen PETA use the objectification of women as a tactic for saving animals — the argument is vegetarian is “sexy.”  Take a look:

It seems so bizarre to me that a group of people who are trying to save the lives of animals would do so by capitalizing on the objectification of female bodies. I was particularly frustrated by this image, which seems to sexualized violence towards women in order to make a point about cruelty to animals:

PETA also makes fun of and perpetuates fat prejudice:

I am all for a discussion of animal rights – I am horrified by the cruelty that animals suffer at the hands of human beings – factory farming, puppy mills – these things are sickening things and you can and should read about these issues. BUT I am also horrified by PETA’s advertising campaign. Is this the kind of thinking we genuinely want to see for those that are working with a social justice issue – or isn’t the goal to rise above the commercialization and commodification of humans/animals as objects so that we can end the world’s inequalities??

Clearly, PETA doesn’t get it.

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