Wow. Wow wow wow. Just... NO!!

What year do we live in?  What makes me sad is that there are actual women advocating this kind of trash.  I feel so bad for this woman.  I'm sure some day, hopefully sooner rather than later, she'll come out of this horrible situation and think, "Holy shit, how did I ever put up with that?"  And more importantly, "How did I bring my daughter and sons up in that kind of environment?"

At first, I just wanted to write "How did I bring my daughter up in that kind of environment?"  But part of the problem is that boys are being raised to behave this way as well.  It is so important that we raise our children to be feminists.  Think of what awful men these boys are being raised to be.  This sickens me.  It truly sickens me.

Superhero Costumes Redesigned by Women

On Cheerleaders

I ran Race for the Cure yesterday.  The route was full of teams of cheerleader.  "We are proud of you, said, we are proud of you!"

Why do we still have cheerleaders?  Cheerleaders are still almost exclusively females. The wikipedia article on cheerleading cites an article from 2007 claiming that 97% of cheerleaders are female (but the link to the article is dead).  It just seems so extremely gendered to me!  I understand that in some parts of the country, cheerleading can be a competitive sport.  But when they are just standing in a row, shouting chants and shaking pom-poms, I really don't get the point.  They don't inspire me.  Frankly, they upset me.  Not them personally, but the fact that we still even have cheerleaders like this.  I can respect it if you're doing it competitively.  I can respect it if you're doing it for a sense of community.  To make friends.  To inspire people.  To get in shape.  But somehow, these lines of 14- or 15-year-old girls with tiny little shorts or skirts, gyrating their hips around in a synchronized pattern, don't inspire respect or excitement.  They remind me that we still don't encourage our girls to respect themselves.  We're still teaching them that their value comes from their bodies.

I see pictures like these: 

And what upsets me is the inequality.  He is fully clothed.  Why are the Seagals wearing such teeny tiny outfits?  They represent Seattle.  We have maybe one week a year when an outfit that tiny is reasonable.  The rest of the time, it's mild and misty.  It's not bikini weather.  If the amount of clothing were reversed, this would just look absurd.  But we have to put women's bodies on display, and when girls see this, they think: that's what I want to be!


Why does the guy get to wear pants, but the girl wears a skirt?  Or, if the skirt allows for more flexibility, why isn't the guy wearing a skirt?  Or at least shorts?  Why does the guy's shirt have sleeves, but the girl's doesn't?


Why is her shirt shorter than his, such that her midriff is bare?  I see no functionality there.  Why this inequality?

I know people who were cheerleaders.  When I was in law school, a guy was making fun of my very preppy-looking shoes and asked me if I was a cheerleader.  I said "no!" in a very offended tone of voice.  Another woman overheard me and asked me if there was something wrong with being a cheerleader.  I said no, but I just wasn't that type of girl.  She very calmly explained that she was a cheerleader in high school.  And this was a smart woman, someone I really looked up to!  It was a little jarring to me to see an intelligent woman who had been a cheerleader.  It was and remains a lesson to me.  I can't assume that all cheerleaders are mindless self-objectifying girls.  I'm not advocating that we eliminate cheerleaders altogether.  I guess I'm just wondering why they haven't changed since feminism was born.  Why don't we have more male cheerleaders?  Why are the outfits so clearly gendered, such  that the men are more covered and the women reveal more skin?  Why doesn't cheerleading look different now, in 2013?

"I Own It."

This blog is a place for me to collect things I like, things I don't like, and sometimes, my thoughts about them.