Let's Get Cultural

A healthy sense of gender from one of my fave feminist tumblrs, sexismandthecity.

Gender is… / Gender is not…

Poster recreation by Snoogan 2 Dope on dA - aka snoogan @ tumblr

febryaamanda:oforganon:femonster:genderqueer:

Hooray gender policing! *sarcasm*

thedailywhat:

Miserable Marketing Campaign of the Day: Miami-based ad agency Zubi seems to feel that the best way to promote karate lessons at Key Biscayne’s Academy Of Martial Arts is by suggesting to parents that there is something wrong with their lipstick-wearing, high-heel-clicking kid that only karate can correct.

I’ll just leave this here.

[copyranter.]

thedailywhat:

Things That (Need To) Exist of the Day: Phil Lord and Chris Miller of Clone High fame directed this impossibly awesome fauxmercial for the Super X-treme Mega History Heroes Brontë Sisters Power Doll set as part of a “series of educational shorts about action figures based on historical figures.”

The educational value of the spots was deemed “somewhat suspect,” and, consequently, they never aired.

[h/t: yesbutnobutyes.]

“Book ‘em Brontës!” I so wish these existed.

comicallyvintage:

Ladies - what you did before feminism.

Tina, I love ya. Unabashedly so. I miss you regularly being smart and funny at the Weekend Update desk. And this segment was really strong, as was your razor-sharp Palin impersonation. BUT, you spent the most of SNL playing dumb blondes (Dina Lohan) and hookers (one of Tiger’s conquests and an inexplicably 9-in tall lady of the night). What gives? You’re one of the more powerful women in Hollywood and you were once the head writer on SNL, you can demand smarter writing than that. “Brownie Husband” was pretty funny though.

sexismandthecity:

Women have feminism but wht do men have ? republicans, HEYOOOO

Cool “Single Ladies”/Motown mashup. A sweet tribute to the girl groups who paved the way for ladies like Beyoncé. I think I like this better than the original!

sexismandthecity:

a disgrace to the female sex

(via drygluestick)

TRANSPHOBIA and THE PORNOGRAPHIC IMAGINATION in “TELEPHONE”

I thought this article (via Oh No They Didn’t on LJ) was really interesting. Lady Gaga has been such a departure from bland, cookie-cutter pop starlets - Taylor Swift comes to mind - that her performance style overshadowed some issues with her persona. The question of her gender has been a media favorite which I thought she dealt with in a tongue-in-cheek way in the video on my first viewing, but after reading this article, the video’s whole opening sequence seemed more like an assertion of her femininity in a way that made transsexuals seem like freaks and femininity seem like a weak place to be. She’s stripped and humiliated, put in chains - the video was evocative of aggressive pornographic imagery that shouldn’t be mainstreamed like this. Why does this powerful, hugely successful and talented woman have to be dominated in her OWN music video? Even commercial success doesn’t keep you from submission.

The whole porno image of the women’s prison, full of beautiful, oversexed, scantily-clad lesbians didn’t seem really revolutionary either, especially in a video directed by a man, as 99% of music videos are. I appreciate Gaga’s incredible musical talent and use of performance art to create this controversial persona, I just wish it didn’t sometimes hinge on these tired stereotypes.

However, I did like the partnership of Gaga and Beyonce evoking Thelma and Louise in the second half of “Telephone”. It was way cool to see two ridiculously awesome female performers team up. More sisterhood, less Spice Channel derivatives please.

Photographer Cindy Sherman, Untitled Film Still #14