Rachel Piazza

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By Rachel Piazza • 10 years ago

Feminist Dialoge Starts with “You Can Touch My Hair”

Has anyone ever asked to touch your hair? As a white woman in the U.S., it’s not something I’ve experienced, but if you’re a black woman, chances are you have. For most of the women who attended the “You Can Touch My Hair” public art exhibit on Saturday, June 8th at New York City’s Union Square, the experience was all too common.

The event, inspired by Un’ruly founder, Antonia Opiah’s article, “Can I Touch Your Hair?” was billed as an invitation to explore the “tactile fascination with black hair.” Sensing that there was more to this exhibit than an open invitation to touch various textures of black hair, I decided to check it out. As I arrived at the event Saturday afternoon, I immediately spotted three gorgeous black women holding signs that read, “You Can Touch My Hair.” They were standing in front of a crowd of mostly black women, who were actively conversing with one another on the topic.

While I had come to the event to learn more about this aspect of black women’s [redacted] daily experience, the conspicuous absence of white women seemed indicative of the disinterest in and disassociation with black women’s issues that the feminist movement is notorious for. “You Can Touch My Hair” was performance art that put U.S. gendered race relations on center stage. It did what good art has a habit ...

By Rachel Piazza • 10 years ago

Singin’ the praises of American Idol season 12’s all-female finale

Kree Harrison and Candice Glover went head to head tonight, each with three stellar performances. This was no surprise, as judges Keith, Nicki, Randy and Mariah have been singing their praises all season, predicting successful careers in the industry for both finalists. But as these two talented women belted their hearts out on stage, I started singing their praises for a different reason entirely.

What had been percolating in the back of my mind all season finally struck me, front and center. Each time Candice or Kree step on stage, looking all kinds of fabulous, they are making a powerful statement. Not fitting the cookie cutter mold of female pop stars today, their mere presence on the Idol stage serves to ...

By Rachel Piazza • 11 years ago

Feminist Friends’ Holiday Wish List

Looking for last minute, feminist-inspired gift ideas for the holidays? We at Feminist Friends have cobbled together our own holiday wish list with shiny, pretty things to wear, tasty treats and good reads. Happy Holidays!

1. Men’s Colotenango Oxford by Osborn

These shoes are for the most adventurous guy in your life. Just look at that pattern! As you might imagine, these shoes are made from repurposed Mayan skirts and they’re assembled by Guatemalan artisans. Ladies, there are far more options for you! Osborn was founded by Aaron Osborn after working at an orphanage in Guatemala. He met some out-of-work cobblers and teamed with them to make some inimitable shoes. Hopefully some of the money makes it’s way back to ...

By Rachel Piazza • 11 years ago

16 Year Old Jessica Sanchez Body Shamed on American Idol

Last night on American Idol’s results show, in front of millions of viewers, 16 year old Jessica Sanchez was shamed for being too sexy. When Jessica performed on the idol stage the night before, she wore a gorgeous white dress and sky-high heels. She performed Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary” and received nothing but praise from the judges. However, when Jimmy Iovine shared his critique of her performance, he lambasted her for dressing too sexy. Iovine insisted that Jessica made viewers uncomfortable with her “burlesque” performance and advised her to dress more conservatively. While JLo was supportive of her, she still dealt a few zingers that surely made her want to run home, put on her sweats and lock the door. ...

By Rachel Piazza • 12 years ago

Dr. Pepper 10: Ten Good Reasons to Never Buy Dr. Pepper Again

Dr. Pepper apparently thinks it is amusing to market its new 10 calorie drink exclusively for men by using antiquated and damaging gender stereotypes. The Dr. Pepper 10 facebook page (that you must “like” in order to view) displays an ad that shows the drink’s 10 “man’ments”. These man’ments outline appropriate social networking behavior for men.

The unimpressive version of masculinity espoused by Dr. Pepper 10 proves not only harmful for women, but for men as well. While one can assume that the man’ments are meant to be somewhat tongue-in-cheek, the root message is heard loud and clear; men are to be emotionless and destructive. Period.

The 10 man’ments go like this…

1. THOU SHALT NOT OMG.
If it’s not exploding, it’s not exciting.

(Men: ...

By Rachel Piazza • 12 years ago

UC Berkeley Bake Sale Offers Solution to Pay Gap

College Republicans at UC Berkeley are opposing a bill that would allow the University to consider race and gender in the admissions process. To show their opposition, they have created a bake sale that offers baked goods at discounted prices according to the race and gender of the buyer. While the price for White men is $2, Asians only have to pay $1.50, Latinos $1, African Americans $.75 and Native Americans $.25. Women receive $.25 off their respective racial group’s price. While this effort is meant to be satirical, and demonstrate the injustice in the pending university policy, I find it accomplishes the exact opposite.

The point of this is apparently to highlight that affirmative action-like policies discriminate based on race and gender. They’re right. Affirmative ...

By Rachel Piazza • 12 years ago

PETA Throws Women Under the Bus to Save Animals. Again.

In its efforts to gain the attention of a new audience, PETA plans to launch a porn website that intermittently plays videos of animal cruelty.

So let me get this straight… PETA’s idea is to promote sexual consumption of women in order to get men to reject the idea of consuming animals?

This ingenious plan fails to address what many view as the real problem.

Apparently PETA is willing to perpetuate society’s notion of women as a ‘piece of meat’ in order to prevent animals from being viewed that way. The objectification of women’s bodies and body parts is not innocuous. In fact, the implications of this are far reaching. The tendency to deduce women to mere body parts (as pictured in this ...

In its efforts to gain the attention of a new audience, PETA plans to launch a porn website that intermittently plays videos of animal cruelty.

So let me get this straight… PETA’s idea is to promote sexual consumption ...

By Rachel Piazza • 12 years ago

Rape Culture Upholds Patriarchal Order

There’s been a lot of talk recently about rape culture. For instance, we’ve got the NYPD catastrophe, DSK and Jamie Leigh Jones all circulating at the same time. In each of these cases, the woman’s character and credibility are being called into question. The problem is that women bare the burden of living in a society that expects men to act violently and to exert their power sexually. Women are responsible to take “proper” precautions to avoid this “natural” danger. Women cannot drink, because if they become intoxicated and are raped, no one will believe either that it happened at all or wasn’t consensual. They better watch what they wear, because high heels and a skirt above the knee would ...