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Feminist Fare Friday: Edition #21

Sometimes I wish for nothing to write here. Why? Because 8/10 things that I post in these feminist round-ups are not positive. They are perpetuations of the kind of culture we live in where women are still "other", still marginalized, still working for less, still trying to DO it all so they can have it all and never actually getting "it". Here we are in 2014, still talking about/legislating bodily rights, the "controversy" over the colour pink and why, who and how we are all somehow doing feminism wrong (or right). My friend @DanaDitomaso posted a hashtag Thursday morning that sums up the week very well: #FeministRageWeek.

And I warn you, you will totally understand why after you finish reading...

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On Monday...

I am not a tech gal. I can write one, maybe two lines of code in an emergency and with a Youtube tutorial playing on the iPad beside me, but I have A LOT of friends who are very tech-y, who can write the shit out of code, who do this for a living AND... are women. Unfortunately the creators of the new HBO series, Silicon Valley, don't seem to run in the same kinds of circles that I do and apparently haven't met any women in the tech world. I have not yet seen the show, but according to Madrev at Medium.com there are only two female characters in the show and...

 "...between her perfectly styled hair and makeup, the semi-flirtatious doe eyes and the click of her heels as she walks Richard to her car, it’s pretty clear what Monica’s purpose is in the Silicon Valley story. She’s eye candy, or perhaps an eventual love interest — either way, she probably doesn’t write code. It seems that as far as Judge and HBO are concerned, all the real contributors of the tech world are (mostly white, all straight) men."

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On Tuesday...

Ad companies are really sticking their feet in it these days. If you thought the days of Mad Men sexism were gone, well, you'd be wrong. A few weeks ago an Autralian ad for Snickers thought they were being funny about guys not being "themselves" when they are hungry and it backfired quite spectacularly. 

This week's "BADvertising" winner is Veet. You know, the chemically-laden crap that melts hair off of your body so you can be porn-star smooth? Yeah, that VEET. Apparently, and according to the three person female marketing team for Veet, having a bit of body hair or stubble the day after shaving will LITERALLY turn you into a dude! True Story! Veet has since pulled the US ads from Youtube and issued a "Sorry you're all such party poopers and didn't like our very funny joke" apology, but you can still find them here... You know, to fuel your rage a bit more.

Tuesday also brought us the release of the "much anticipated, first EVER, feature film from documentary filmmaker Chris Wiegand".

Umm, WHO??

Well, you see Chris is this guy who is married to Casey. Casey has a blog. It's one of those really pretty blogs with lots of pics of her three cute kids, their perfectly imperfect shabby chic decor and wardrobes and every picture is totally Pinterest-worthy. It's the kind of blog that you look at dreamily and then look at your pile of clean-but-not-folded-for-a-week laundry, mismatched bed sheets (NOT done on purpose) and kid with two different socks on (also not on purpose) and think, my God, how does she do it! And why doesn't someone make a movie about her and all her friends?

Chris did just that. He bought himself the ultimate hipster camper (an Airstream), travelled across the United States, made a movie about Casey and 51 of her closest blogging friends and called it American Blogger. If you haven't already seen the trailer, here you go.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/89759305[/vimeo]

Yes, this is a real trailer for a real movie. NO, it is not an SNL skit or something off of Funny or Die (like my husband thought). And yes, roughly 90% of bloggers (my non-scientific guess-timate) from America (and Canada and I'm going to assume everywhere else) are kind of upset about it. A quick Google search will find you plenty of posts examining why this is NOT a documentary about America or even about blogging, let alone American bloggers. I particularly liked Kelly's post at Debie Hive, and I think she hits the nail squarely on the head...

"One of the things that bothered me the very most about the trailer is the part where one of the women interviewed says something to the effect that if we don't put our writing out there, what are we doing it for? As if to say that the only value inherent in writing is that someone else reads it. I challenge this statement on its face, and I question if she's actually figured out what it means to be a writer yet. I don't think she has, and it makes me sad for her a little. A person who is just a blogger writes for an audience, particularly if they are doing it in some attempt to make a living which necessitates a loyal audience."

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On Wednesday...

Not only do we now have pens for the ladies (Thank Bic, those man-pens were just getting too.... manly for me), now boys, you have no need to worry anymore about your yogurt! Don't eat that belly-dancing stuff. You need to get yourself some POWERFUL Yogurt or "Brogurt" as those in the media are calling it.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/zZMsI45mHVo[/youtube]

I am not kidding people, THIS TOO IS A REAL THING! And guys, I hope I don't need to tell you this, but just in case, you can not get washboard abs from a tub of greek yogurt! (I've tried.)

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On Thursday....

IN MY OWN CITY!!!

Ugh. This is a tough one.

I am not sure if this was a Social Media intern gone awry or an intentional click-baiting tweet or just plain ass stupidity, but Thursday morning a local and (up until today) much loved talk radio station posted the following tweet and link to an online poll.

630CHEDTweet

You can't get much more victim blaming about sexual assault than actual putting the words VICTIM and BLAME in the same damn sentence. The outrage over this tweet (and identical post on the stations Facebook page) was swift and merciless. AS IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN! The worst part? Before the station took down the tweet and "apologized" by re-wording the question with more context, 35% of the respondents (I don't have actual numbers) said YES.

So, just in case ANYONE needs a reminder...

rapecultureiswhen

AND "Dear CHED. The answer is NO." 

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And now it's Friday...

I thought I'd leave you with something not so rage-inducing. How about a totally awesome gender swapping art series?

Have a great weekend everyone.

Maybe meditate a bit, calm the rage and get ready to keep on keeping on next week!

Luv ya,

natasha~