Here are some more recommended articles on dealing with body image concerns:

My Body Is Not Your Fairytale [amplify]

So, dear Unilever, dear NBC, dear Jillian Michaels, dear anyone else who’s ever tried to sell me fictional “health” in order to make me feel like a failure so that I’ll buy more of your crap: Eff you. You can be my fake friend all day and all night, and I’ll still see you for who you really are: the enemy of my strength. And don’t be mistaken: I’m getting stronger every day.

I Used to be a Skinny Person [eat the damn cake]

And you know what’s ridiculous? I don’t even really believe that whole thing about skinniness. I see heavy women all the time and think that they’re gorgeous. And I see women who aren’t skinny all the time and think that they’re gorgeous. But when it comes to myself, I have this impulse to make all the stereotypical corrections. I don’t know why.

Loving My Body—Kinda, Sorta, Sometimes [sexis]

Part of me was hesitant to even broach this topic, because it doesn’t feel very “feminist” to be worried about my weight, and yet I do—worry, obsess, berate myself… There’s a fine line, for me, between generally trying to be in good shape and questioning every bite that goes in my mouth.

President Obama has declared the month of June Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Month.

“As Americans, it is our birthright that all people are created equal and deserve the same rights, privileges, and opportunities.  Since our earliest days of independence, our Nation has striven to fulfill that promise.  An important chapter in our great, unfinished story is the movement for fairness and equality on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.  This month, as we recognize the immeasurable contributions of LGBT Americans, we renew our commitment to the struggle for equal rights for LGBT Americans and to ending prejudice and injustice wherever it exists.”

The announcement from the White House lists a number of the administration’s accomplishments in terms of LGBT visibility and equality, including:

• Signing into law the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which strengthens Federal protections against crimes based on gender identity or sexual orientation.
• Renewing the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides life saving medical services and support to Americans living with HIV/AIDS, and finally eliminated the HIV entry ban.
• Signing a Presidential Memorandum directing hospitals receiving Medicare and Medicaid funds to give LGBT patients the ability to choose someone other than an immediate family member to visit them and make medical decisions.
• The creation of a National Resource Center for LGBT Elders by the Department of Health and Human Services.

But there’s clearly still work to do.  Progress is being made on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and there is occasional lip service paid to marriage equality and the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act.  Some of this feels a little like Obama tooting his own horn.  Sometimes it feels like he’s throwing bones to a significant group that worked hard for his election and believed that he would follow through on some big promises.  But, this also draws attention to the improvements that have been made, especially in comparison to the previous administration and the discrimination it supported over its 8-year run.

You can read the whole announcement from the White House.  I invite you to celebrate the gains you’ve seen and discuss the next steps you’d like to see in the comments.

Y’all are saying it better than me this week:

You’re not a feminist, but … what? [guardian]

“I’m not a feminist, but …” is a way of telling the world that we don’t pose too much of a threat. It’s a way of saying that we don’t plan to rock the boat too much, that we will play nice. And yet, feminists are people who dare to imagine a world in which women are 50% of Congress, where women are paid 100% of what their male colleagues earn and where every person who violates another human being is reported, prosecuted and convicted.

Disclosure & Choice: When Do We Deserve to Know Someone’s Sexuality? (Handy Flowchart Included) [feministing]

I can’t help but be struck by the hypocrisy of an America that forbids disclosure from their armed servicepeople and demands it to the point of issuing a frenzied media mandate from everyone else. Whether the criticism was coming from other gay men and women or not, rushing to judge the timing or impact of his decision fails to acknowledge his humanity and undercuts the ownership of his decision. As long as our reaction is an invasive, entitled “duh” rather than an informed, supportive “thanks for choosing to share”, our collective privilege is showing, and we’re not making real progress for the LGBTQI rights agenda.

One in Three [this ain't livin']

There is no safe space to be an asshole. When you parrot rape apologies, you do so not only in the knowledge that there might be a rapist in the room who is internalizing those messages, you do so with the knowledge that there might be a rape victim/survivor in the room who is also absorbing that message. Who is being reminded that she did something wrong in your eyes. That she deserved what she got.

The IUD Reborn [newsweek]

“The demographic group that is most likely to benefit from contraceptive use is exactly the demographic that is least reliable,” says Matthews. “Take for example the 17-year-old teenager. There is the greatest negative impact if she gets pregnant. [Old] FDA standards and World Health Organization literature would say she is not a candidate for an IUD, but she is in fact the ideal candidate. “

The Planned Parenthood feed on facebook brought this chart to my attention today.  The chart is pretty big, so it’s hidden behind the jump.  The diagrams are pretty clear (and shocking, and saddening) on their own, but what I’d like to talk about are the ways that some of the findings were illustrated.  Let’s start with basic STD rates.

One in five people in the US has an STD.  One in four high school girls has an STD.

Question: What is a little off about these images?

Answer: The first, generic finding is represented with the universal male.  “People,” we can assume, refers to human beings: male, female, or any other label one chooses to apply.  But all of these people are represented by the male silhouette.  We know this is the male silhouette because the female silhouette, as displayed in the high school girls illustration, is pink rather than gray, wears a cute little triangle dress, and holds hands with her neighbors rather than keeping her arms to her sides.

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One in two sexually active youth will contract an STD by age 25

Then there are the youth of the US.  Like “people,” we’ll assume that “youth” is intended to refer to individuals of any gender, likely under the age of 18.  We have returned to the universal male figure, but now the non-infected figure is pink rather than gray.  Who knows what to make of this.

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Fifteen new STD cases are reported every week from porn actors and actresses

Ah, then we bring porn into this and our gendered but sexless little figures bust out the hip-out, blowing hair, stiletto-heeled pose.  Suddenly the generic leaps from male imagery to female imagery, and a very sexualized female at that.  Because this is the image that porn brings to mind.

What else did you notice in these illustrations?  Any other hidden stereotypes or assumptions that I didn’t pull out?  (Hint: One statistic on race?  Really?)  Full chart down here

As promised, here are the quotes I collected for the body image project I have been working on.  Feel free to add more in the comments if you know of any good ones that I missed.  Also, some of these are repeats of previous quick quotes, so don’t be surprised if you experience a little deja vu here and there.

“More than ever now, I believe it’s so important to look as real and true to life as possible, because nobody’s perfect. I seem to be on a mission, but I don’t want the next generation, your daughters and mine, growing up thinking that you have to be thin to look beautiful in certain clothes. It’s terrifying right now. It’s out of control. It’s beyond out of control.”

- Kate Winslet (shoutouts to Emily at Jukebox Heroines)

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“For me, it might sound cliché, but beauty for me really does start on the inside. It’s like a state of mind, a state of love if you will. Then, whatever you can do on the outside is all like a bonus.”

- Queen Latifah

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“’Real Women Have Curves’ was a breakthrough for me, because it was tailored for who I was at a specific period in time. It said that there are different body types that are beautiful. I think that opened so many doors for me and gave all women a boost of confidence.”

- America Ferrera

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“I was never mocked, and I was always able to defend myself by joking around. But sometimes it has been painful and it has hurt my feelings. I cannot ignore the whole world, but I want to accept the way that I am and I don’t want to change. Life is too short for that!”

- Beth Ditto

More after the jump

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.

“There’s a direct connection between a woman’s ability to plan her family, space her pregnancies, and give birth safely, and her ability to get an education, work outside the home, support her family, and participate fully in the life of her community.

When a girl becomes a mother before she becomes literate, when a woman gives birth alone and is left with a permanent disability, when a mother toils daily to feed her large family but cannot convince her husband to agree to contraception, these struggles represent suffering that can and should be avoided. They represent potential that goes unfulfilled. And they also represent an opportunity to extend critical help to women worldwide and the children who depend on them.

Investing in the health of women, adolescents, and girls is not only the right thing to do; it is also the smart thing to do.”

- U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s
Remarks on the 15th Anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development

Full transcript here via Jezebel.

In case Kellog’s message about doctors and nurses wasn’t clear, check out these toys:

Remember, boys use blue medical equipment and are called “doctors,” while girls use pink medical equipment and are called “nurses.”  Other combinations of equipment and/or titles are not allowed.

Check out the full post at Sociological Images.

Here’s wishing you all a safe and happy new year! If you haven’t seen it yet, be sure to check out the Smart Girl Guide to New Year’s Eve over at Shelby Knox’s blog (remember her from The Education of Shelby Knox).

Some highlights to remember are:

Make your resolutions. Decide before you head out for the night how far you’re willing to go with your partner. Is the kiss at midnight enough or are you ready to head back to someone’s house for more? It’s easier to stick to decisions you’ve made before alcohol and the spirit of the night carries you away.

Map out your party before you head out and decide early where you’ll be waking up in 2010. If you plan to hop from bash to bash, make sure you leave each location with the same crew you arrived with. Never leave a friend (or even a friend and her date) alone at a party. Keep in touch by text to see when people are ready to move on – and be careful about posting your movements on Facebook and to your Twitter feed.

If you’re going to drink, don’t be stupid – make sure you have a designated driver or chip in for a group cab. The same rules you use at a frat party apply tenfold on New Year’s Eve: don’t accept a drink from anyone you don’t know and never leave it unattended.

Be safe out there!