Women's History is RADICAL and now little bit easier to find...

Shelby Knox, featured in the amazing film "The Education of Shelby Knox," is starting a calendar project that will feature daily posts with events in Women's History! Even though some of the entries thus far may not strike you immediately as "radical," the acknowledgement that women have a distinguishable recorded history is radical in and of itself. The project started on January 1st and will continue everyday for an entire year. Check it out!!!

My favorites so far:

January 1st,1977: Jacqueline Means becomes the first woman ordained in the Episcopal Church with official sanction.

January 2nd,1857: M. Carey Thomas, 1st female dean in the US, 2nd president of Bryn Mawr College, suffragist, born.

January 11th,1935: Amelia Earhart began a trip from Honolulu to Oakland, CA, becoming the 1st woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean.

January 18th, 1777: Baltimore newspaper publisher and postmaster Mary Katherine Goddard produced the first printed copy of the US Declaration of Independence.

Keep the Women's History coming, because this history buff is LOVING it.

Doubles Standard: Venus Williams and the Media

The last two times I logged into my Yahoo account, the front-page stories have both been about one of the most famous women in tennis, Venus Williams. Now, I'm not much of a fan of tennis (or really any sport except basketball), but I think its awesome that Venus has been able to succeed and make a name for herself in the male-dominated world of sports. What disappointed me about these two stories is that they were not celebrating a victory of hers or reporting any news; they were reporting on what she was wearing during her tennis matches.

In the first article, author Chris Chase jokes, "The length of Venus Williams' hemline is inversely proportional to the tennis star's age: as she gets older, the dresses get shorter." Why is this news? You can view the articles here and here.

When was the last time you read an article in which a victory by Tim Duncan was overshadowed by his fashion choice? Or Tom Brady? Is it fair to judge a female athlete, especially one of Williams' stature, based on what she wears as opposed to how she performs? Far too often in the media, whether it is sports, politics or entertainment, women are reduced to only their appearance, as opposed to their performance or what skills and talents they have to offer (think Hilary Clinton and how much she was criticized for daring to wear a headband....).

I realize that Venus may be trying to pull a publicity stunt by choosing unconventional outfits for her matches. However, the point I am trying to make is that women are held to a different standard in the media. I am tired of seeing the media rob women of talent.

In honor of this great day!

Thank You and Hello!

It was my secret New Years goal to get the total number of blog views past 5,000. I'm happy to say that on New Years Eve, we reached that goal. Here is a map of where our readers are coming from:



You all, as well as Google analytics, are super awesome! Thanks for reading, and please keep coming back for more!

Colorism

After reading this post from Feministing today, it reminded me of a veeeeerrrry good Tyra episode. I'm not always a fan of Tyra or the way that she approaches different issues, but I do appreciate that she sheds even a small amount of light on difficult issues. Many of these issues or experiences are ones that folks want to learn more about, to understand. But, sometimes it's difficult to voice experiences. And sometimes, you don't feel like teaching a lesson on your oppression. I totally understand, but at the same time I wan't people to know where I'm coming from so they don't have to ask anymore! It's totally a Catch-22.

Colorism and racial ambiguity are topics I've written about quite a bit, but it always makes happy that after I watch something I can say "yeah, that's EXACTLY what happens to me too." Well except for the fact that I actually LOVE all of my ethnicities haha...I'm more so talking about the segment around 16:10...So learn a lil something, and check out this piece on colorism!



Oppression Olympics. Thoughts, reactions, questions?

Give us something to believe in...

I've been waiting to cover the recent shooing in Arizona because the motive is still really unclear. Whether or not the shooter was acting on his own accord, was influenced by the volatile political sphere, had ties to the hateful organization AmRen, or took direct action after viewing Sarah Palin's "crosshairs" campaign is yet to be seen. Regardless of the motive, I think what has become clear is that this country is broken. Bi-partisanship is becoming more and more implausible as extremist-politics seem to take center stage.

I just want to feel...

Like my vote meant something.

Like world peace isn't just talk.

Like the politicians are listening.

Like they can walk the walk.

Like change is happening.

Like my love is not a sin.

Like people aren't suffering.

Like...just give me something to believe in.

I just want to feel...

Sorry for the poetic break, but it was easier than forming a paragraph. But seriously, I'm tired of hearing about death, hatred, violence, fighting, filibusters, and inaction. I'm DONE! I'm also a little aggravated that every time a brown person in implicated in some sort of crime against a government they're terrorists but the shooter in this case is just an individual criminal. I'm sick of hearing politicians capitalize on tragedies in order to show us how much we need them. If they were doing their jobs with civility in the first place, we would have avoided quite a few of those tragedies in the first place. Simply put, current politics do NOT equal a functioning government.

What's the difference between Obama and Palin...

Obama knows that a tragedy is a tragedy and that the focus of any public statements should focus on the victims, the survivors, and healing. Check out his BEAUTIFUL address.

Now check out Sarah Palin's response:

I'm paraphrasing but what I heard was "Keep on being angry America, that's the only way the Republicans will win the presidency in 2012. Don't let this hateful act by a terrorist...I'm sorry...individual criminal stop you from voicing your opinion (as long as you are conservative of course. And you big old mean media monster you, don't make this 'blood libel' in my name."

Definition of Blood Libel: "refers to a false accusation or claim that religious minorities, usually Jews, murder children to use their blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays. The accusations often assert that the blood of Christian children is especially coveted, and, historically, blood libel claims have been made to account for otherwise unexplained deaths of children."

Great choice of words Palin.

Controversial HIV/AIDS NYC PSA

I'll be honest, I'm torn. On one hand, I understand where the PSA makers are coming from. HIV/AIDS is serious and has serious complications. But on the other hand, are these extreme tactics really affective? This PSA is heavy with shame, and doesn't even remotely depict that plenty of folks with HIV/AIDS are out there living their lives. I wonder what folks out there who are already positive would feel after watching this commercial? And why is the commercial only targeted towards gay men of color? Certainly, they are disproportionately affected by the epidemic, but there are not the only group out there living with HIV/AIDS. To depict them as being so is dangerous, irresponsible, and perpetuates trite misconceptions.

Do you think this type of advertising is affective and appropriate?

Post-Racial? Yeah Right!

The New Yorker thought this was political humor...

In honor of this great day!