American ideas about “real men” are contradictory and impossible to live up to. So stop trying! You’ve almost certainly heard feminist rants about impossible cultural ideals of femininity: how standards of femininity are so narrow and rigid they’re literally unattainable; how, to avoid being seen as unfeminine, women are expected to navigate an increasingly narrow […]
This week, the press is abuzz with the news of the latest celebrity wedding, in which a beautiful commoner comes into the spotlight to marry a charming man from a large, powerful family. I’m talking, of course, about Bella Swan and Edward Cullen, the main characters in this fall’s new Twilight film, Breaking Dawn. Although […]
It’s the time of year when the days become longer, the temperatures rise, and pools everywhere open for the season. What does that mean? Well, mostly that I’m glued to my couch on Monday nights because The Bachelorette is back on TV! (What? It’s really hot here in DC anyway. Who’d want to be outside […]
There is a seismic shift afoot that affects all aspects of what it means to be a man or a woman. Census data reveal part of the story: Women have been outpacing men in bachelor’s degrees since 1996 and, for the first time, more women now have advanced degrees than men, too. Women now make […]
Have you heard? Kim Kardashian is apparently the First Woman To Ever Get Married, or so you might think from all the media coverage of the recently-engaged star. Kim Kardashian is a brand unto herself, making thousands of dollars in appearance fees and loaning her image to products such as Skechers Shape-Ups and various diet […]
Epiphanies don’t often come with hoop earrings but mine recently did. I’m somewhat embarrassingly admitting that lobe-dangling geometric inspiration came from a recent rewatching of the original “Sex in the City” movie. You remember the one where Carrie goes a little bridezilla and wonders why Big couldn’t hang. My hoop inspired a-ha moment wasn’t about […]
AskMen’s Top 10 Signs You’re Not an Alpha Male seems to be an attempt at combining features of an enlightened man with some traditional male gender stereotypes with the language of The Hangover. Some folks over at AskMen must be pretty scared that the Alpha Male is a dying breed in need of defending. The […]
In a new post on Tiger Beatdown, Sady Doyle comments on the controversy surrounding the misogynistic and sexually violent lyrics in Tyler, the Creator’s new album. Last week, Tyler, the Creator, of the hip-hop collective Odd Future, released the album “Goblin”, which includes lyrics such as “I just wanna drag your lifeless body to the […]
The more things change, the more they stay the same. For every action there is a reaction. For every trend, there is a counter-trend. Maureen Dowd’s column in this Sunday’s NY Times brought all these little sayings to mind and affirmed their truth. She describes new shows that have recently been green lighted by Hollywood […]
Why is it that no one freaks out when young girls play with trucks or engage in sports but when a boy in an ad has pink nail polish a brouhaha follows? Why is it that women have increasingly moved into previously male professions like law and medicine but nursing remains only 8% male? The […]
This post debates whether there is harm in a mom (Martha) watching the royal wedding with her daughter. In fact, Martha has made quite a to-do of it which includes keeping her daughter home from pre-school to celebrate. Patrick Malone, clearly a feminist man, argues effectivly that there is enough fairy princess stuff out in […]
According to Shira Tarrant, an associate professor of women’s, gender and sexuality studies at California State University, Long Beach, the obsession over college students’ sex lives, or “hooking up,” is alarmist. After all, young adults have long engaged in casual sex and there is no good evidence to suggest that hook ups are much more […]
