California NOW

While we were out...

Here are a  few links to some great articles that other folks did while we were closed for the holidays.

Feminomics: Top Five Heroines of Financial Reform 

Feminomics: Race, Gender, and Poverty in Economic Recovery  (via Racialicious)

Even on mute, TV can perpetuate racial bias  (via Racialicious)

Healing Nepal: All-female guide company empowering women one trek at a time  (via Feministe)

Fun Feminist Geekery

Via Shakesville (click image to jump to the post).

Carrie Prejean's Sex Tape: Hypocrisy Doesn't Justify Sexism

So, apparently Carrie Prejean, the biblically-minded former Miss California who opposes marriage equality, may have a sex tape skeleton in her chastity closet.

Now I have absolutely no problem with calling people out for their hypocrisy (and if the tape actually exists, this seems like a case where that would apply), but some of the language being used against Prejean (primarily by commenters, rather than bloggers) veers into denigrating her for having had sex, or even simply for being female.

I don't care who you are, or how big of a jerk or a bigot, I'm not going to use language that is bigoted, sexist, racist, homophobic, etc., in criticizing you. And if other people are using that kind of language against you, I'm going to defend you against it, no matter who you are, or how horrific I find your beliefs, because that's how feminism works.

What is it going to take for people to realize that we can't end oppression by oppressing others, no matter how hateful they are?

Maybe the Dishwasher Can Get This Egg Off My Face!

Ok, I must issue a mea culpa!  With regard to what, you might ask?  My take on the Samsung diswasher ad.  No, seriously.

It turns out that "She Just Walks Around With It" is the name of a blog in the BlogHer network, and her tagline is, "Because booty is only skin deep." The image is hers too, so Samsung isn't actually connected to that part of the ad at all (which explains why it didn't seem to make any sense to connect those words and images with a  dishwasher).

And you know what?  Reading her blog, she's pretty damn funny, even when writing about the dishwasher.

Goes Together Like Dishwashers & Ass!

UPDATE: turns out this ad isn't what it looked like. Read my mea culpa here.

Well, it finally happened.  When we decided to take on ads on this site, we knew we'd face the possibility that some of the ads would not be acceptable to us.  We checked the boxes saying that we didn't want ads for cosmetic surgery, diets, lingerie, dating sites, rated R movies, alcohol, etc., in the hopes that it would limit the likelihood of offensive ads.

And then yesterday I came to the site and saw this image.

In case you can't read it, the tiny text under the picture of the woman's ass says, "Because booty is only skin deep."

Would anyone from Samsung like to fill me in on what the hell that's supposed to mean, and what it has to do with a dishwasher?

Theoretically, the, "She just walks around with it," line could have something to do with the glass this disembodied woman is carrying, but not when you combine it with the booty comment.

For a product that is supposed to be marketed towards women, I really don't get what the appeal is supposed to be here.  Am I supposed to think that if I buy this dishwasher, I'll somehow develop an amazing ass?  Am I supposed to be impressed that this woman can just walk around with her butt and her cosmo instead of slaving over dishes?

As it is, this just reads as a massively creepy sexualization of a woman's body part (and we could do some anti-racist deconstruction on how the concept of booty is positioned in mainstream media).  This is how it sounds to me, "There she is, just walking around with her ass looking attractive!"  I guess I've just heard that kind of language too often from people explaining why it was fine to verbally or physically assault a women, because of how she was dressed, or how her body looked.

So, what do you think Samsung was thinking when they ok'd this ad?