Meaty Treats In Every Bite

Earlier I had noted the fact that Quiznos had an ad campaign that solely focused on men talking about the wonders of meat sandwiches. Now, they're giving the ladies a say.....

Woman holding steak sandwich: "It's not lacking any meat, which is what a real woman needs"

If you were in a coma throughout your adolescent years, you may think this woman is commenting on the nutritional value of food sources derived from animal flesh.

But she's not, she's really talking about penises.

In fact, if you substitute the word "penis" everytime the ad mentions "meat" not only is the commercial funnier, but it's more accurate.

Death Becomes Her

Last week the photo challenge on America's Next Top Model had a crime scene theme. While this type of photo spread is still seen as "edgey" it's been done before, and plenty of feminists have written about how this devalues women, eroticses violence, ect ect. There's an entry on Women in Media and News that has more details about the whole to do.

My big beef, especially after spending a weekend at a conference on the language used to describe sexual violence, was one of the criticisms the judges had about a particular picture.

Regarding Felicia's photo shoot Nigel said:

All the other girls managed to have some sort of spark even in this sort of morbid situation. I think I look at you in this picture, and you actually just look dead. One of the simplest things, like acting dead, can be the most challenging. The problem is that you didn't do anything. You just gave up and thought that that was being dead.

News flash Nigel, being dead is just that, dead. When you're dead the spark of life has been extinguished from your body. You're a giant piece of rotting meat no matter how in season your shoes are. Death is not glamorous.

Totally Gay Frosted Mini Wheats

I don't watch much T.V. so I tend to see the same commercials over and over again. And the really annoying ones never fail to irritate me, no matter how many times I've been subjected to them.

There were two commercials that plagued me all winter. A local ad for a snowboard shop, and a national ad for strawberry frosted mini wheats.

The low budget ad for the snowboard shop involved random clip art of butterflies, elderly people in wheelchairs, cookies, screaming children and a woman slumped over her desk in near tears with the tag line "You've got a lot on your mind, let us help you pick out the right gear"

I can assure you, my thoughts are more complicated than butterflies and playing nurse maid. Every time this ad aired I'd get so aggravated I spent the entire commercial throwing cookies and children at the T.V.

The second ad was slightly more subtle but no less insidious. Two frosted mini wheats are helping some children take a test(because they're apparently the new brain food), and the regular white frosted wheat bite hits on a pink frosted wheat bite, thinking it's a she piece of cereal, but it turns out to be another dude! Both white and pink frosted wheat bites are disturbed by the interaction. The pink bite laments that he did not "choose the uniform" and is made to feel ashamed of his pastel hue.

Oh my god! This cereal is so GAY! Don't let you're children eat it or they may come to question heteronormative gender roles.

Or they might just have improved bowel movements.

While searching for a clip of this frosted debacle, I came upon a wonderful resource, Commercial Closet. It's a site that tracks positive and negative representations of gays in advertisements.

They have an entry AND clip of the frosted mini wheat commercial. You can watch it here.

Even more interesting is that, on Thursday night I was watching T.V. and the commercial was different. Now instead of being mistaken for a girl, the pink frosted bite is confused for a different flavor.

I guess I'm not the only one who threw milk at the screen.

Hunting for Babes, Literally or Maybe Not...

Micheal Burdick came up with an idea. Micheal Burdick made some money off his idea. It is apparent Micheal Burdick is a fraud and has some issues to work through.

His concept behind Hunting for Bambi is simple: Men pay money to run around the desert trying to hit naked women with paint balls, and get a video tape of the adventure to bring home to share with their loved ones. Err something....

The women in his videos and staged "hunts" are completely naked except for a pair of shoes.

Burdick said:

"The main goal is to be as true to nature as possible. I don't go deer hunting and see a deer with a football helmet on so I don't want to see one on my girl either.

Nature...?

Sounds kind of dangerous. Good thing it's all a scam.

You can check out the 4 part story done by a local Las Vegas journalist HERE.
Then the other report by at Snopes.

But even if this all a big can of baloney the website and videos are still disturbing.

Getting My Lingustics On

There's a really cool conference happening in Boston next Saturday, March 24th that I'm really excited about.

It's called The Troubling Language of Rape: How Eroticism, Gender Myths, and Victim Blaming Affect Social and Legal Discourse.

It's free, but you have to register. You can get all the info HERE.

Hope to see you there!

All Hands On Deck

Groping breasts. The great American past time second only to sports and guns. Finally there's a product to give every woman that freshly violated feeling all day long!

The other thought that pops into my head besides "Ew" is "Why is this posted on Coolest-Gadgets?"

Lawyers Behaving Badly

If you've been over to Feministe lately you've probably seen the article about Jill's awful experience with AutoAdmit, which is a website geared towards law students and legal professionals. Lately AutoAdmit has come under scrutiny since the Washington Post recently did an expose on the site. Though the problem is now getting more attention, the damage it's done to some professional women's reputations isn't going to dissipate anytime soon.

I encourage you to read the article by the Washington Post and Jill's response. Then check out the Women's Legal History Biography Project, put together by the Standford Law School, to help remind yourself any obstacle can be over come.

Forget Feminism Ladies, Science Will Save You!

There's so much going on in this 5 minute video it's astounding. I feel like an archaeologist uncovering the tomb of an ancient British misogynist.

Some points that stuck out to me:

The idea that feminism regulates women to intellectual ghettos.

His claim that feminism was invented in the 1960's.

A disavowal of science's role in the oppression of women and other minorities. Remember a little thing called biological determinism, which was supported by "scientific" claims, and used to keep women in the kitchen? Guess not....

A poor understanding of the history of the birth control pill. Sorry Margret Sanger, you're old news.

But one of my favorites, it this dude's assertion that the mechanical miracle of WASHING MACHINES would have eventually liberated women from domestic servitude.

Don't worry ladies, after guys like him perfect Love Droids we can all sneak away. And no one will notice......

Speaking of Vaginas.....

Now you can immortalize one in chocolate! The fake rubber/latex vaginas always creeped me out a little. They remind me of impersonal glory holes in a darkened truck stop. But now you can make a cast of your own.

It's a perfect DIY stocking stuff for that hard to shop for connoisseur on your list.

The V Word

According to an article in the Journal News, three female students have been suspended for saying "vagina". The article writes:

"School administrators had warned the girls it would be inappropriate to say the word [vagina] while reading a selection from Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues," but the students were willing to suffer the consequences."

If you can't call a vagina a vagina, what can you call it? It's the clinically correct term for a part of the body that at least 50% of the population has. What do they call in sex ed class at this school, a honey pot? I doubt the science teacher referrs to it as "down there". Or at least I hope they're not......

And in case you don't want to bother clicking on the news link, the passage the girls read is as follows:

"My short skirt is a liberation flag in the women's army. I declare these streets, any streets, my vagina's country."

Sounds pretty good to me. I think there's nothing wrong with reminding an auditorium of youths that wearing a short skirt isn't asking for it. I doubt re-claiming the streets as my "hooha's" country would have the same impact.

Sexist Messages AND a Bag of Chips

Sorry I've been neglectful as of late, I've been traveling for work.

But I now present quite possibly the strangest bags of chips ever marketed towards women. Pay close attention to the inspirational messages on the right hand side of the bag.

Remember girls: No ring, no thing!