Feminist T-Shirts for Christmas

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Get them a custom made feminist t-shirt!

Hatpins as Self Defense Weapon for Women

"Really, Captain Jinks, I don't see why women should not bear arms as well as men."

"It isn't necessary. Every woman has two or three hatpins."

- Caption from a May 1900 cartoon from the newspaper "The Evening Democrat".

Between 1880 and 1910 many women in Western culture wore hats in public. It was considered immodest to NOT wear a hat in public. Due to the changing fashion styles of the time it became customary to have a 10 to 14 inch long hatpin which they could use to pin their hat into their hair bun.

However as women are often the subject of physical attacks by men, and certainly not about to take such attacks laying down, the hat pin quickly doubled as impromptu weapon with which they could defend themselves and others.

So much so that by 1910 some places were passing laws banning the use of hatpins.

The Truth about Fashion Models and Plus Size Models

In 1992 the average American woman in her 20s weighed 132 lbs.

In 1992 the average fashion model weighed 120 lbs (8% less than the average).

In 2012 the average fashion model weighs 102 lbs (23% less than the average).

In 2002 plus-size models were considered to be between size 12 and 18.

In 2012 plus-size models now average between a size 6 and size 14.

So the fashion models are getting thinner and even the plus-size fashion models are getting thinner, despite the vast majority of women who say they would prefer models who are more realistic.

In America 50% of women wear a size 14 or larger, but the majority of fashion stores only cater to size 14 or smaller. Even so-called "plus size" stores have a limit on the sizes they have available.

My message?

Support local companies which cater to your size and taste in fashion. Change will never happen if we keep supporting companies which keep making things smaller and smaller.

Let fashion designers and brands know what you think via social networking sites and email them via their websites to let them know how you feel about clothing options.

If more people stop buying at certain stores and let them know you will not be purchasing clothing from them until they market to you, this will get their attention when they see their revenue losses and have to start contemplating store closures.

Support indie designers.

We are bombarded with sexually suggestive ads every day, but there is nothing wrong with our bodies. Our bodies aren't meant to be starved. We're meant to be eating hearty, exercising constantly and have an Amazon / Cavegirl physique. Its being too skinny which is unnatural.

We need to embrace our Amazon side and not be afraid of it.

In other news here is a fun video that may give you some food for thought...

The Truth about Hijabs

FASHION - It is cultural bias that assumes that hijabs (headscarves worn by women in Muslim countries) is a shackle.

Some women (including devout feminists) make assumptions that hijabs are mandatory and a sign of their lesser status as women. But in reality these things have nothing to do with why women wear hijabs.

When wearing a hijab women are treated with more respect. Their hair (considered sexual in both western and Muslim cultures) is seen as distracting from the personality. Thus when wearing a hijab the focus becomes their face, their facial expressions and therefore their personality. Thus men behave more respectfully.

It is a cultural phenomenon in Muslim countries. Not so much a tradition or a fashion rule. Its a phenomenon which frees women to be treated as equals and is reinforced by cultural beliefs surrounding the hijab.

So ripping the hijabs off of women isn't actually freeing them. Its forcing them to embrace your own cultural beliefs... and that isn't freedom. Its abusive.

Wearing a hijab means this woman won’t have to worry about whether or not she’s fashionable or kewl. She isn't going to be part of the sexually exploited parts of culture which see beautiful hair as a sex symbol.

Instead she will be confident about herself as a person, feel treated like a person instead of like a sex object, she can focus on her career, her education and she can find a job where her pay is equal to that of a man... as opposed to wearing sexually revealing clothing and having to fight her way up a corporate ladder which sees her as a sex object instead of an intelligent and sophisticated woman.

Fashion can have a very real effect on how people are perceived. If two men apply for a job at an insurance company, one is dressed in a black suit and the other comes wearing baggy jeans, who gets the job offer?

They say "Clothes make the man." Its abundantly obvious which one will receive the most consideration. The baggy jeans man would have to have a very impressive resume and references to win that job offer.

In this case we should make a new phrase: "The Hijab makes the woman free."

I am rather tempted to start a whole new fashion trend: Feminists Wearing Hijabs! Now that is a fashion statement!

Media Messages that Kill

The following is a Guest Post by Dr S. Jeanne Bramhall - June 2010.

I obsess (and blog) a lot about pro-war and anti-civil liberties messages in the media because they are easiest to recognize. As a woman, I am far more concerned about the stereotyped treatment of women in the media. As a child and adolescent psychiatrist I worry particularly about the culture of extreme thinness in our society – which is one hundred percent media driven.

How Feminism Shapes My Views

I confess I am also a feminist. This is an embarrassing confession. Feminists, gays and dark-skinned people are subject to much ridicule and scorn in contemporary society. In my opinion the controversy stems from confusion around the definition, which has somehow been associated with an irrational hatred of men. I use the word feminist in its broadest sense – to describe women who refuse to automatically subordinate their own (or their children’s) needs to men, the male power structure or a male-oriented view of society. I happen to like men. Some of my best friends are men. As a feminist health professional, I am enormously concerned that young girls are continuously bombarded with messages from TV, movies, music videos and youth and fashion oriented books and magazines that leave them with a distorted – and dangerous – view of themselves and their bodies.

Romantic Love is Dangerous to Your Health

Among the most pernicious is the constant emphasis on being young, thin and attractive to men. It relates, in large part, to a carefully crafted myth that romantic love is the highest ideal a woman can achieve in contemporary society. It is so powerful that the majority of women grow up believing in a highly stereotyped version of romantic love, as well as a self-concept that they are utterly worthless without a man to love them. This myth, like Santa Claus and the diamond engagement ring, are creatures of an elaborate and sophisticated marketing industry. It bears little relation to real life. In fact the myth hurts men almost as much as women because it is largely to blame for our high rate of divorce and broken families.

On Being Young, Attractive and Dead

As a health professional I am most distressed by the extremely narrow and stereotyped standard of attractiveness – young, perfectly chiseled and starvation thin – necessary to succeed in the fashion, TV or movie industry. There is no question media marketing deliberately aims these messages at teens and pre-teens who lack the critical thinking necessary to differentiate what they see on the screen from real life.

This strategy is immoral and should be illegal. All women exposed to this stuff learn to hate their own bodies. This universal self-hatred is responsible for an exponential increase in potential fatal eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa.

The U.S. Statistics Speak for Themselves

Eating disorders are a major cause of death for women age 15-24.

4% of American women are afflicted with a life-threatening eating disorder.

Approx. 10% of American women with eating disorders die within 10 years of developing the disorder.

20% of American women with eating disorders die within 20 years of developing the disorder.

Sleeping in Sports Bras

FASHION/HEALTH - Myself and a friend have both been experiencing muscle-related chest pains as we get older, especially while we sleep, and we think its caused by a lack of support while we sleep.

We were both told by our mothers (and everyone else with an opinion) that we're not supposed to sleep with a bra and told it would either make our breasts smaller, cause deformities, that its bad for circulation, constricts your breathing and that its unhealthy for a variety of reasons.

Well, recently my friend has started wearing a sports bra to bed. Not a really tight one, just something comfortable that provides support and she claims her chest pains have gone away. It could be a placebo effect, but she's certain its the sports bra.

Now before I jump on the bandwagon and try the same thing I thought I'd consult the internet and see what other people have been saying about sleeping in sports bras... and what I found was a lot of people with an opinion, but most of it just seems to be hearsay. Some people even mention so-called studies that prove sleeping in a bra (regardless of type) is bad for your health. Well, I've been searching around for these studies and I can't find any of the research results. I have pretty much concluded this "don't sleep in a bra" thing is just an urban myth forced on women (by ourselves it would appear).

I'd love to see a formal or informal study of 10 women with muscle-related chest pains who all decide to wear sports bras for 2 weeks and see if it helps. Maybe then we could disprove this myth once and for all.

According to rumour (not sure if this is true or not) Marilyn Monroe always slept with a bra so she would never lose that gravity-defying look. So evidently I am not the only one who thinks this "don't sleep in a bra" thing is a myth.

See Also:
History of the Bra
Bras, Spas and Anorexic Celebrities
Sports, Corsetry and the Empowerful Woman

Women and children first!

FEMINISM - Is that manly valour or sexism? Should a strong and able woman without a child get first dibs on the lifeboats? Are men's lives less valuable than women's?

Marine life wasn't always so chivalrous.

The tradition was launched in 1852 with the tragic sinking of the HMS Birkenhead off the coast of South Africa. Some 600 troops plus 20 women and children were also aboard. Although the ship's captain was of the "every man for himself'' mindset, the soldiers' commanding officer prevailed. He ordered his men to stand fast and allow the women and children into the few boats first.

The women and children survived while more than 400 gallant men died, either by drowning or by shark.

Understand that airlines don't, as a rule, have a policy of evacuating women and children first. It makes far more sense to go with passengers nearest the exits as this makes for a more orderly flow. See 150 Survive Jet Crash.

So its a nice idea, very chivalrous of the men, but in this day and age its by-and-by unnecessary because we all just want to get off in an orderly fashion.

Tiger Tanaka: Rule number one: never do anything yourself when someone else can do it for you.

James Bond: And rule number two?

Tiger Tanaka: Rule number two: in Japan, men come first, women come second.

James Bond: I just might retire to here.

Evidently there are times however when men have yet to learn that men and women both should take turns or go in the order that is most convenient.

Are High Heels a Detriment or a Benefit?

We had a young journalism student named Sarah contact the Feminist eZine today asking about whether we thought high heels was a detriment or a benefit. Here is some of the excerpts from our conversation, reorganized a bit:

Are High Heels a Detriment or a Benefit?

It really depends. Are you asking with respect to careers or relationships or something else?

ie. A single mother wearing stilettos? Trying to care for a baby and maintain your balance? Think again.

We took a moment to dispel that fashion myth about high heels being invented by men and checked who really made them. Reputedly it was invented by a rather short French duchess, Catherine de' Medici of Orleans, in an effort to look taller. The shoes in question apparently looked like platform shoes. The shoes caught on, styles changed rapidly and we can all blame the French.

As a modern phenomenon we don't think high heels are a "sartorial extension of patriarchy"... and here's our justification:

#1. If men were trying to force women to wear high heels they'd be wanting to go into shoe shopping with women and help them pick out a pair. If anything its the opposite. Men avoid women's shoe stores like the plague and find them very boring. (In contrast you could argue lingerie is a "sartorial extension of patriarchy" because men do actually go to lingerie stores, will even buy lingerie as gifts and depending on the type of lingerie is certainly catering more to men than to women.)

#2. When was the last time a man bought a woman a pair of high heels as a gift? Men, clueless in many ways, have long ago figured out that shoe shopping is a rather personal choice for women, that its more about comfort and looks, and that as men they really don't have a clue how our feet feel, realize that, and therefore don't consider high heels to be an ideal gift.

#3. As you've pointed out, its women who make the active choice to purchase high heels and also choose the length of the heel. Price is certainly a factor as well because a nice pair can be really expensive. We also think personal height might be a factor and it would be interesting to see a chart of how tall average high heel buyers are.

#4. Does Hillary Clinton have to wear high heels all the time? We personally have never seen her feet without her ever-present-high-heels. So evidently she wants to make herself look taller and professional. The same can be said for men wearing ties. There's no rule saying businessmen have to wear ties, but many do in an effort to look professional. Its a societal expectation that politicians and business people try to look professional.

High heels are essentially about trying to look taller, professional and deserving of respect. Why do prostitutes wear high heels? Because they want more respect and to be treated as a higher class.

Do you remember the Glamour magazine editor who said that Afro hair was unprofessional and a bad look? White society expects black women to straighten their hair in order to look professional, but frankly we disagree with the notion that its unprofessional in the first place. We think afro hair looks just beautiful the way it is and black women should be encouraged to stand up for their natural hair. Whats wrong with society is the shock value of afro hair. People in corporate life aren't used to seeing it regularly but that belief will change over time as more black women go natural.

Are men forcing black women to straighten their hair? There could be an argument for that too. A lot of rap videos do show women with straightened hair, suggesting thats what men seem to want. Frankly we think its all about people bending to society's expectations.

The same goes with high heels. People expect career minded women to wear high heels. Are they a detriment or a benefit? Only if people notice them. If someone's on a first date and wears high heels its because she wants to make a good first impression.

So are high heels a detriment or a benefit? At this point we're going to say neither.

We definitely think Crocs would be a detriment, regardless of how comfortable they are.