'Tis the season

Its that time of year again. The National American Miss people are sending out flyers. Last year's I really didn't like, and this year's I found more issues with, after a year of paying attention to feminist blogs. Lets examine this:



First, the cover



Typical Euro-centric ideal of beauty? Check. Airbrushing? Check. "Fashionable"? Check. Vaguely pained look? Check. "Sexy" Posing? Check. Looks old enough to be the mother of the audience targeted? Why is she even on this thing?



The inside



EVEN MORE European girls? Check. Posing? Check. Now onto the highlighted stuff. That's were it gets really insidious.

• "Makeup is not allowed on our participants ages 4-12 during the event." Well, that sure didn't stop you from airbrushing their pictures, did it?


• "The National American Miss pageants are dedicated to celebrating America's greatness and encouraging its future leaders." Apparently "America's greatness" is little pretty white girls. Also: to be a leader and a girl, you must be pretty. No two ways about it.


• "You'll gain... self-confidence...You'll feel good about yourself." Yes, I'm sure it will help boost the Hispanic girl from my old hometown who also received this flyer's self-confidence that the only girls pictured on the sides are clearly European and the overweight girl down the street will feel better about herself when all the girls there are thin.


• "If not accepted into the pageant..." Way to judge a girl on her looks when she's supposed to be a "future leader".


• "The total fee for the pageant is $440." Well, my goodness, that sure explains why there's pretty much just white girls on this! You only want people with half a thousand dollars lying around! Poor people, obviously, are ugly; and unfit to associate with you until they can cut food or utilities bills to pay for this.

And the back

Finally, some token racial diversity! Posing? Check. Airbrushing? Check. Ridiculously happy smiles? Check. People who are clearly models with their perfectly white teeth and shaped eyebrows who are surely not the sort of people who would actually be at this? Check.

One last highlighted thing:
"All you'll need is:

• A prom dress or evening gown
• A suit or dress for interview
• Official production number t-shirt outfit (available on pageant weekend for a nominal charge)"

Say it with me people: Hidden Costs! So lets say you manage to scrape up half a thousand dollars to go to this thing. Now they want you to buy a prom dress! And a suit! And a t-shirt for "a nominal charge"! Turns out you need more like another $430 there!

Total cost: $870. Way to raise the bar. Now they only want you if you've got about a thousand dollars lying around! Now I know why the popular pretty girls on TV are always rich whites! They're the only ones with enough money to be official.

Congratulations, National American Miss pageants. You have now officially sent the most racist and classist bit of mail I have ever seen.

Q: What People Should Really Learn From Student Government Elections?

A: How to learn when a politician is saying a whole lot of nothing.

My class's election for sophomore year officers could be a case study. Most of the speeches were uninteresting; but gave a good overview of what the person's goals and qualifications were. Then the speeches got to the presidential candidates and the only guy running for an office (significant or not?) got up. There was lots of cheering (he was a popular guy). But when he opened his mouth he had nothing to say. The summary of his speech is as follows:

"The other school thinks we suck! I don't think we do! We should show them we're not! I had fun doing this job in eighth grade! The other school thinks we suck!"

See? A whole lotta nothin'. There is a term for this sort of persuasion: pathos. This guy was trying to play off emotions and his popularity. Student government elections being as they are (popularity over competence), that was the guy who won.

Here's an idea: maybe if the SG elections actually matched what people learned in their government classes about how real elections work (and if the SG actually meant anything), people would be more invested in voting throughout their lives.

A contest entry

For Espanolbot's Where is Cass Cain? contest.



Where is Cass Cain?
Saving Sin.
(Since that douchebag Green Arrow stuck her in that monastery without telling Black Canary.)



Return of the Forgotten Asian Characters!

They will both show up in the new Birds of Prey run and we shall have a touching reunion scene.





Incidentally: TheFBomb. A teenage feminist blogger. I believe I love this.

Parade and Times Magazine

I had some Parade articles pointed out to me today. Barred from responding on the website by my lack of account, I'm talking about it here.

Article One:
"Developed World Leads on Gay Rights"

Countries that have Legal Same-Sex Marriage:

1. Canada
2. Belgium
3. Spain
4. The Netherlands
5. Norway
6. Sweden
7. South Africa
8. ...Unspecified others

Countries where homosexual acts are punishable by death:

1. Iran
2. Saudi Arabia
3. United Arab Emirates
4. Yemen
5. Mauritania
6. Parts of Nigeria and Sudan

Places where sanctions seem to be easing:

1. China
2. Singapore
3. Cuba
4. Nepal

Shouldn't America be sad that South Africa, of all people, is beating them in legalizing gay/lesbian marriages?

Article Two (An Ask Marilyn Question):

I was born in the US and have worked in countries with less wealth. Americans are the biggest complainers of all the cultures I've experienced. Any ideas why?

I have an idea.

Blame the Constituion. It's almost a legal responsiblity, certaintly a legal right, to complain loudly and publicly, as often as possible. It's called the First Amendment. Americans grow up with the proud tradition of public complaining; about taxes and wars and whatever was wrong with the government that week, ingrained in them from the time they can understand what's going on around them. America was pretty much founded on people complaining.

Complaining is an integeral part of America culture, government, and life.

-

Today, I read Times Magazine's "100 Most Influential People of the Year". Here's a selection of some you've probably never heard of (and a few you have).

• President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Brazil). Founding member of the Workers' Party, jailed for leading a strike. "What led him to politics in the first place?...it was when, at age 25, he watched his wife Maria die during the eighth month of her pregnancy, along with their child, because they couldn't afford decent medical care. There's a lesson for the world's billionaires: let people have good health care, and they'll cause much less trouble for you."
• Yukio Hatayoma (Japan). Formed a counter-party to the Liberal Democratic Party, broke it's "virtual monopoly on power in 2009".
• Prime Minister Salam Fayyad (Palestine). "...a passionate advocate of the Palestinian cause with a clear vision of the unequivocal, nonviolent path to statehood and peace with Israel."
• Mayor Annise Parker (Houston, Texas). "...lesbian businesswoman with three kids and a longtime partner." "...she would focus on her city's $100 million budget shortfall during her time in office."
• Bo Xilai (China). Former mayor, former governor, former commerce minister. "There [Chongqing] he launched a crackdown on organized crime that has seen more than 3,000 suspects arrested, including the former chief of police."
• Robin Li (China). CEO of Baidu, a Chinese search engine. "Even before Google created a furor by refusing to censor its search engine, Baidu has been handily whipping it in China."
• Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, President of the United Arab Emirates. Bailed Dubai out of its real estate crash. "The prince has been a sober steward of Abu Dhabi's oil wealth and is planning for a post-oil future: the emirate aims to be a world leaser in sustainable energy."
• Neil Patrick Harris (America). Actor. "The public's perception of gay men is shifting because of this guy, and they'll be too entertained to notice."
• Lea Michele (America). Actress, singer, creator of the Liv Aid breast-self-exam device. "...as Rachel Berry on the hit TV show Glee, she is inspiring young people to get involved in musical programs in schools and encouraging communities to fund them..."
• Han Han (China). Novelist, racecar driver, blogger. "He doesn't focus on the mundane details of his daily life or celebrity gossip. Instead, he zeroes in on the ills of contemporary Chinese society, his barbed posts targeting topics from official venality to the failings of a state-produced movie about Confucious."
• Elizabeth Warren (America). Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, attorney, law professor. "She minds the government's purse strings." "...a thankless high-profile government position overseeing the $700 billion taxpayer bailout of the US financial industry."
• Jaron Lanier (America). Composer, preformer, computer scientist, philospher, author "You Are Not A Gadget". "...he celebrates the potential of the Internet but also laments the way its misuse can suppress the individual voice."
• Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew (Singapore). Former Minister Mentor of Singapore. "Lee inspired his polyglot population to become the intellectual and technical center of the region."
• Comissioner of Rhode Island schools Deborah Gist (Rhode Island). "When Deborah Gist became Comissioner of Rhode Island schools in 2009, she pledged to make every decision in the best interests of children- something we've heard before and rarely seen happen. Then she started doing it."
• Amartya Sen (India). Author, philospher, professor. "His notion of measuring human development is now central to the work of the UN and the World Bank."
• Justice Sonia Sotomayor (America). Supreme Court Justice. "...she would bring to the bench a deep understanding of how most people who walk down Broadway, or Main Street, live their lives."
• Mir-Hossein Mousavi (Iran). Leader of the Green Movement, 2009 Presidential Candidate. "...Mousavi, 68, and those in his Green movement understand that the revolution's broken promises must be fulfilled and that their nonviolent protests for change must be Iran's true path: governments must be formed at the ballot box, not at bullet point."
• Temple Grandin (America). Animal Scientist. "...an extraordinary source of inspiration for autisitc children, their parents- and all people." "...she has developed corrals for cattle that improve their quality of life by reducing stress."
• Nay Phone Latt (Burma). Poet, blogger, recipient of PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. "...the voice of a generation of Burmese who are finding ways around an aging regime's desperate censorship. When the junta there cracked down on Buddist-monk-led demonstrations in 2007 and restricted press coverage, Nay Phone Latt's blog was a go-to source for international journalists. For this, he was arrested and is serving 12 years."
• Reem Al Numery (Yemen). Child bride. "When I protested, my dad gagged me and tied me up. After the wedding, I tried to kill myself twice."
• Zahra Rahnavard (Iran). Artist, educator, organizer in Iran's Green Party. "The woman Ahmadinejad fears."
• Malalai Joya (Afghanistan). Ex-Iranian Parliament member, revolutionary. "To be so lucky as to become literate in a place where girls are shrouded and denied even fresh air is close to a miracle. To start underground schools and educate girls under the noses of turbaned, self-appointed defenders of virtue and forbidders of vice is truly extraordinary. But to get a seat in parliament and refuse to be silent in the face of the Taliban and warlord zealots shows true fiber. When Malalai Joya did this, her opponets responded in the usual way: expulsion from parliament, warnings, intimidation and attempts to cut her life short."
• Will Allen (Milwaukee, America). Urban farmer. "Everybody, regardless of their economic means, should have access to the same healthy, safe, affordable food that is grown naturally."

Healthcare Reform

I was watching the national news today and was very dissapointed by what I saw and heard. Congresspeople screaming "baby-killer" at people on the floor, protesters chanting so loud outside the Congress building ("Kill the bill, kill the bill, Nancy, Nancy, kill the bill!")that the Senators and Representatives could hear them inside the building during the vote.

That Congresspeople should show such deplorable, undignified behavior while doing their jobs is disgraceful. Everyone should be able to conduct themselves according to their position in a polite, civilized manner. They represent the country and the American people; and with that in mind, I can't say that I like the state of the country today, or the attitude of the people.

Thank you, Olympia Snowe and few others, for having the good sense to stay out of it.

Some reading material

I started reading "The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons from Falling Behind in School and Life" yesterday (I'll probably post a little 'thoughts I had' thing when I'm done with it) and today came upon the page titled "Do Heroes Read and Write", which pretty much says that the protagonists on TV shows, in movies, comics, and books, are rarely seen/read reading or writing.

When I read that, I went 'Yep, that sounds about right.' and took a double-take. Really? So I tried to think of superheroes that you see reading or writing.

There are some you think would do it more. Superman has his job at the Daily Planet as a reporter. He should be shown writing those reports more. Peter Parker has his job at the Daily Bugle, though its as a photographer. I think Bruce Wayne/Batman may write letters occasionally. Dr. Doom should, since he runs his own country and all.

Then there's everyone else. Hank Pym, scientist, doesn't. Reed Richards, scientist, doesn't. Dr. Strange does. Wonder Woman doesn't. I don't think Barbara Gordon does. The Teen Titans don't usually. Neither do the Runaways. The Legion doesn't really, but they're in the future and might not have books or written letters anymore. Thor doesn't. Bruce Banner, scientist and the Hulk, doesn't. Captain America doesn't. None of the X-Men do. I don't believe Flash or Green Arrow or Green Lantern or any of the Justice League do.

What's up with that?

In response to "Science Heroism", since the comment box there didn't work

I completely agree.
Thanks very much for the 'strong female characters', Comics Industry. However, how many of these 'strong females' are strong in mind? Physical strength is all well and good, but how does that help if you can't outhink your opponent?
I also despair at the plight of smart in people in the media. They are
1) geniuses with no social skills whatsoever and therefore laughed at constantly
2) so sarcastic/snarky that no one messes with them
3) out of touch with the rest of the world
4) evil
Why are there no geniuses who have average interpersonal skills who are also polite, social, and irrevocably on the side of good?
There are people like that.

EDIT: for those of you who liked this post, check out the American Association of University Women. In a hugely coincidental event, I found out that a letter from them arrived in the mail after I finished writing this.
EDIT 2: Here's the original article "Science Heroism"