Blogs-a-plenty

I'm relatively new to this regular-blogging shtick (having only blogged irregularily in the past) and that newness--combined with the insanity that is my Google Reader--is making me feel a little schizophrenic. Should I blog today about Sarah Palin (again!) or sex education or abortion or why I think third wave feminism is over and done with? It's just too much (not to mention that I'm absolutely overwhelmed with the brilliance of many of my fellow bloggers--see "other blogs" sidebar for a sampling--even though they're currently part of my Google-Reader-overload-problem)! So, while I get my head on straight and get off the internet for a little while so I can actually write a coherent post, here are a few things that have caught my interest recently:

Habladora over at The Feminist Underground writes an excellent response to the question Are All Women Pro-Woman?

Cara at The Curvature urges us to Chill, be positive and let Obama do what he does best.

Amy at Appetite for Equal Rights adds her perspective to the discussion about why Sarah Palin is Not a Feminist.

And, the 64th Carnival of Feminists is up over at This is What a Feminist Blogs Like. That alone should keep me busy for the next few weeks!

Palin Doll

I have no words.


I started writing about this last night, but then became too tired to continue. And now it seems that Renee over at Womanist Musings has beat me to the punch in expressing her ire. My only question is, is this "sexy action-hero" Palin doll more or less or only differently upsetting than the Hillary Nutcracker doll? Because while I do find this Palin doll completely sexist and demeaning to women in general, I'm not nearly as disgusted by it as I was with the Clinton doll...

(Thanks to Oklahoma Women's Network Blog for the original link to an article about the doll.)

Lipstick on a Pig

So, I'm curious how other people feel about this. News is just coming out that last night Barack Obama made the following comment during a speech in Lebanon, VA:

"The other side, suddenly, they're saying 'we're for change too.' Now think about it, these are the same folks that have been in charge for the last eight years[...] You can put lipstick on a pig. It's still a pig. You can wrap up an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change. It's still going to stink after eight years. We've had enough."

The McCain campaigners immediately took offense at this statement, arguing that it was clearly a sexist jibe at Governor Palin (who made the joke during the her RNC speech that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull is lipstick), despite the fact that McCain himself has used the phrase "putting lipstick on a pig" in the past (in reference to one of Senator Clinton's proposals no less).

See The Washington Post and The New York Times for more information about the context of Obama's speech and the fall out.

Is this another example of the Republicans-who-cried-sexism, blowing everything out of proportion the way they have with Obama's proposal for age-appropriate sex education at all grade levels? Or is their anger actually legitimate?

What do you think?

Update: NYTimes article, Obama Responds to ‘Phony Outrage’

Update 2.0: A friend of mine posted this clip on Facebook--Stephanie Cutter on John McCain's hypocrisy re: women.

Fashion on the Campaign Trail

I just wanted to post a link to a great article in the Washington Post by Robin Givhan, who won a Pulitzer Prize for her fashion criticism last year (no you didn't read that wrong, fashion IS Pulitzer worthy). The article is an analysis of fashion at the conventions including the men-folk. Givhan note a definite 60s influence on the women's fashion, which she attributes to Mad Men. I've been seeing this 60's flavor all over stores and magazines this season, and I think it may also have something to do with a kind of Camelot-Obama kind of nostalgia. More on that and the fate of the pants-suits later....

Feminism in Strange Places: The Women of Mad Men

I've been wanting to write a post about AMC's Mad Men for ages now and, since another episode just aired last night and I'm trying to distract myself from the latest terrifying poll numbers, I figured that now would be as good a time as any.

For those who aren't in the know, Mad Men is a period drama set in the early 1960s in an ad agency in Manhattan; it's now in its second season and has proven to be quite popular. On the surface, it's not a premise that one might imagine as a bastion of feminism, especially considering the show's self-proclaimed dedication to accuracy and attention to detail. As you can imagine, the era of happy housewife heroines and consumerism is not portrayed as particularly woman-positive. On the show, the women in the office--most of them typists and secretaries--are routinely objectified by the male ad execs while the wives at home raise the children and have meals prepared for their hard-working men (many of whom often employ the "I have to work late at the office" excuse to hide their philandering and drinking). All that said, while Mad Men preserves the chauvinism of the time period (drawn into sharp focus by the fast-paced maculinist work environment of the agency), it's both an intriguing show and showcases some extremely compelling female characters who, sometimes subtly, rise beyond their prescribed gendered roles (even if they aren't exactly feminist by our standards).

(Read on for more, but beware some spoilers for Seasons 1 and 2.)

The Women of Mad Men

Betty Draper
“She wanted me to be beautiful so I could find a man. There’s nothing wrong with that. But then what? Just sit and smoke and let it go ‘til you’re in a box?”

Betty Draper (on right) is the stereotypical 1950s housewife, with an edge. She's married to Don Draper, the Creative Director of the Sterling Cooper Ad Agency, and ostensibly divides her time between raising their two children and waiting for Don to come home for dinner (or not). Betty is sharp, sweet and loyal to a fault, at least on the surface. In Season 1, her neurotic episodes (the internalized stress of being left alone all day and the onus of being the happy housewife at all times) land her in psychotherapy. And, early in Season 2, her bottled-up frustration with Don's womanizing ways causes her to be unjustly prejudiced towards their young son. What's intriguing about Betty is her deep inner life, to which we're only barely privy, the constant sense that there's more to her than we see, that she might just have some card up her sleeve. Moreover, Betty embodies the silencing burden of forced domesticity in way that is both understated and deeply palpable.

Joan Holloway
“These men, we’re constantly building them up. And for what? Dinner? Jewelry? Who cares!”

Joan Holloway (center) is the Office Manager at Sterling Cooper. She has a lot of power--authority over all the typists and secretaries (and quite a bit of influence over the artists, copywriters and accountants, to boot)--and she knows it. While in Season 1, she was the clandestine lover of one of the senior partners, Roger Sterling, Season 2 finds Joan pursuing her own life more fervently. Joan is not a nice person, but she's a great character--she's smart, manipulative, and bitchy, and those are her good qualities. She probably knows more about what's going on in the office than all three of the top guys (Sterling, Cooper and Draper) combined, and she knows how to use that knowledge to her advantage.

Peggy Olsen

“I don’t think anyone wants to be one of a hundred colors in a box.”

Peggy is by far my favorite character on the show, and she's probably the most overtly feminist. Don's former secretary-turned-junior-copywriter (a rare job for a woman at Sterling Cooper), Peggy is quiet, fiercely intelligent, and slowly trying to make a name for herself amidst the good ole boys at the agency. A sexual misstep early in Season 1 leaves Peggy sneaking off to have a baby by the end of the season, a child her sister now raises in Brooklyn. Since then, Peggy is much more judicious, and she doesn't use her sexuality to get by. She's a little arrogant, but also unerringly honorable, sometimes to a fault. Her most recent transition, from staid to classy--she glams up in order to get in on the post-pitch celebration at a strip club in the Season 2 ep. "Maidenform"--may not seem very feminist. But I'm not quite sure I'd agree. By joining the guys on their playing field--the frivolous celebration at the strip club--she acquires more, not less, respect professionally, and sets herself up as someone who can work and play on equal footing as her male co-workers.

Bonus Round: The Women (Un)Fortunate Enough to Fall Into Bed with Don Draper

Don Draper, philanderer though he is, seems to have a penchant for independent women:

Season 1: Midge Daniels, a beatnik artist/art illustrator, who eschews marriage and love, adores sex, and eventually leaves Don when she becomes bored with his controlling ad-man attitude.

Season 1: Rachel Menken, Jewish department store owner who meets Don while she's seeking a new look for her store. She falls in love with him, but leaves the city when she realizes that Don's attention is less about his love for her and more about his attempt to escape from the problems in his life.

And, last (for now), but not least, Season 2: the razor-sharp Bobbie Barrett, wife of comedian Jimmy Barrett and an astute businesswoman who manages her husband's career. She's already gotten Don into a fair bit of trouble, and I have no doubt their affair will be causing a big fuss in future episodes.

The female characters in Mad Men are so compelling to me precisely because they operate under such narrow, gendered social constraints and yet are still rendered as capable, smart and powerful. It's an interesting paradox: a series set in a time and place of extreme chauvinism, Mad Men somehow succeeds in providing strong female leads in a way that many television shows today still haven't yet mastered.

(Whew...I'm exhausted. I think I need a cocktail.)

Update: For a counter-argument, and fascinating discussion in the comments, check out The Hathor Legacy

Tyra Banks for President!

In my journey’s through this months phone book size fall fashion magazines, I ran across a curious photo spread. Harper’s Bazaar cover girl Tyra Banks is featured in the role of Michelle Obama along with a male model playing Barack Obama, and two girls as the Obama daughters. Now fashion photos are often a bit odd, especially the ones on Ms. Banks’ Top Model, but this one seemed particularly strange. See the photos here.

Why is Tyra Banks playing the role of first lady and not Madame President herself. Fashion photography is all about fantasy anyway, not to mention Hillary Clinton who let us remember was pretty close to being the Democratic nominee for the Presidency. The spread seems especially odd now that Sarah Palin is the Republican candidate for Vice President, which of course Bazaar could not have predicted. It seems odd to have Tyra type cast as Michelle Obama, when the accompanying article focuses on her as a smart business woman: "what's cool about Banks, who now earns an estimated $23 million a year, is that she was never too cool to be commercial. By doing so, she hasn't just broken borders — of ethnicity, of cynicism, of fashion cliché — she has broken ground." The article goes on to note that "Banks has traded in her pretty for something far more compelling: a voice in the culture." Banks talks in the article about her own career, and her efforts to build a career after the runway. The interviewer, Laura Brown, also asked Bank's about the role of the first lady:
"If Banks ever reached the highest office in the land, she would dress the part. 'I'd wear a V-neck shift and a two-inch heel. Even if the president were taller, I would keep them low. Otherwise it gets a little too sexy.'"

Maybe I'm mistaken, but last time I checked first lady wasn't the highest office in the land, I can only hope that this wasn't a Freudian slip on the part of Bazaar, is First Lady the highest office to which women can aspire to in this country? It seems, at least for the next 4 years, first lady, and maybe vice president is all we will get. I also like Tyra's sartorial proscription to show deference to the faux-President. Pantsuits are notably absent from this shift-dress heavy collection of looks (more on this in upcoming posts).

How should our new first lady interpret her role?:
"A modern first lady, if she followed the Tyra prescription, would first smile. (Banks reportedly has a professional arsenal of 275.) 'Oh, I want her to not take herself too seriously,' she says. 'She'd need to know how to take a fierce picture but at the same time be able to eat fried chicken, have grease on her fingers, and be okay with getting photographed like that, too. I'd want her to feel like every child in America is hers — to have a true connection.' Her expression turns serious, then she winks. 'I would also want her to know how to beat her own face. That means do her own makeup. In the end, the first lady should be her man's rock and his boulder and his mountain. And she should be calling about 50 percent of the shots!'"
Only time will tell if the new first lady will follow Tyra's lead, but in the mean time it might have been nice to see Tyra playing the President. How would she dress then? This would certainly have been an instructive spread to women in politics as well as the workplace. Oh well, Harper's missed the boat, but I do appreciate more and more Tyra's style of presentation, while she often sounds like she has more than a few screws loose, she is honest and smart and at least tries to stand for something (even if it is a simple as the fierceness of women of all sizes, shapes, and colors) in this season of political pandering and vague promises. -V.P.

Feminist Flashback #1

For your amusement, #1 in a new Sunday installment of Feminist Flashbacks: videos, images and text to remind us how far we've come (and perhaps how little has changed).

This week, "Femininity," as sung by Hayley Mills & Deborah Walley in the 1963 Disney movie Summer Magic: