For some reason, despite the fact that "don't hit a woman" is quite a popular mantra in our culture, most people seem to not give two shits that Chris Brown once bludgeoned and threatened to kill his then-girlfriend, Rihanna.

It was clear from that incident that Chris Brown is a very disturbed man who has serious issues and represents something that we should NOT glorify, especially as a role model for young men and boys. His career should have been over following the many, many horrifying details and photos that were released demonstrating the seriousness of that situation, but it seems that now the dust has settled and Chris Brown has emerged virtually unscathed.

He should be insanely grateful that his worst problem that emerged from this scandal is an angry Twitter remark here and there from his seemingly few haters, but no. The latest person to criticize him via Twitter, Jenny Johnson, sparked Brown's obviously rampant bad temper, causing him to verbally attack her, calling her a "bitch" and a "hoe" and other things I can't bring myself to repeat.

The whole exchange was a CLEAR AS FUCKING DAY sign that Chris Brown learned absolutely nothing about how to treat women. And his fans learned absolutely nothing about not worshiping a terrible human being. But alas, in their eyes Brown can do no wrong, hence the thousands of death threats they tweeted towards Johnson for daring to speak harsh words towards their beloved woman-beater.

Chris Brown is publicly treating women like dogs and getting away with it.

Here is the latest example: this past Tuesday, during an interview with Howard Stern, the Game, who refers to Chris Brown as "like a little brother to me," said this when asked about Brown's violence towards Rihanna:

"I feel like he made it back OK, and they're back together. What I thought of it, I just figured they were young and that was just, you know, one of those Hollywood mishaps. I don't think it'll happen again."

Oh, you know, yeah he punched a woman repeatedly and threatened to kill her, but it's totally just one of those funny Hollywood hijinx. We can all laugh about it now!

You really have got to be kidding me.

And what is that bullshit about "it won't happen again"?! Um, does he not remember Chris Brown verbally attacking a woman on Twitter last month and threatening to shit in her eye?

Yeah, he really "made it back OK."

Howard Stern was smart enough to ask the Game if he would be as forgiving towards Chris Brown if he had beaten up Game's own daughter. He didn't have an answer, which means, "Hell fucking no, he would be dead to me."

The point is that not only is violence again women alive and well (and rampant) but so are the people who are perpetuating it. And I don't just mean those who physically raise a hand to a woman, but the people who fail to hold abusers accountable for their actions. Chris Brown got away with it all because we let him. We are still glorifying and honoring him, despite the fact that he did something seemingly unforgivable. His fans threatened to murder the person who most recently dared to remind the world what he has done.

This whole ordeal has been a good indicator of how much of a problem violence against women really is... because we're not just up against the abusers, we're also up against every single person who's ready to stand by the abuser's side and defend his actions.

Men's magazines are usually pretty predictable in that we can expect them to write mostly about things than manly-men love, like boobs and how to touch boobs and how to be like guys who touch a lot of boobs. Boobs. But I can say that I never expected "lads' magazine" Zoo Weekly to post GAAAAAHHHHH WHAT IS THAT?!?!

That is just... disturbing. No, wait. The comments left by their super intelligent fans are what's disturbing:


Luke and Andrew are my favorites. Real stand-up guys. Although Andrew might want to update his humor because I can't believe sexist douchebags are STILL using "women = sandwich makers" as their primary put-down of our gender.


The horrendous disembodied woman has since been taken down after a complaint issued by the Advertising Standards Bureau... because, y'know, they have standards and all. Seriously, Zoo Weekly should know that the only thing that can pull off the sexy-halved-woman routine is Beetlejuice.

I just saw a commercial on TV for Kotex's line of menstruation products, called "U." I have to admit: normally, I tune out during commercial breaks, but this completely got my attention because it expressed basically every single qualm I have with your average tampon/pad ads:



I did some YouTube'ing, and not only do their commercials address how obnoxious tampon ads are, but they also address how uncomfortable people, particularly men, get when women talk about their periods:



And this one, again addressing the ridiculousness of most tampon/pad ads, made me laugh:



I also noticed that one of their ads posted on YouTube was tagged with "feminism." All of this was a bold move on Kotex's part, and although I don't use disposable pads/tampons (not since I bought my LunaPads), I'm intrigued.

Visit their YouTube channel or their website to learn more. Their website even has a pledge you can sign that starts out with:

Yeah, I have a period. And a vagina, not a va-jay-jay. It's what makes me a woman. But society and the media aren't being straight with me. It's like there's a code of secrecy and it makes me feel uncomfortable when talking about these topics.

Is this too good to be true?

Bill O'Reilly has had some pretty douchey moments, but this might just be one of the douchiest things he's ever said in his entire douchebag history.

Remember the French McDonald's ad I posted about the other day, the one featuring the gay teenager with the phrase "come as you are"?

Last night, during O'Reilly's segment, first he and Fox News anchor Jane Skinner implied that the commercial will only make gay men hungry for McDonald's (what?) Then, O'Reilly went on to say: "Do they have an Al-Quaeda ad? You know... 'Come as you are.'"

Here's some advice, Bill: gently wrap hand around ankle, then in one swift motion, remove foot from mouth.

Well, Caster Semenya has fallen out of the media, but luckily people have yet another public figure to impose gender upon. A Filipino singer, Reggie Ramirez, from "Pilipinas Got Talent" has become known for his ability to sing both "female" and "male" parts of songs, and his tendency to perform in both women's and men's clothing.



And inevitably people MUST KNOW! Is it a tranny? A dragqueen? A hermaphrodite? WHAT IS IT?!? WE CANNOT ACCEPT THIS PERSON UNTIL THEY FIT INTO A GENDER BOX! AGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Methinks people should save themselves a whole lot of trouble and just realize it's none of their damn business.

By: Anonymous - from the series of guest posts written by Dr. Baldwin's students at Michigan State University.

Is TV sending the wrong message to young girls? This question is nothing new and everyone has heard it before. But what is anyone doing about it? All I see are more and more shows portraying women and young girls in a negative light. Whether it is in the hugely popular movie series Twilight, where Bella finds herself unable to survive without a guy by her side to take care of her, or all of the MTV shows, like Jersey Shore, which is centered around women who are solely interested in drinking and hooking up with men. Then you have The Hills, a show that shows a group of girlfriend who care about designer labels and being famous. They don’t act like friends, instead it’s all about the drama and them betraying one another, doing spiteful and hurtful things. These are not the types of people young girls should be looking up to. When they watch shows like this it makes it okay and validates the fact that being a bad friend and person is okay, that drinking so much that you can no longer make sound judgments is just another weekend, that sleeping with around and hooking up with random guys is no big deal, and that loosing yourself to a man is acceptable.

It's time someone stands up and pulls this type of media from airing. Sure it may be entertaining, but what is it doing society? Not only are girls being told that that is how you should act, it’s telling boys that that’s what you should expect girls to act like. I find this to be a sad truth, I see so many girls that feel the pressure that society is putting on them to act that way. I also see the regrets they have in the morning when the walk through the halls of the dorm, and they can’t remember what they did the night before or where they were. Unfortunately everyone else can see what they did because it’s plastered all over Facebook. It’s hard enough to grow up and be in college, trying to figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life and studying to get good grades. We don’t need the added pressures society puts on us.

By: Dana Hensley - from the series of guest posts written by Dr. Baldwin's students at Michigan State University.

This is a video of an anorexic model; she weighs as little as 70 pounds. I'm aware that some men do suffer from anorexia, but not nearly as much as women do. I feel like "losing weight" or "not eating something" has crossed every females mind at least a dozen times. This video is so real that it's sickening. Woman shouldn't feel this pressure to be so skinny. As twisted as this modeling picture is, and the idea behind it- I feel like it could have a positive effect. I don't think that many women would look at that picture and dream to look that way. And hopefully most women would realize that this is how we should feel about any model- anorexic or not. Not everyone has the same body type, and not ever woman is meant to be tall and skinny. We should all love ourselves for the way we are- personality and body. No more letting society or models influence our decisions, especially when it comes to harming our personal health.

Saw this very cute and very interesting video over at Sociological Images, and I was enthralled throughout the whole thing. As a girl who grew up playing Sonic the Hedgehog and Mortal Kombat on Sega Genesis, begging my father to buy me a Gameboy to be able to play Super Mario Brothers on the go, and now obsessively trying to get the high score on Wii tennis, I can't help but be interested in why women seem to feel left out from the video game world. Daniel Floyd makes some really great points, calling the video game industry a "Boys' Club" and arguing that the sexualization of female video game characters might turn women (and certainly feminists) off from video games completely. I especially love what he says towards the end:

Perhaps the ideal solution would be to just stop drawing gender lines completely. It may be that when we stop thinking so much about "games for men" versus "games for women" and just make games for people, things will start to improve. Yes, certain kinds of products and imagery appeal to men while other kinds appeal to women, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you have to wonder if all this boundary drawing around women and games has just kept them out, rather than invited them in.

In the latest issue of Glamour magazine, those who turned to page 194 saw this photo:


According to the editor-in-chief of Glamour:

It's a photo that measures all of three by three inches in our September issue, but the letters about it started to flood my inbox literally the day Glamour hit newsstands. (As editor-in-chief, I pay attention to this stuff!) "I am gasping with delight...I love the woman on p 194!" said one...then another, and another, andanotherandanotherandanother. So...who is she? And what on earth is so special about her?

Here's the deal: The picture wasn't of a celebrity. It wasn't of a supermodel. It was of a woman sitting in her underwear with a smile on her face and a belly that looks...wait for it...normal.

Women loved seeing size 12 Lizzi Miller in Glamour because they were finally seeing someone they could relate to - someone who didn't make them feel terrible about themselves because they were reminded that they are just as beautiful.

I'm impressed that Glamour is doing something that is (sadly) so rare in the world of fashion magazines, and it doesn't even stop there. An article entitled "How to Never Have Another Fat Day" seems like it will be filled with shallow tips on how to "dress thin" but is actually a series of photos of a curvy woman over 30 days accompanied with her thoughts about her body over the same time period, showing that her body never changes, but she still experiences her good days and her "fat days." It's meant to show that you don't always have to lose weight to love your body, that perhaps it's more important to think positively.

But despite Glamour's good points, I still see conflicting messages. It took me all of ten seconds to log onto their website and find articles entitled "3 Surprising Fat-Burning Foods" and "9 Things That Might Be Making You Fat" accompanied by photos like these:


...As if they're trying to tell us, "Don't look like this!" Once in awhile, fashion magazines will feature slightly larger models to appease their plus-sized readers and "fight" beauty standards, but what always remains consistent is their hypocrisy. You cannot tell us that big is beautiful while shoving diet tips in our faces. The Bust magazine blog summed it up in an April post: "With a few awesome exceptions, advertising, TV, and the rest of the media is still dominated by impossible-to-attain stick figures." And with fashion magazines making only half-assed attempts to be inclusive of real women, that's how it's going to stay.

I'M BACK! It's been an exciting week in Vegas, filled with winning money in Blackjack, followed by spending said money on $11 drinks. Definitely a successful vacation, but I'm glad to be back. My body couldn't handle another day in Vegas, and I was tired of being handed flyers for female escorts.

So, to catch up on everything I've been missing, and to help myself get back into the real world, here's a special back-from-Vegas edition of Buffet of the Week:

• Judge Sotomayor has been confirmed in a 68-31 vote! Congratulations to Judge Sotomayor, and let's hope she's as wonderful of a judge as we anticipated.


• A gay man has recently been released from prison after spending 21 years behind bars for sexual attacks on children that he did not commit.


• A new report released shows that women's insurance is more adversely affected by the recession.


• Quakers in the UK have decided to throw all their support behind same-sex marriage.


• Supermodel Gisele, who has announced that she is pregnant, has appeared in an ad campaign sans baby bulge. Why? Advertisers photoshopped it out.


• The Women and Work Commission has found that the wage gap in the UK has been increasing.


• Washington, D.C. schools are planning to offer STD testing to students.


• Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed asks, "Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?"

Anything else?

Bust posted about this music video, and it just made me want to puke. Sadly, it's for "Best I Ever Had" by Drake, and as an avid Degrassi fan for 7+ years, it kills me that my beloved Jimmy Brooks objectifies women to no end. I know he probably had little to no say in how the video played out, but as Bust writes, he's defended it, saying, "When women see the video and see all the breast and ass, hopefully they don't take offense."

Well, sorry Drake, but I take offense. When you turn women into mere body parts, I take offense. When the camera is focused on their breasts more often than their faces, I take offense. When the only real women in the video who look like real basketball players are the villains in the story, I take offense. Then again, should I really expect anything more from a song that says, "I can make your pussy whistle like the Andy Griffith theme song"?

Forbes has released its Most Influential Women in the Media list. It was nice to see that the majority of the women on this list are extremely intelligent, assertive, and actively involved in politics. Not surprisingly, Oprah took the #1 spot. My favorites on the list? Ellen DeGeneres took #4, Arianna Huffington of the Huffington Post was #12, Rachel Maddow (swoon) was #15, and the wonderful Campbell Brown of NBC was #24. It's good to see these women being honored for their achievements and contributions.

Undeniably, there is a blatant lack of women of color on the list. But that can be attributed to the fact that there are so few women of color in mainstream media in general. The Forbes list definitely reflects that.

So far, the NOW conference has been excellent. I'm meeting great people and attending workshops that are offered on a wide array of feminist issues and are led by intelligent and engaging women.

The first workshop I attended was called "Changing Media, Changing Policy: Feminist Voices Needed," and it was led by Lisa Bennett, Mary Alice Crim, Misty Perez Truedson, and Edyael Casaperalta. The workshop title and description were a tad misleading because the workshop focused solely on internet access, and failed to touch on any other medium. But I found their discussion of how the internet is no longer a luxury, but a necessity, to be extremely true. 60% of those living in the U.S. lack high-speed internet access, and because of this, their access to information and career options is limited. Internet access is a feminist issue because women are dominating the blogging world. We have things to say, and the internet is a great place to say them. It allows women a chance to gain information and opportunities that have been denied to them, and it gives them a place to express their opinions when it seems like no one else will listen. To get involved with the campaign to bring high-speed internet to all households, visit InternetForEveryone.org.



The second workshop I went to was called "Square Butts, Date Rape, and Wicked Witches: Confronting Dangerous Media Messages," and it was led by Lisa Bennett, Wendy Shepard, and NOW presidential candidate Latifa Lyles. And yes, the workshop started off with this gem of a commercial. They touched on some horrifying examples of poor messages being sent to young girls, many of which I have already seen, but they were relevant and helped to drive home the point of the workshop. I was happy they spent a good chunk talking about the Libby Liu stores, which thankfully have closed, which basically existed to groom young girls to grow up to become pink-loving thong-wearing man-pleasers. They also discussed the "cradle to grave" concept, meaning that companies like Walt Disney seek to hook young girls from the youngest of ages and keep them coming back for more of their products. And how disgusting is it that even troll dolls are being sexualized?




Then, of course, Sally, Veronica, and I hosted our workshop, "Feminist Blogging: Connecting Women Around the World." I think it went wonderfully, if I do say so myself. We touched on several aspects of blogging, and our audience greatly appreciated the Blogging 101 guides we passed out. Everyone was extremely curious and asked intelligent questions. I really enjoyed it, and I hope each person learned something!

Off to grab lunch, and then I'll head to the last workshop I'm attending, "Promoting Diversity Within the Movement." Tonight, voting will take place and election results will be announced tomorrow. Go Latifa Lyles!

I never thought to write a post on this, but after I recently purchased and played (many) hours of The Sims 3, I thought, "Why haven't I written about this yet?"

For those of you who don't know, same-sex marriage is now "legal" in the popular computer game, The Sims.

When The Sims 1 originally came out waaaay back in 2000, same-sex Sim couples could only move in together, but they couldn't tie the knot. Still, in the Sims 1 and in all expansion packs thereafter, "straight" and "gay" seemed to not exist. When you made your Sims, you couldn't pick their sexual orientation; Sims would fall in love with whoever they found appealing, regardless of gender.

The Sims 2, which came out in 2004, allowed same-sex couples to be "joined," which was the Sim version of civil unions. But now, in The Sims 3, which was released just at the beginning of this month, all adult Sims couples can be married, regardless of gender. Lyle Masaki at AfterElton.com says it well:

It may seem like a small step for a game series that has always been LGB-inclusive, but games that treat gay people equally are still pretty rare. Homophobia is still sadly common among video game communities and, worse, some companies' attempts to deal with anti-gay harassment have ended up being even more repressive to queer players.

Though The Sims didn't always allow same-sex marriage, I always, even in my pre-feminist years, thought it was surprisingly progressive that the game allowed same-sex romances. And though some could plausibly argue that the game excluded any talk of sexual orientation out of fear, I think that, regardless of their motives, Electronic Arts created a world ahead of its time, in which sexual orientation does not exist, because love is simply love.

If you missed my radio show, have a listen.



(If for some reason, the player doesn't work, try listening to it here).

Jill at Feministe really summed it up when she said, "With swine flu now hitting the United States, I figured it was only a matter of time before someone started to blame Mexicans."

Check out radio host and ignoramus Neal Boortz as he proclaims, "What better way to sneak a virus into this country than to give it to Mexicans?"



And all the bullshit about this being a terrorist attack through Mexico? *Rolls eyes* Give me a break.

Why do men's magazines insist on giving men a terrible name by acting as if they're all sexist pigs? If I were a (decent) man, I would get really fucking angry at the lack of literature that doesn't encourage me to fuck mad bitches and then throw them in the nearest trash can. Courtesy of For Him Magazine: "5 Valentine's gifts she won't realize are for you."

Girlfriends are not cheap. Research has shown the average relationship will set you back a whopping £1,426 a year. Much of which is made up of garish lingerie, thigh-inflating chocolates and other fluff-addled tat bought in a desperate attempt to encourage fellatio. So it's only fair that you treat yourself once in a while. And if you can do that while making her feel like you're the most thoughtful man in the world, even better. After all, what she doesn't know about won't hurt her. Except, eventually, Chlamydia.

Cute. #3 on the list is a charmer:

Jennifer Ellison's fitness DVD

What? Ex-Brookside Scouser with anti-gravity breasts bounces around in the name of exercise.

She'll think: "How sweet – he really does care about my health and well-being. Where's that Dairy Milk?"

The reality: Jen's impossibly taught frame will inspire her to either A) actually lose some weight or B) call you an insensitive prick and throw it back in your face. So providing you're stocked up on Kleenex, it's win-win.

And #2 is priceless:

Beauty salon vouchers

What? £50 worth of attention from a perma-tanned A-level dropout.

She'll think: "He's so thoughtful. He knows I've been working late recently – a facial is exactly what I need."

The reality: You're six months in and her bush resembles roadkill. Spend the two weeks before her appointment plucking imaginary hairs from your teeth and she'll get the message.

Seriously? I don't know which is the sadder picture that FHM is painting here: that men are self-obsessed, small-brained douchebags who think primarily with their penises, or that women are emotional, oblivious prudes who are only worth your time if they're willing to give you a blowjob.

I'm glad I know better, or else I would find no reason to go on in life.

Gotta love Fox News, and the copious amounts of inappropriate comments that come out of it. Here, Fox Business Network anchor Dagen McDowell makes a case against the tax on AIG bonuses by comparing it to sexual abuse (around 3:45 in the video):

*TRIGGER WARNING*

We need about as much confirmation that we live in a society with impossible beauty standards as we do that the sky is blue. Just look at Fox News' particularly tasteful Spring Break Swimsuit Guide: The Best Suits for Every Shape! You hear that? EVERY shape, which they define as apple-shaped, pear-shaped, hourglass-shaped, or pencil-shaped. I'm expecting to see women from size 0 to the plus sizes.

Now, for the curvy hourglass figure, I'm thinking I'll see someone like, you know, Queen Latifah:


However, this is their idea of "hourglass-shaped":



The caption: "this suit would balance out the curves and enhance the shape of an hourglass." Those... are... curves?! I understand there are varying degrees of curviness, but for God's sake, the model representing the curviest body type has thighs that don't even touch.

Oh, and this is great. Here's their horribly distorted idea of "pear-shaped":



Even better is the caption: "The full bottom on this suit would help conceal the flaws of a pear shape." Who says anyone who isn't "pencil-shaped" has "flaws"? And what in the hell kind of society are we imprisoned by when this woman, who looks about a size 6 at the most, is "flawed"?

I wish more people would understand that the average American woman is a size 14.

In honor of Women's History Month (woooo!) Glamour put together a photo shoot in which young female celebrities posed as famous historical women.