Exciting news, people! My post Women are 40% of this year’s Nobel Laureates – so far has been included in the Sixth Carnival of Feminists. This one is hosted by Deeply Problematic and features tons of great posts on rape, harassment, women’s health, education and more. So go check out it already!
Photo credit: Deeply Problematic
I recently came across the November issue of the Blue Press catalog from Dillion Precision Productions, Inc. Here is the cover:
(All images photographed from actual catalog with my digital camera.)
When I first glanced at the catalog, I didn’t realize what it was. I had just seen this catalog called “Blue Press” with a pretty girl on the front. I thought it might have actually been something literary. Then I looked closer. The girl, and I will call her a girl, because she is barely 18, is holding a monstrously large machine gun. I was horrified that a young woman with large breasts wearing a low-cut but sweetly “innocent” white ruffled blouse was being used to sell guns. Oh, and did anyone notice the model’s not-so-subtle resemblance to Miley Cyrus?
The disgusting images didn’t stop with the front cover. Here’s the “Letter from the Editor” page:
Yes, this is an advertisement for a girls ‘n guns calendar. The caption: “We hope you’ll enjoy looking at these calendars almost as much as we did putting them together for you!”
This article is entitled “My First Gun” and features a young woman in a low-cut red top.
One of the feature articles is on the Texas Christian University’s Women’s Rifle Team. These are the least offensive and most realistic pictures of women in the catalog. However, profiling college women in a publication meant for white, older men reeks of a “Coeds with Guns” porn video. Click on the photos for the full size images.
Still, the worst image is the first one and it is repeated inside. The ad says:
So, if “the end of the world as we know it” rolls around any time soon, I hope I’m standing where Haley is in this photo.
As I mentioned before, this catalog is targeted to men, particularly older men. Except for the pages advertising DVDs for sale, images of young women in sexy clothing outnumber men 3 to 1. Dillon Precision Products, Inc. and Blue Press are exploiting barely legal young women to sell guns. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Take a look at the cover of Blue Press’ August, September and October catalogs.
This type of advertising is outrageous. It tells men they can objectify women, particularly very, very young women, for their sexual fantasies. Beyond that, combing guns and sex is dangerous. October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Here are a few things you should know:
(Statistics compiled by Feminist Majority Foundation)
The Blue Press catalog by Dillon Precision Products, Inc. is not only offensive, it’s scary. What do you think?
Check out this awesome video produced by the Anita Borg Institute, which was recorded at the 2008 Grace Hopper Celebration.
Oh, and just so you know: I graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato, with a B.S. in Computer Information Science and I am a technical woman!
I’m starting a new feature here on the the danine.net blog. Each Saturday I’ll do a roundup of the blog posts I found most compelling that week and post them. I hope you enjoy it and find something interesting to read. Best, Danine
I’ve got a new post up at Change.org on Women in Science Celebrated by Nobel Committee & White House. Go check it out!
As I noted in my post for Change.org on Monday, from 1901 to 2008, women had only won 4.67% of all Nobel Prizes. However, the Nobel Foundation is doing a much better job of recognizing women’s “outstanding achievements” in 2009. Women’s accomplishments have been recognized in three of the four categories awarded so far and women represent 40% of this year’s Nobel Laureates. Like I said, so far.
Medicine:
Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Carol W. Greider and Jack W. Szostak
Carol W. Greider and Elizabeth H. Blackburn
Physics: Charles K. Kao, Willard S. Boyle and George E. Smith
Chemistry: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz and Ada E. Yonath
Ada E. Yonath
Literature: Herta Müller
Herta Muller
This is change we can believe in, right? The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced tomorrow (Friday, October 9) and the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences will be announced on Monday, October 12. Check the Nobel Foundation website for more information.
Photo credit: Nobel Foundation
Dr. Carol Greider and Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, 2009 Nobel Laureates for Medicine
I’ve got a new post up at Change.org: Two American Women Win Nobel Prize for Medicine.
In the column, I report on Elizabeth Blackburn and Carol Greider winning the Nobel Prize for Medicine (along with their colleague Jack Jack W. Szostak) “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.” I even try to tell you what that means. (Big thanks to my cousin, Dr. Brenda Schroeder of Washington State University’s Department of Plant Pathology for the fact-checking.) Finally, I reveal the pathetically tiny amount of women who have woman Nobel Prizes.
Are you intrigued? You should be. Head on over to the Women’s Rights blog at Change.org and read my new post already!
Photo credit: Nobel Foundation
This afternoon I to see the movie Whip It! with my mom. Everything you’ve heard is true: this is a flat-out awesome, rockin’ the grrl power, must-see film. Without giving too much away, because you really do have to see the movie for yourself, the basic plot is this: Ellen Page plays Bliss, a 17-year-old girl who along with her best friend lives in a small town near Austin, TX. Bliss joins a roller derby team called the Hurl Scouts in Austin (without her parents’ permission of course). From there it proceeds much like any other sports movie: the team trains, plays games and eventually makes it to the championship. What happens next? Go see the movie.
Unlike most sports movies, winning is not the only important theme. Bliss’ teammates (played by Drew Barrymore, Kristen Wiig and singer Eve) mentor her. Bliss gains confidence in herself as she becomes stronger and more athletic. It takes a while but she becomes more assertive in her personal relationships, too.
Whip It! rocks (and rolls) because it has strong, confident, smart and funny women working hard and playing harder. Women can be competitive. Women can be aggressive. (On that note, we can be assertive, too.) We’re not shrinking violets. We’re athletes. We’re women.
Go see this movie. Don’t wait until it comes out on DVD. See it in the theater and show Hollywood that we want to see more films with positive feminist themes. Take your best friend, your mom, your sister, your daughter and go see it.
P.S. I tried really hard not to give too much away!
Photo credit: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Mattel has launched new line of ‘black Barbies’ with an inspirational message for every girl. The line is called So In Style and features Grace, Trichelle and Kara as well as their little sisters Courtney, Janessa and Kianna, respectively. According to a Mattel press release, the dolls have “more authentic-looking facial features such as fuller lips, a wider nose, more distinctive cheek bones and curlier hair.” Unlike previous ‘black Barbies’, these dolls have different skin tones, hair textures and facial features. In other words, they look more like real women.
While doll designer Stacey McBride-Irby says Grace, Trichelle and Kara are all about “fun and fashion”, they are also meant to be role models. They have a wide variety of interests including math, science, music, art and journalism. Their little sisters like dancing, writing stories and playing violin. McBride-Irby says Courtney, Janessa and Kianna were included in the line to show how the big sisters can mentor younger girls.
I’m impressed. This doll is being marketed by promoting a positive self-esteem. Growing up, I never had a Barbie that looked like me or encouraged me to excel in math and science. When I was a kid in the ’80s, playing Barbies was simply playing dress-up. Our favorite costumes were the ball gowns, the ones that looked like they came off the rack at the Miss America evening gown competition. Playing Barbies was simply make believe. It had nothing to do with real life. This is probably why Barbie’s freakishly skewed body portions never really affected my self-image. (Hollywood took care of that.) She wasn’t real.
These Barbies aren’t real either but they are a lot more relatable than the dolls I had to play with. I hope girls (and boys) of all racial and ethnic backgrounds do relate to this new line of Barbies. I hope they learn that math, science, music and art are cool. I hope they learn to help their friends and pass their knowledge and wisdom along to other women because we all need to learn how to network more.
Most of all, I hope they have fun. Some of my best childhood memories are those I spent playing Barbies with my sister.
Great retrospective of black Barbies throughout the years:
Learn more about the So In Style dolls at Mattel
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Exciting news! I let Ashley over at the Small Strokes blog pick my brain for her Literacy in the Feminist Blogging Community interview project. Here’s a sample of what I had to say:
1. Define the online feminist blogging community.
Feminists, particularly younger feminists, have exploited social media really well. We use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to network and exchange information with each other. Blogging allows feminists to network with each other like Facebook and Twitter but it’s more than that. Blogging allows us to contribute to the feminist (and sometimes national) dialogue as soon as we hit “publish.” By examining the world around us through a feminist lens and writing about it, we are participating in online and real-life activism. Continue reading….
Now that I’ve got you hooked, continue reading at the Small Strokes Project!