gender roles

Douchebag Decree: Special tabloid gender-panic edition!

Social Commentary post by Andi Zeisler, Submitted by Andi Zeisler on March 4, 2010 - 3:32pm; tagged Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Douchebag Decree, douchery, gender roles, gender stereotyping, Shiloh Jolie-Pitt, The Preppy Handbook.

Let me just say right up front that I don’t expect any of the following from Life&Style, Us Weekly, or any of the other mags barfing their neon coverlines all over the Safeway checkout line: Accuracy, subtlety, reason, nuance, intelligence, imagination, responsibility, or feminism. They’re tabloids about Bachelors and Kardashians, and their douchebaggery is as inescapable and unremarkable as traffic in Los Angeles.

But there’s everyday Hollywood stupid and there’s offensively, egregiously stupid—so stupid that I’m actually almost embarrassed for anyone associated with the product in question. And this week’s Life& Style, featuring the wee Shiloh Jolie-Pitt sporting a cute new pixie haircut, is so emphatically the latter that there was no other possible contender for today’s Douchebag Decree.

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Need another reason to love Johnny Weir?

Sports post by Kjerstin Johnson, Submitted by Kjerstin Johnson on February 26, 2010 - 6:38pm; tagged gender roles, Johnny Weir.

A recent PR scuffle proved that ice-skating champ Johnny Weir is the bigger man when it comes to commentary...not that he gives a sh** what a man should or shouldn't be.

In response to two Quebecois commentators who spoke derogatorily of Weir and said he should take a gender test, Weir responded by issuing an awesome statement that touched on identity, free speech, life in the public eye, and the changing acceptance of gender, saying "I think masculinity and femininity is something that’s very old fashioned."Transcript after jump

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Forever Your Girl

The Legacy of Helen Andelin's Fascinating Womanhood

Article by Holly Welker, appeared in issue Old; published in 2010; filed under Books; tagged Fascinating Womanhood, gender roles, Harold and Maude, marriage, twilight.

Call it a feminist coincidence: Two books published in 1963 examine gender, sex, and marriage, but arrive at diametrically opposite conclusions. In The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan complains that "the only passion, the only pursuit, the only goal a woman is permitted is the pursuit of a man." Meanwhile, Helen Andelin’s Fascinating Womanhood urges women to embrace that primary passion, because it leads to ultimate fulfillment and complete happiness. We all know how The Feminine Mystique changed the world for countless women. But Fascinating Womanhood, while lesser-known than Friedan’s polemic, has had its own powerful impact on notions of women and their potential.

Now in its sixth edition, Fascinating Womanhood has sold more than 2 million copies. Over the years, the book has grown from less than 200 pages to more than 400, with most of the additional pages featuring testimonials from women whose miserable marriages were saved once they began following the book’s advice. And Andelin’s legacy is still very much in effect—not only for the adherents who blog about the book’s wisdom or enroll in online "Marriage, the Fascinating Way" classes offering personalized advice on how to act like a little girl, but in the female infantilization enthusiastically embraced by popular culture.

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I Can Has Feminizm?

DigiBitch post by Kelsey Wallace, Submitted by Kelsey Wallace on July 11, 2009 - 11:25am; tagged cats, dogs, drag, football, gay animals, gender roles, I Can Has Cheezburger?, I Can Has Feminizm?, princesses.

As you may have seen in Nicole J. Georges' tributes to gay animals, we are learning that gender in the animal kingdom is just as fluid for cats, dogs, giraffes, birds, and monkeys as it is for us humans. Why is it, then, that we still encourage animals (humans included) to conform to antiquated gender roles? Some members of the animal kingdom have had enough of this, like this doggeh who is sick of being dressed like a princess:

And this kitteh is having the opposite problem. Poor lil' guy just wants to dress like a princess!

Here is yet another member of the animal kingdom who is choosing to express her nontraditional gender.

Have a great, gender-bendy weekend, everyone! And if you've got an idea for feminizt LOLz, make your own at I Can Has Cheezburger and send 'em our way!

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All Aboard the Douchebag Train! A Roundup.

DigiBitch post by Kjerstin Johnson, Submitted by Kjerstin Johnson on July 9, 2009 - 2:39pm; tagged Baywatch, blogs, douchebag decree, Economy, gender roles, Kendra Wilkinson, menstruation, Michael Bay, recession, Sarah Palin, Steve King, tampons.

Hang onto your hats because there is a freight of douchebags in this post! We've got no-bit bloggers, a conservative take on Sarah Palin, THis week the douchebags around the internet really started to mount up! We've got Baywatch on the bigscreen, a feminist (?!) playmate, a clueless congressman, and more!

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Adventures in (Anti)Feministory: Julius Fast presents Body Language

DigiBitch post by Malori Maloney, Submitted by Malori Maloney on June 17, 2009 - 2:52pm; tagged Adventures in Feministory, Body Language, gender roles, Julius Fast, retro sexism, space.

My parents have been in the process of moving, which means they've faced an onslaught of old photos, previously packed-away books and forgotten homemade crafts from years gone by. Among the findings is the 1970 gem, Body Language by Julius Fast. His most well known book, Body Language was on the New York Times Best Seller for 22 weeks after its initial publication and has remained in print since then. Read on to glean the most vital information included in Fast's pseudo-scientific pop psychology classic, including 'How to Tell the Girls Apart,' the formerly elusive answer to the question 'Is She Available?' and much, much more!

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