Rescued from Caperton’s Recycling Bin: “Catcalls are not a feminist issue. Apathy is.”
Periodically, I get around to clearing off my desk and flattening out crimped magazine clippings and saying, “Huh. Look at that.” Today: Harper’s Bazaar features an essay from author and better-than-you person Elizabeth Wurtzel telling you you’re a lousy feminist for not being as pretty as she is.
...read moreI was the girl who thought bulimia sounded like a great idea.
[Trigger warning for eating disorders]
For most of my youth, my exposure to eating disorders had been pretty much limited to Lifetime-style movies where the pretty young woman desperately wants to join the cheerleading squad and starts exercising all the time and throwing up her food, and everyone compliments her on losing weight, except for her abandoned former best friend, who is the only one who can tell that Something Is Very Wrong, and eventually she collapses at school, and then there’s inpatient treatment and a roommate who’s been Doing This For Years, blah blah blah meaningful self-discovery, blah blah happy ending, blah blah ED hotline blah.
...read moreHow to be beautiful in four excruciating steps
Toiling your whole life to be beautiful (and consequently powerful), but tired of lining your eyes with a pin dipped in lampblack after brightening them with a dropperful of perfume? Of course you are. We all are. There is a better way, free of the traditional harsh chemicals, using completely different harsh chemicals and ritualistic abrasions. In his 1889 Encyclopaedia of Astounding Facts and Useful Information, Barkham Burroughs instructs the women of his day “How to Be Handsome” and so “to govern, control, manage, influence, and retain the adoration of husbands, fathers, brothers, lovers or even cousins.”
...read more“Will I be pretty?”
The classics of yesteryear, brought to you today: From the 2002 National Poetry Slam, Katie Makkai on “pretty.”
...read moreHair Part III: Head
I have a love/hate relationship with the hair on my head. I hated it for most of my childhood and adolescence. I was super envious of the curls that many of the other girls in my Jewish school had. My hair was thin and mousy brown. Mousy. I remember seeing that word in the book [...]
...read moreHair Part II: Face
I was horrified when I started getting hair on my face. Little mustache hairs at first, then some on my chin. I also have wispy sideburns and thick eyebrows, though those don’t bother me as much. I thought I was a freak. I didn’t know that other women got facial hair as well. Nobody told [...]
...read moreWhy Breastfeeding Is A Feminist Issue
What’s going so wrong with the breastfeeding and formula-feeding conversation? Start with the rampant individualism. Conversations about how you feed your baby tend to be preoccupied with women’s choices and decisions.. and then, blame. You know the conversation has little feminist value when you end up at a point where some poor, exhausted woman is [...]
...read moreBetter that children are hungry than fat
New York City Council looks like it’s going to approve a resolution in that will provide for breakfast in NYC classrooms. NYC currently ranks last among cities that provide for free breakfast programs, with only 34% of kids who qualify for free/reduced lunch getting breakfast at school. Bloomberg, obesity-fighter extraordinaire, is opposed. He’s worried that [...]
...read moreHair Part I: Legs
I’ve never been particularly consistent about shaving my legs. They were already pretty hairy when, at age 12, I asked my mother for my first razor. It was pink and disposable. After my evening shower, I grabbed it and the shaving cream, and attempted to de-hair my legs. It took a long time. The razor [...]
...read moreMeet Your Local Extreme Breastfeeder
The other day one of my seven year old daughter’s guinea pigs died and it is the first death my two kids have dealt with up close and they love their guinea pigs, and I do, too, and so it was really very sad. Their father was away trekking for two weeks – because I [...]
...read moreOwning my food crazy
Trigger warning for discussion of dieting and food restriction. I have a confession to make. Over the last six months or so, I’ve lost a significant amount of weight. It’s my first time that my weight has gone down since I jumped on board the fat acceptance train, and I feel great. I have more [...]
...read moreHuffPo Live, 2 pm Eastern
Hey all, I’ll be chatting at HuffPo Live in about 18 minutes to talk about the criticism four-time Olympic swimmer Leisel Jones has received about her weight. Because fat doesn’t float, or something. You should be able to find the conversation hereabouts.
...read more
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