Let's celebrate heroines of the past

Pink is for Boys posted a great article about warrior princesses of the past:

"Perhaps the greatest disservice the Disney princess phenomenon has done is to equate princesses with nothing more than appearance-fixated fashion plates. We have lost touch with the variety of stories of real princesses and heroines of our history, who were varyingly brave, feisty, defiant, clever, diplomatic, or shrewd. They often struggled in a world hostile to women – facing rape, murder, and charges of witchcraft for daring to claim strong womanhood. They were often also fiercely devoted mothers as well as strategists and fighters. I’d love to see a series of dolls that included a place in the folds of the fancy dress for a battle ax, and a tiara that could be turned into a throwing star!"

Click to read more...

Alert: Your leggings and yoga pants are too Distracting

A school in Halifax is banning leggings because they are too distracting:

My close childhood friends will tell you I was very attached to wearing leggings when I was growing up. They were so comfortable it took several years before I could even understand why someone would choose to wear jeans. I was definitely not trying to make a statement or attract any sort of attention by wearing them, so it was particularly surprising to me that one school in Halifax, Eastern Passage Education Centre, considers leggings “distracting” and has moved to enforce a dress code banning girls from wearing them as pants. From CTV:

“Tights which are being worn in an inappropriate manner are not acceptable for school. If students choose to wear tights, they should have a long shirt or sweater to cover the front and backside. Yoga pants can fall into a grey area, depending on the style and manner in which they are worn. The administration will use their discretion with these cases and have the conversation with the student.” [...]
Monday, more than 30 girls wore tights in spite of the rules. “We’ve been wearing leggings the whole year, then all of a sudden we’re not allowed to, and guys wear pants with their underwear hanging out,” says Grade 9 student Darian Mansfield.
“It’s not showing anything,” says Grade 9 student Jessica Cole. “I’m wearing like, a longish sweater and it’s not showing anything at all.”

 Click to read more...

"For Chrissake there is nothing wrong with you: a dating manifesto"

This reminds me of the operation beautiful- check it out.

Five Lessons in Human Goodness from “The Hunger Games”

By Jeremy Adam Smith | April 18, 2012

The plot of the new film sounds cynical. But it reveals a surprising amount about the science of human goodness.

"Misogyny has a big crush on censorship."

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Required Reading: Banned Books and Black Ink | Bitch Media

bitchmagazine.org

The universal trend of censoring books about adolescent girls can be attributed to society feeling weird about girls as humans, about girls having three-dimensional bodies with problems, pains, pimples and hairs like the rest of the population, and most of all, about girls actively thinking about or...

Review of The Golden Compass film

This was in an imdb.com (International Movie Database) review of the film and I think that it speaks perfectly to the issues I thought were missing in the film (but I strongly oppose the use of "paganism" for all of its negative connotations...):
" 'Harry Potter' and 'The Lord of the Rings' have never apologized about their overt paganism. Likewise, "The Chronicles of Narnia" have never been accused of being subtle as a Christian allegory. These series, in both literary and film forms, have been monster hits due to their unapologetic natures that speak truths to their ardent fan bases. British writer Philip Pullman's darkly subversive anti-religious fantasy books have also been hugely successful, more so overseas than here in the States. Stripped of the books' overt atheistic messages, "The Golden Compass" takes a reverse psychology approach in its film treatment and oddly positions itself as an apology for Pullman's work. The result is a tepid affair that joins a long line of fantasy films about children discovering they are the chosen ones destined to save the world." 
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385752/

Who needs feminism?

This is circulating on facebook and I thought the class would like it...
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/who-needs-feminism

Miyazaki interview: "The Birth of Studio Ghibli"

This is a special that appeared on Japanese TV before Princess Mononoke came out (1998). The narration is in Japanese and the interviews are translated. It goes over all of Miyazaki's previous films, the beginnings of the studio, and more. If you're interested in Miyazaki Hayao's films, this is really interesting! It's in 3 parts of YouTube.
Part 1:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZtnNdJP83I
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OaNoCQFXmU&feature=relmfu     (for some reason, copyright laws muted this section...)

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3uMpJ2UW-I&feature=relmfu

Or, you can get the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 2-disc set from the library since it's on there.

What Can Supreme Court Justices Learn From _The Hunger Games_?

WANALYSIS: Jokes from Justice Scalia mask grim reality of American health care 

As they weigh the health care reform law, what can Supreme Court justices learn from The Hunger Games? Wendell Potter explains how overturning "ObamaCare" could lead the U.S. into "PanemCare."

What should a 4 year old know?

From the author's post: "I was on a parenting bulletin board recently and read a post by a mother who was worried that her 4 1/2 year old did not know enough. “What should a 4 year old know?” she asked.
Most of the answers left me not only saddened but pretty soundly annoyed. One mom posted a laundry list of all of the things her son knew. Counting to 100, planets, how to write his first and last name, and on and on. Others chimed in with how much more their children already knew, some who were only 3. A few posted URL’s to lists of what each age should know. The fewest yet said that each child develops at his own pace and not to worry.
It bothered me greatly to see these mothers responding to a worried mom by adding to her concern, with lists of all the things their children could do that hers couldn’t. We are such a competitive culture that even our preschoolers have become trophies and bragging rights. Childhood shouldn’t be a race.
So here, I offer my list of what a 4 year old should know."

Enjoy.

The Hunger Games 2 (the movie)

The Hunger Games Sequel!!!
Will you go see The Hunger Games2??

Art goes "skinny"

An Italian artist takes 7 famous classical paintings of women and photoshops them to see what the women would look like if they conformed to the contemporary beauty ideal. It's fascinating!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/mar/11/art-nudes-have-gone-skinny?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038

Hunger Games and Body Politics

A former student, Anne Moss, shared with me these links to two (very simplistic) articles that serve as an introduction to the politics of bodies and beauty ideals in the Hunger Games:

http://mobile.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2012/03/23/jennifer_lawrence_s_body_not_skinny_enough_to_play_katniss_.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/elizabeth-perle/hollywoods-hunger-games_b_1378870.html

Please post reactions!

Brittney Griner

 Brittney Griner, Basketball Star, Helps Redefine Beauty 

http://www.curvemag.com/Blogs/Playing-for-Our-Team/Web-Articles-2010/Brittney-Griner-May-Push-Gender-Boundaries-But-Not-on-Purpose/

Or.........?

Here is an article Eva located on how Griner responds to nasty comments.

BU Newspaper

Check out the link to boston.com's take on the BU newspaper's not so funny April Fools Prank.

From Jezebel:

"Here's the 'Funny' Sexual Assault Parody Boston University's Student Paper Doesn't Want You to See"

White Until Proven Black: Imagining Race in the Hunger Games

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2012/03/hunger-games-and-trayvon-martin.html