Two steps forward, two steps back

Culture, Politics and Current Events

Let’s do some feminist math, in honor of (the last hour of) International Women’s Day:

Book is published that shows it’s possible to turn female oppression into opportunity – now in its 20th printing: +1

It’s called Half the Sky, and it’s written by New York Times superheroes Sheryl WuDunn and Nicholas D. Kristof. Read it.

Gold medalist with a penis drinks beer and is awesome. Gold medalists with vaginas drink beer and have to apologize: -1

And that’s in addition to the fact that hardly anyone even cared about women’s hockey at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics (although that would include me; see Hockey! post). Also, while official pucks that were used in the men’s gold medal game were going for $3,000-$5,000 on eBay (with one day left in the auction, I didn’t see what they ended up being sold for), similar pucks from the women’s gold medal game went for less than $500. Even taking into consideration the Sidney Crosby Factor, that’s still pretty sad.

Kathryn Bigelow is the first woman to win an Academy Award for best director: +1

And it only took 82 years. In any case, I’m also enjoying the fact that she directed the gritty war drama, and her ex-husband directed the movie with all the pretty blue colours.

No one wants to dress Gabby Sidibe for the Oscars: -1

At the same awards show, controversy surrounds what designer is going to dress full-sized best actress nominee Gabby Sidibe (for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire). I think this issue has more to do with the inhuman standards of fashion and the superficiality of Hollywood culture than feminism, per se, but, again, both those things affect women more than they do men, so fair enough.

I guess I’d call it even.

3 thoughts on “Two steps forward, two steps back

    1. *tear* The metro ad is pretty lame, for women and men… and pants.

      The other thing doesn’t make me angry, though. It’s kind of unfair to say ALL women do that (it’s also really heteronormative), but it just sounds like some sad boys who are tired of girls being mean to them in clubs, and sometimes girls are pretty mean to guys who hit on them. I think everyone just needs a hug.

  1. But it implies that the reason these sad boys cannot get dates is because girls will not give them a chance. Shifting the blame to them. Which worries me. It just seems like one step forward to thinking they’re all against you and letting bullets sort it out.

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