Posts Written by Anna

The Feministing Five: Ashley Sabin

What goes on behind the scenes in the world of modeling? What’s behind the facade of beautiful photographs and expensive clothes? Ashley Sabin, co-director of the documentary Girl Model, attempts to answer just that.

The documentary follows the story of a young girl named Nadya, scouted in her Siberian countryside and brought to the bustling world of Tokyo for modeling. The offer seems to provide much needed financial relief for her family who is depending on her.

The documentary provides varying perspectives, including the modeling scout, herself a former model, and the director of the modeling agency. While humanizing these roles in the global model trade, the documentary remains riveting and horrifying. It’s a strong dose of reality for anyone who thinks modeling is a “dream job.”

The documentary premiered on PBS in March and can be viewed anytime on Netflix.

And now, without further ado, the Feministing Five with Ashley Sabin.

Anna Sterling: What inspired you to tell the story of what goes on behind closed doors in this modeling world?

Ashley Sabin: Girl Model is the first project where the subject matter came to us. Ashley Arbaugh, the scout, approached us with an idea to document “modeling and prostitution or the foggy lines that exist between the two.” It took a while to begin the project because of the obvious ethical problems of filming such subject matter. After about a year we began production and decided we would follow Ashley on a scouting ...

The Feministing Five: Krystal Ball

Krystal Ball is someone that we can all learn from. At 29, she ran for Congress in Virgina’s first district. She would have been the youngest woman to serve in Congress ever, if elected. She didn’t win though. During her election, she faced a sexist smear campaign by her opponents on the right who leaked salacious college photos of Ball. (We covered this 2010 edition of sexist double standards here too.) Throughout the whole thing, she held her head high. When others might’ve crawled away from the spotlight, Krystal used that moment to shed light on the inequalities women face in the public sphere. In her response, she wrote:

I don’t believe these pictures were posted with ...

Krystal Ball is someone that we can all learn from. At 29, she ran for Congress in Virgina’s first district. She would have been the youngest woman to serve in Congress ever, if elected. She didn’t ...

The Feministing Five: Akiba Solomon

This past February, Colorlines announced Akiba Solomon as its new managing editor. And it’s no surprise. She’s been writing about race and gender for years now. She spent the early part of her years at print magazines like The Source and Essence. She eventually made her way to online journalism (and candidly speaks with me about how this switch sometimes isn’t a choice for journalists of color).

Over the past two years, she’s run the Gender Matters column on the site where she’s discussed SlutWalk and black feminism, the abortion-as-black-genocide lobby,  and even Blue Ivy and the alleged ugliness of blackness. She has a brave way of bringing the personal into the political, evident ...

This past February, Colorlines announced Akiba Solomon as its new managing editor. And it’s no surprise. She’s been writing about race and gender for years now. She spent the early part of her years at ...

The Feministing Five: Kate Bornstein

Kate Bornstein is a queer and pleasant danger, and her time is coming! Really. To expand on that perfectly succinct bio though, she wears many hats including author, playwright and performance artist. Her books include Hello, Cruel World: 101 Alternatives To Suicide For Teens, Freaks, and Other Outlaws, Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us”; “My Gender Workbook; and the cyber-romance-action novel, Nearly Roadkill. Kate’s plays and performance pieces include Strangers in Paradox, Hidden: A Gender, The Opposite Sex Is Neither, and Virtually Yours. Like any great feminist writer, you can expect powerfully brave work from Kate. She shares her personal experiences transitioning through gender, before finally coming into her own, to ground all ...

Kate Bornstein is a queer and pleasant danger, and her time is coming! Really. To expand on that perfectly succinct bio though, she wears many hats including author, playwright and performance artist. Her books ...

The Feministing Five: Renee Bracey Sherman

Renee Bracey Sherman is an activist from Chicago, Illinois. While studying economics and sociology at Northeastern Illinois University, she found her passion working to break down barriers of multiple oppressions that people face each day through story sharing. Renee identifies as a biracial queer ally and found that discussing her own abortion experience and identities has helped to build conversations across movements. Renee moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to serve in AmeriCorps through the social justice service program, Public Allies.

By day, Renee is a fundraiser for Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, and in her spare time, she volunteers for ACCESS Women’s Health Justice, is an ...

Renee Bracey Sherman is an activist from Chicago, Illinois. While studying economics and sociology at Northeastern Illinois University, she found her passion working to break down barriers of multiple oppressions that people face each day through story ...

The Feministing Five: Zerlina Maxwell

Two weeks ago, Zerlina was on the Sean Hannity show to talk women, guns and rape. If you’ve been following this blog, or her Twitter, or watching cable news in general, then you’ve almost certainly heard about her appearance. The premise of the segment was that all women should have the right to own a gun in order to defend themselves against rape. Zerlina had the audacity to argue that this is a problematic conflagration and that the onus should be placed on men to not commit rape, instead of adding yet another responsibility on women’s shoulders to not get raped. Fair enough. Well, the right wing media had a field day with this ...

Two weeks ago, Zerlina was on the Sean Hannity show to talk women, guns and rape. If you’ve been following this blog, or her Twitter, or watching cable news in general, ...

The Feministing Five: Bonnie McFarlane

It’s 2013 yet the ever-pervasive myth that women aren’t funny persists. Men like the late Christopher Hitchens, who wrote the piece “Why Women Aren’t Funny” in Vanity Fair, and comedian Adam Carolla (if you could call what he does comedy) have ensured that this absurd notion has remained throughout time.

Thanks to Bonnie McFarlane’s new documentary entitled “Women Aren’t Funny,” we now have not only an interesting perspective on the debate, but a hilarious one. And from a woman! Bonnie and her husband Rich Vos, both comedians, tackle this question by asking various comedians, club owners, and writers for their thoughts on the matter. They feature everyone from Wanda Sykes, Joan Rivers, Sarah Silverman, and Dane Cook. ...

It’s 2013 yet the ever-pervasive myth that women aren’t funny persists. Men like the late Christopher Hitchens, who wrote the piece “Why Women Aren’t Funny” in Vanity Fair, and comedian Adam Carolla (if you could ...

The Feministing Five: Melissa Silverstein and Kathryn Kolbert

Melissa Silverstein and Kathryn Kolbert are co-founders of the Athena Film Festival taking place this weekend at Barnard College in New York. Silverstein is the founder and editor of Women and Hollywood, and Kolbert is director of the Athena Center for Leadership Studies. We’ve partnered with the festival for two years now with ticket giveaways, so we’re clearly fans of the festival. And why wouldn’t we be? Now in its third year, the Athena Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing films made by women. It’s hosted by Barnard College’s Athena Center for Women’s Leadership and features movie screenings, conversations with directors and workshops for filmmakers. I just screened Women Aren’t Funny and

Load More