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By beet • 14 years ago

She’s Out of My League

SPOILERS

I saw She’s Out of My League yesterday. While the movie had some laughs it was pretty much just another, completely unrealistic nerdy guy (Kirk, a TSA employee with no realistic ambitions) gets with a super hot woman nearly perfect in every way just for being a “nice guy.” 

The twist is in this case not only does she have a ‘perfect body’ and an endlessly pleasant and accepting personality (including of the guy’s obnoxious family who he himself even tells off at the end) but she is also super rich. 

The main other woman in the film is Kirk’s ex girlfriend Marni, who is portrayed as a completely evil person for being a bit of a social climber when it comes to leaving Kirk for someone else. Never mind that the whole rest of the movie is about Kirk leaving Marni for someone else!

I am just sick of this double standard in comedies where the guy who has very little to offer and is always doing obnoxiously stupid things gets away with having a dream woman, while the woman still has to deal with sexism and rejection from the guy until he finally accepts her as being not too perfect.

What especially bothered me about this one is that not only is it sexist, it’s also classist. All of the working class supporting characters in the movie are portrayed as idiots. In the end Kirk says F u to his entire family– WTF? The ...
By beet • 14 years ago

What’s up with ‘Good Hair’?

This past weekend I saw "Good Hair", a new documentary narrated and produced in part by Chris Rock in which he interviews a lot of black celebrities, especially black women, including Maya Angelou, Al Sharpton, Eve, Salt N Pepa, Ice T, Melyssa Ford, Raven-Symone, and others… about their hair. Rock goes into the black hair industry to explain the ubiquity of hair care products for black women aimed at straightening out their hair and make it look more white or Asian, rather than the naturally curly. He starts in Atlanta with a black hair trade show and hairdresser talent competition, and explains to the ignorant the relaxer and the weave, and traces the hair that is used to make ...

This past weekend I saw "Good Hair", a new documentary narrated and produced in part by Chris Rock in which he interviews a lot of black celebrities, especially black women, including Maya Angelou, Al Sharpton, Eve, ...
By beet • 14 years ago

Rant about on the Future of Feminism

This entry was originally a comment in another entry on Obama appointing Larry Summers to his National Economic Council and making a joke about Summers being on his Council on Women an Girls.
I am struggling on whether to post this, because honestly I have no idea how it will be received.
However, I truly believe that Obama’s attempt to “compromise” on social issues will fail just as the Democratic party’s misguided attempts to “compromise” on economic issues through the DLC failed in the 1990s.
I’m not going to hold it against him if he succeeds, I did support him, as the lesser of two evils across many issues and not just womens’ issues. I don’t think the Green Party ...

This entry was originally a comment in another entry on Obama appointing Larry Summers to his National Economic Council and making a joke about Summers being on his Council on Women an Girls.
I am struggling on ...
By beet • 15 years ago

If you could have anything, what would you want?

If you could have any feminist issue that is something our federal government could do? What would it be? A new grassroots feminist movement is forming around a call for a new Presidential Commission on the Status of Women to look into the problems that women still face here and around the world.
This week WomenCount is asking what you want a presidential commission on women to do? Take a look at the text of the legislation and offer your suggestions on WomenCount’s blog. They’ll summarize the responses and submit them to Rep. Jackie Speier’s office.
Also if you wish join the Call for a Presidential Commission on Women on Facebook. It’s time for your voices to ...

If you could have any feminist issue that is something our federal government could do? What would it be? A new grassroots feminist movement is forming around a call for a new Presidential Commission on the ...
By beet • 15 years ago

Rep. Jackie Speier calls for Presidential Commission on Women

A California congresswoman is pressing forward with legislation to set up a permanent federal commission on women just weeks after President Barack Obama created an interagency council to focus the government’s policies towards women and girls.
“I don’t see them at all in competition. I see them as complementary to each other,” Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) told POLITICO.
Speier said she plans to introduce a bill today that would set up a 13-member federal commission similar to one President Kennedy created in 1961 at the urging of Eleanor Roosevelt, who also served as the panel’s chairwoman.
“I would say, ‘We’ve come a long way, baby’ … not,” Speier said, putting a twist on the old Virginia Slims cigarette slogan. ...

A California congresswoman is pressing forward with legislation to set up a permanent federal commission on women just weeks after President Barack Obama created an interagency council to focus the government’s policies towards women and girls.
“I ...