ff

you might remember there being a little teaser last week?

yeah!

on learning and unlearning. or. the impossibility of the latter.

i am just a wee baby of feminism. this is true. i am so so new and all a-stumbles on my under-formed feminist-legs. like a baby deer learning to walk. (i think maybe baby deer should be the blorg mascott... but that's another issue. a cute issue.) but the thing about it is: once you know, you can't un-know. you know?

(haha!)

and so that is where i am. i may not have the best language to argue my (our) case. but. i know i need to argue it anyway. because i have started to see it. and now i can't help but see it all the time.* to see that the united states is a terror-fest for women, despite the fact that it isn't as obvious as not-being-allowed-an-education, or being-forced-to-cover-our-bodies-in-a-complete-way... to see how many women and girls i know who are so deeply damaged by years of being told certain things about what it means to be a woman. to see how many men and boys i know who are so deeply damaged by years of being told certain things about what it means to be a man.

and sometimes i wish i didn't see it. sometimes i wish i could laugh at things like 'shit girls say' and not feel sick to my stomach knowing that there is something so deeply ingrained and flawed in the way we mock eachother. sometimes i wish my heart didn't hurt so much so often.

but that would mean i was going along blissfully ignorant. and i no longer have that option. and i suspect there are those amongst you, readers, who are hesitant to open up to the knowing. i can't blame you. it's hard. and there is no going backwards. so. i get it. if you're hesitant to join me... but i hope you will anyways. because we all know that struggle and hardship are what make us stronger humans. or something. and we can only improve things if we see them in the first place.

tra la la.

{our beloved hillary clinton drinks to the feminist of the week! photo from international business times.}

feminist of the week for this extra-special my-birthday-week has been a long time coming. sarah rankin!!! roommate extraordinaire. and feminist educator to the masses. she introduced me to feministe and shakesville, and she taught me to argue and fight when i feel i need to. she also explained this sad-truth of not being able to go back once you're in. and we had a cool talk about consent and knowledge, which maybe i'll have her guest-write about one day when she's done with school for the term... yeah?!

*it is, of course, important not to get toooo carried away, and let it ruin your life completely. and so. kittens.

ff

it's been a heavy-text time for the blog. so this is gonna be quick. (also my brain is fried from looking at fashion ALLTHETIME and i'm not gonna do a good job of making words be meaningful, i suspect. so.)

*goodbye sweet hilary. thank you.

that's all kids! have a super weekend and whatnot. stay tuned for 8 million fashion-posts!

ff

straight into it kids! this week is exciting. we're gonna start with something pretty big.

*hillary clinton's LGBT speech

although it makes me sad that some of this even needs saying, it doesn't change the fact that it DOES need saying. and she's done a superb job of saying it in a kind, respectful, gentle way. although she is firm in her message, she allows room for the difficulties associated with great change. she doesn't just plow through with THIS IS WHAT YOU SHOULD THINK GOD DAMN! what a woman. thank you, hillary. thank you tahnk you for your wisdom and courage and conviction. (i know it's a rather long read, but please do give it a good going-through. this is so so so so so so important.)

and now! some fashion-thoughts.

this week there has been some buzz about models and weight in the fashion-land. coco rocha, canadian super-model-extraordinaire, gave a speech about the pressures of the modeling world. (read it! i think she's pretty great...) and there was some positive and some negative backlash. this is a good little intro into something i've been thinking about a lot.

along with this:

*h&m cyborg models

so jacob, canadian fashion retailer, has this add campaign featuring coco rocha. and the main premise of the campaign is that it hasn't been photoshopped. hoooray! this is coco as coco is!

and i think that's super. a great start. except. there's still a bit of a problem there for me. yes, i love coco, and yes she's a brilliant and smart model, and yes she is working towards some change in the fashion-land, and yes she looks fantastic not photoshopped and hoooray and gladness! but. she is still a MODEL. she is not the smallest in the world of high-fashion models, sure. she is 'older' for a model. (i think she's 25?) but MODELS, even the healthiest among them, are not what could be considered the average body. or even, really, normal. it's not that they're these broken sickly freaks, the lot of them. far from it! i've worked with lots of girls who i would consider to be incredibly fit and healthy and that is just how they are. they work hard, sure, but they're also genetically pre-disposed to be a zillion tall and a zillion thin. like my dear brother... same sort of build. (i've also worked with girls who are clearly unhealthy, and it's super sad and tragic to see up close... but that's a whole other post.)

and there's nothing wrong with that! these thin-magic-girls. i love that shape. i admit. i'm super into the model aesthetic. but to tell little girls (or women, frankly) 'look it's a real person!' but have it still be one of those super magical few... well... i'm not sure that that is necessarily sending a perfect message either. so i'm a bit weary of this campaign, for all its good intentions.

i guess, without getting too wordy about it, what i'd like to see is diversity. unphotoshopped. give me super models! sure! but give me, too, a girl who has hips. a girl who i short and petite. a plus sized girl. a girl in that average category BETWEEN 'model' and 'plus sized' (aka me! damn it!). a girl with a giant bosom. show me what your clothes look like on those bodies. that is the dream. i guess. because there are women out there making clothes look amazing on their bodies everyday. so you can too, fashion land. i know it's a different challenge. but i have faith in you! you can do it! you're mega-smart and powerful!

okay. glad we had this chat.

oh! and going back to the h&m thing. yeah! that's okay too... make a cyborg model. but honesty. be honest about it. and maybe try to diversify your cyborgs a bit too. and also. photoshop if you want! but TALK ABOUT IT! oh man. that's a whole can of worms i am too sleepy to go into, and i'm sure y'all don't feel like reading this for EIGHT YEARS! okay. done for today!

happy friday, feminist warriors! HAHAHA!