Posts Written by Nancy
By Nancy Lynne Kanter • 12 years ago

SLUT: See Limbaugh, Unevolved Troglodyte

Rush Limbaugh has been all over the news since his misogynistic rant about Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown University law student who testified before Democratic members of Congress about birth control coverage being a necessary part of women’s health. His rant went on for over three days, during which he called her a “slut” and a “prostitute,” along with about 50 other insults. Apparently, each of those insults has now cost him an advertiser, as 50 of them (so far) have pulled their ads from his show. Granted, one must wonder why they ever decided to advertise with him in the first place. As a man who regularly spews sexist manure and the one who coined the term “feminazi,” it’s obviously not his first sexist rodeo. However, this time enough people grabbed the bully by the horns and put pressure on his advertisers to try to make it his last.

After several advertisers initially dropped him, he made a half-assed apology to Fluke, during which he just reiterated what he’d previously said. At that point, you’d think he might slither away from sexist rhetoric until the heat went down … but nope. Just last week, he made demeaning comments about author Tracie McMillan, including calling her an “authorette” and stating: “What is it with all these overeducated white women?”
By Nancy Lynne Kanter • 12 years ago

Super Sexism – Not Buying It

Unlike most commercials, those that air during the Super Bowl are ones that people actually want to watch. These $3.5-million-per-30-second-time-slots can be opportunities for companies to be clever, maybe even inspiring … but instead, many insist on falling back on lazy and uninspired sexist clichés. This is so expected in fact, that MissRepresentation.org, a campaign named after the brilliant documentary film, asked viewers to call out these companies on Twitter with the hashtag #notbuyingit.

Here are the 5 worst offenders, followed by a sampling of You Tube comments that show how sexist messages reinforce viewers’ own sexist beliefs:

1) Teleflora — In what seems more like a Victoria’s Secret ad than ...

Unlike most commercials, those that air during the Super Bowl are ones that people actually want to watch. These $3.5-million-per-30-second-time-slots can be opportunities for companies to be clever, maybe even inspiring … but instead, many ...
By Nancy Lynne Kanter • 12 years ago

Who Put the “us” in Uterus?

A significant component of being confident in our own skin is honoring and respecting our bodies. It’s in recognizing that our bodies are sacred — that they belong to no one but ourselves. That they’re private property, and no one has the right to trespass. That no one has the right to touch them without our permission or to tell us what to do with them. That others’ opinions of our bodies are irrelevant. Every human being has this right — the right to bodily autonomy.

But lately, that right is being threatened — at least when it comes to women. In the past year, conservative Republicans have introduced over 900 anti-abortion bills. These ...

A significant component of being confident in our own skin is honoring and respecting our bodies. It’s in recognizing that our bodies are sacred — that they belong to no one but ourselves. That ...
By Nancy Lynne Kanter • 12 years ago

Real Women Have … Bodies

The other day, my friend shared this image on my Facebook wall. I’m sure she had good intentions, as did the creator. At first glance, it seems like a girl-power-feel-good-kind-of-message that challenges the pressure to be thin, similar to the “real women have curves” mantra made popular by the movie of the same name. It seems to be about women celebrating their curves, accepting their bodies, and not buying into the extreme dieting mentality.

But it’s not. This image is about shaming thin women about their bodies under the guise of empowering heavier women. It’s just the other side of the same coin.

What about women who ...

The other day, my friend shared this image on my Facebook wall. I’m sure she had good intentions, as did the creator. At first glance, it seems like a girl-power-feel-good-kind-of-message that challenges ...
By Nancy Lynne Kanter • 12 years ago

Whorin’ Ain’t Easy

In pop culture, a whore is demonized — she’s a woman who sells her body for money, a prostitute. She’s promiscuous and immoral. She’s unclean — she’s a dirty whore, a filthy whore. She’s damaged goods and the opposite of virgin. It’s a bad thing to “whore yourself out” or to be anyone’s bitch. A Google image search for “whore” will bring up lots of porn (so make sure your SafeSearch is on) and quite a few demotivational posters about “attention whores”. The whore doesn’t have much power — she’s the thing, the object, the product being used.

In contrast, pimpin’ is a compliment. A pimp is cool — he’s got money, nice clothes, a fancy car, and all ...

In pop culture, a whore is demonized — she’s a woman who sells her body for money, a prostitute. She’s promiscuous and immoral. She’s unclean — she’s a dirty whore, a filthy whore. She’s damaged goods and ...