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Let them eat cake!  No, wait, I mean, let them listen to Cake!  Mmm, cake…  Sorry.  *Ahem.*  If you listen to Cake, you’re probably wondering what they’re doing on a feminist blog.  If you don’t listen to Cake, you’re probably wondering the same thing.  Well, I think it’s time to play a new game I’m going to call Feminist Rorschach, in which we interpret a piece of art, music, film, television, or whatever and try to determine whether it’s feminist… or not.  And why, and in what ways, and so on.  Wanna play?

The song is called Pretty Pink Ribbon off the 2001 album Comfort Eagle.  It wasn’t released as a single and has no official music video, but I found this cool Power Rangers themed video (which is frankly more interesting than staring at the album art for three minutes).  Lyrics after the cut.

My instinct has always led me to believe that the pretty pink ribbon is a reference to a particular part of the female anatomy (c’mon, sticky little kitten?).  I found other interpretations online that the song is about cancer (pink ribbons) or about a girl that’s only as good as her tight little denim.  But I’m going to stick with my interpretation, and argue for the song as a commentary on socialization, social roles and maybe even empowerment, at least potentially.  Whether the pretty pink ribbon is symbolic of the vagina (what a cliche feminist interpretation, huh?) or simply a stereotypical expression of socialized femininity/girliness, the song addresses gender differences between men and women (“Without the pretty pink ribbon / You’d end up just like me”).

Let’s get the not-so-good out of the way.  There is some blatant objectification here (“Without your tight little denim / Your virtues would all go unknown”), and some accusations of shallowness (“Without the pretty pink ribbon / You’d float down to the sea”), golddigging (“Without the sticky little kitten / Your ticket could never be free”), and so on.   There’s also the limitation of not being able to speak one’s own mind (“Without the pretty pink ribbon / You’d say just what you pleased”).  Kind of makes it sound like it’s not so great to be of the female persuasion.

On the other hand, it doesn’t sound like its so great to be a dude in this world, either.  Apparently for those whose “muscles bulge underground” (phallic reference?), there is no escape from personal demons – our culture socializes men to carry their burdens alone.  There is also less hope for healing (“Without the room that you live in / Your cancers would eat through the bone”) and less compassion (“You’d burn all these dying leaves… You would lift this steaming herd / You would kill all the sick ones / You would bury them deep in the earth”).  Here men are expected to carry out the dirty work of facing death, causing death, and cleaning up after death.

To me the song represents the social limitations imposed on those who do/can wear a pretty pink ribbon and those who don’t/cant.  There are benefits in each circumstance (free tickets, expression of virtues, and a sense of peace, hope, and healing for her; an uncensored voice, strength, and the ability to “be tough” for him), and these are not shared across the sexes.  For calling these things out, I as a feminist give the song props.  What do you think?

Lyrics below

I’m going to put it right out there – I don’t care about sports. When they (okay, more like their cultural followings) aren’t irritating and enraging me, they are just plain boring me. I didn’t watch a minute of the Olympics (but, like my qualms about the SuperBowl, my qualms about the Olympics are fodder for another post). However, the interwebs inform me that I have been missing out on Johnny Weir, a fantastic, controversial, sh*t stirring figure skater who is threatening the masculinity of male professional athletes, commentators, and spectators everywhere. Also, he reminds people of Lady Gaga (another recent pop figure to make everyone feel uncomfortable about sexuality). Apparently that’s funny.

Of course, Johnny Weir is actually friends with Lady Gaga, so he’s probably not too offended here.  He also has a sweet exhibition routine to Poker Face.  But I wouldn’t expect these late night talk show guys to know much of anything about figure skating outside of the Olympics, Lady Gaga, or what is cool anyway.

From Feministing:

You can understand why Johnny Weir makes commentators, even figure skating commentators, so very uncomfortable. He’s an especially elegant skater who wears formfitting and sparkly costumes (yes, even more formfitting and more sparkly than one usually sees in figure skating) and who really emotes on the ice.

How sad is it that this is undeniably true?  Johnny is clearly comfortable with his sexuality, stating “I don’t feel the need to express my sexual being because it’s not part of my sport and it’s private. I can sleep with whomever I choose and it doesn’t affect what I’m doing on the ice, so speculation is speculation.”  The fact that he is not a typical heterosexual male and that he won’t give nervous and bigoted people the excuse to write him off as gay means that he can’t be neatly compartmentalized, and that means he might be like them – or worse, they might be like him.

From Bitch:

In response to two Quebecois commentators who spoke derogatorily of Weir and said he should take a gender test, Weir responded by issuing an awesome statement that touched on identity, free speech, life in the public eye, and the changing acceptance of gender.

You can find the whole clip of Weir’s statement at the Bitch post.  Some highlights from his response: “I’m not somebody to cry about something or to feel weak about something. I felt very defiant when I saw these comments. I felt that it wasn’t… these two men criticizing my skating, it wasn’t them criticizing my… anything. It was them criticizing me as a person. And that was something that really frankly pissed me off more than anything. So I felt like I had to make a comment and statement that I hope more kids cans grow up the same way that I did. That more kids feel the freedom that I feel to be themselves and to express themselves.”

Also, this:  “I think masculinity is what you believe it to be. To me, masculinity…it’s all my perception. And I think I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old fashioned. There’s a whole new generation of people that aren’t defined by their sex or their race or who they like to sleep with. I think as a person you know what your values are and what you believe in and that’s the most important things.”

Right on, dude.  We need more Weirs and Gagas in the world.  Maybe 25 years from now gender roles will be nostalgic and obsolete, and we can see all people for who they are instead of where they fall on the masculinity/femininity spectrum and how well that does or does not align with their physiology and sexuality.  I think Weir and Gaga are just ahead of the times.

It’s like Lady Gaga is doing something new and fabulous every time I turn my computer on.  I love it.

“Everyone has that… phone call of, “Oh my gosh, you won’t believe what I did last night. I was so stupid I didn’t use a condom,” and there’s all this laughter on the phone… I’ve gotten those phone calls, and it’s our job as friends to one another to say, “I don’t know why you’re laughing because it’s very serious. I really don’t feel there’s enough women who are educated about AIDS, how quickly it’s spreading, how dangerous it really is, how many people really have it, and we want to do good jobs as women who represent a sexual community and a strong independent group.”

For reals.  Too.  Cool.  I love how she’s using her fame to get important social messages across, and how she’s blowing everyone away in the process.  It’s like people thought pop stars couldn’t use their brains on their own.  Let’s shake it up!

More on their campaign at MAC Cosmetics, and additional coverage from Jezebel.

Obvious Child starring SNL newbie Jenny Slate is kinda like the alternate ending to Juno.  If Juno were a young adult in NY instead of a high schooler in MN.  And her boyfriend was kinda cool instead of Paulie Bleaker.  And she got the abortion.

At only 20 minutes, the short leaves you wishing for more, but it does a lot in that 20 minutes.  Most importantly, it presents abortion as a non-terrifying, non-shameful, individual choice.  Which, you know, legally speaking it is, despite the stigma surrounding it.  The condom broke, and Donna had a choice.  She made it.  And (shock of shocks!!!) her friend supported her, her mom supported her (and shared with her daughter the story of her own abortion), and her partner supported her.

What if instead of shaming issues surrounding sexuality and sexual decision making, from female masturbation and orgasm to the spectrum of sexual attraction to the reality of reproductive health options, we saw them presented non-judgmentally like this on a semi-regular basis?

For other reactions on the short, check out all my faves: Bust, Bitch, Jezebel, and Feministing.

Obvious Child from Gillian Robespierre on Vimeo.

Diablo Cody has done it again, folks.  The United States of Tara is complex, smart, progressive, and entertaining, and well worth your time.  The show is about a suburban family coping with the typical stresses of work, school, and relationships with a twist: Mom’s got four personalities.

Tara’s persona’s aren’t the most accurate representation of mental illness, although they do manage to use accurate terms: Dissociative Identity Disorder rather than Multiple Personality Disorder – something that Tara regularly has to correct others on.  Instead, her persona’s illustrate the various stereotyped roles women navigate – T, the wild, rebellious, and promiscuous teenager; Alice, the overly-sweet but passive-aggressive 50’s housewife; Buck, the grungy, rough and tough masculine side; and Tara herself who is trying to live a “normal” modern life with her husband and two children while coping with a buried childhood trauma that led to the development of these personas.  As Tara gets closer to that lost memory a fourth alter arises: Gimme, the animalistic child.

But the show isn’t just about Tara.  It’s about family.  Read the rest of this entry »

I hope that you were able to take a moment today to think about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and all the other civil rights and peace activists who have made our world so much better at the cost of their own pain, suffering, and sadly untimely deaths.  Feministing has a great list of links to posts about MLK and the importance of his memory, and F-Bomb has a great short bio posted as well.  In case you’d like a refresher, his “I have a dream” speech is below, in it’s entirety.

I have fallen in love with Lady Gaga over the past month, and this post from Jukebox Heroines on the feminist themes in her music was too awesome not to share.  If you are interested in cross-posting or guest-posting at feministhemes.com, please contact me with your ideas at misswizzle@feministhemes.com.

Lady Gaga – The Fame (2008) on (Streamline/Konlive/Cherrytree/Interscope)

Part 1:

Oh snap. Yes, I just said it. Lady Gaga’s music is feminist. Why do I say such things? Because I can back it up. And because I love her music, videos, and persona. She is the reason I have actually started to listen to pop music again. So, let me tell you about feminist music….

Why do I say that her music is feminist? Whether or not she herself claims to be a feminist, her work criticizes gender, sexuality, the body, pop culture’s representations of women, and the nature of power. This in itself is a feminist act. Now, feminism, I guess we must define in some form, considering most representations of it are: man hater, bra burner, lesbian, ugly, want power over men, bitchy, hate children…..not true. Feminism is the political and social movement for women’s social, political, and economic equality. In that social part lies music, and Lady Gaga knows exactly what she is up against in the music industry. Feminist Music therefore, can be made by anyone, male/female/trans, as long as it fulfills the goals of fighting for equality and justice based on gender.

How does she present feminist ideas? I will give you a few examples. Read the rest of this entry »

If you know me, you know I love the Beatles almost as much as life itself.  This week I’ve been working on a T-shirt quilt of shirts than needed to be retired (some of these have been with me since middle school), and the Beatles have been my soundtrack while I work.  In ironing and sewing and dancing, I began noticing some disturbing material, especially that from early in the Beatles career.  Here’s a quick look at three troublesome Beatles songs.

You Can’t Do That – 1964

Despite the Lennon-McCartney traditional tagline, John deserves most of the credit (or blame) for this one.  An early Beatles tune, the song is about a jealous boyfriend who warns his girl that if he catches her talking to another guy again, he’ll leave her.  Posessiveness is so romantic.  I know that the Beatles were serious aphrodisiacs for teens and young women (my generation had the Backstreet Boys, this generation has the Jonas Brothers), but the wild screaming during a song about a pretty unhealthy, jealous, possessive and threatening relationship is a bit disturbing.

You Like Me Too Much – 1965

This one is a George song, and if you know the outcome of his relationship with Pattie Boyd, this little dedication collage is kind of disturbing.  This song is sung from the manipulative male partner to his lover, who likes him “too much” to leave him, though it’s all that he deserves.  He sings about following her if she leaves to bring her back where she “belongs” and admitting that he was “wrong” in order to convince her.  I love George (in theory, I guess), but I feel like we should have listened to this song at our domestic violence crisis line training.  This is exactly the kind of thing that is operating when it takes women (on average) seven attempts before leaving a dangerous relationship.  But when its sung by a Beatle, its “romantic.”  Yikes.

Run For Your Life – 1965

Of these three tunes, this is probably the one that you are most likely to know.  Kudos to John again, this time upping the ante with death threats on top of the possessive manipulations.  John Lennon, the “peace icon,” tells his “little girl” she better “hide her head in the sand” rather than be seen with another man, as he’d rather see her dead.  In a choice verse he announces: Well I know that I’m a wicked guy / And I was born with a jealous mind / And I can’t spend my whole life / Trying just to make you toe the line. John has always made my stomach turn, but I think anyone in their right mind would be hard pressed to defend this one.

So, there you have it.  My favorite band, the classic and timeless Beatles, as manipulative, misogynistic music makers.  I guess sometimes Love isn’t all you need.  Any other rough tunes I missed, or Beatles favorites of yours that redeem the band?

I’ll admit it – I’m a sucker for SyFy original movies.  The wild plots, hyper-hyperbole, and fantastically noticeable CGI crack me up and hook me at the same time.  Two of my personal favorites include Mega Shark Vs. Giant Octopus and High Plains Invaders (which happened to star Buffy’s James Marsters as a wild-west sharpshooter killing giant alien-insect-robots in shoot’em ups).  But I’m willing to argue that their recent Alice in Wonderland tribute was actually pretty good, and not just for laughing at.

I’ve always loved Alice in Wonderland. Alice is typically portrayed (and pretty accurately to the book) as a little girl whose adventures in Wonderland primarily consist of her allowing things to happen to her or eating and drinking strange items simply because their labels tell her to.  At worst, this makes her appear foolish and as though she needs a protector, at best this makes her a compliant little girl.  But something about the fantasy and adventure and the fact that Alice is rarely shaken by her experience has always appealed to me.

SyFy’s Alice takes it to a new level.  Alice is now a young adult teaching karate classes and navigating the dating world.  When her new boyfriend Jack gives her a special family ring, she finds herself falling through the looking glass into Wonderland.  Here she sets out (with the help of the Hatter) to rescue Jack and escape back to her world.  Although Hatter really wants to be Alice’s hero, she often ends up using her karate skills to help them escape and really holds her own throughout the movie.  Hatter just wants to save Alice, but Alice is set on saving Jack (a nice twist on the “damsel in distress” trope). Spoilers, more analysis and a little bit of romance after the jump.

As a whole, I was let down by last night’s Saturday Night Live.  I had missed the episode last week hosted by Taylor Swift, and was impressed with the clips I caught online afterwords.  I had also caught sassy January Jones giving Jimmy Fallon a hard time on his show, and hoped that she would be given some decent material to work with.  If you were watching, you know that “decent material” is not what we got.

January’s monologue was redeemed by Fred Armisen’s quip about preferring Mad Men’s Peggy (his newlywed wife in real life) to Betty.  The monologue pretty much drove me crazy with anticipation, as I plan to start watching Mad Men (Season 1) this week.  Aside from the monologue, January Jones was primarily a prop in most of the skits, but she shone in the following short, which was my favorite skit all night.

Favorite lines include:

• “Avoid looking at the newspaper, as it may give you ideas.”
• “Greet women by her husband’s name, or not at all.”
• “Greet a divorced woman by her attorney’s name.  Be sure to make note of the flaws in her figure and bust that brought about the divorce, so that you may learn from them.”
• “Address cats by their full name, and dogs by ‘Mister’ and then their dog name, because cats are girls and dogs are boys.
• “If a black person arrives…  Just kidding.” – (SNL usually follows this recommendation)

All around, I can’t really understand SNL like I used to.  I came of age during the Cheri Oteri, Molly Shannon, Anna Gasteyer era and since then have often missed the jokes in SNL.  The regular theme of gay skits (this week’s Kristen Wiig as a creepy newscaster coming on to a teen hero, the Dr. Jeckyl/Mr. Hyde skit) always seem a little off, kind of in the same way that 30 Rock’s handling of gay men always comes off as stereotypical and offensive to me.

Did you like the episode last night (or the season so far)?  How do you understand SNL’s new common themes?

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