GG: 100 Years of Keeping It Real

So it seems that this is a mighty big year for girls.

First, we have Barbie's 50th Birthday. (Still looking fresh, might I add).

Now, we've got Girl Guides bringing in a new badge. (Stick with me, here). Badges are a mighty big deal in the world of Brownies, Girl Guides and even Scouts. You earn a badge every time you've demonstrated that you did something or learned something new. You can get badges for a whole whack pile of things, like learning to start a fire outdoors, sewing a button, learning to paint, etc.

Girl Guides have now announced that in a move to stay "relevant" and "progressive", they are releasing a new badge. Sounds less than newsworthy but hear me out.

"Girls aged five to 17 can earn the Love Yourself Challenge badge by completing three tasks that promote self-esteem, healthy eating and a positive body image." The badge features a super skinny stick person, a bigger one, a typical stick person and a heart.

I was never into Brownies, Guides or Pathfinders as a kid because I had to choose between dance class or Guides and the former won every time. It never really struck me as something I would be into, though. But lots of my friends were and they loved it. And the same time that a lot of my friends were getting into Brownies and Guides, my junior high had an entire day dedicated to anorexia and bulimia. A whole day. The reason being that for a small school in a small town, there were a handful of severe cases of anorexia. There were possibly more but living all up in people's business like you do in a small town, everyone knew about 2 in particular.

I mention this story because I never forgot both my classmate's love for Guides and that day of learning about body image. Both of them really stick out in my mind as events of my youth. And so to see that Girl Guides are picking up on this and being relevant to the lives of girls, is great.

I'm left to wonder however: Are body image issues this "new" that talking about them equates "progress"? In the 100 years of Girl Guides, have girls never struggled with their weight? Or is it a matter of it now being kosher to talk about these things in general, and at Guides in particular?

I don't know.

But I do know that this latest move will surely help girls.

So Three Finger Salute and job well done! Unless, of course, this new health kick at the Girl Guides headquarters means that they're canning Girl Guide cookies. If that's the case, there will be a revolt!

Oh and by cookies, I'm not talking about those Mint Patties. Those can go. I want the real shit.

In Defense of Barbara

I was planning on writing a post about Barbie's 50th Anniversary this year and how I call myself a feminist and a major Barbie lover, but it seems that everyone has done this. Which makes me really happy, actually.

I could be sour grapes that other feminist bloggers have stolen my thunder, but the truth is, I'm happy to see that people are engaging in a critical analysis of Barbie.

In a nutshell? I understand that Barbie promotes unrealistic body ideals and that as a skinny, blonde, white girl growing up, I took that for granted. Barbie kinda looked like me, after all. But the truth is that Barbie was and still is in many ways, one of the few toys that didn't require you to mother it. She's not a doll in the typical sense of the word. You didn't feed Barbie, clothe Barbie or change Barbie like she was your child. You acted like you were her. And Barbie had some pretty bitchin' jobs, too. (For proof of how multi-tasking Barbie is, check out the amazing Sarah Haskins' video.)

Barbie was a "grown up" who was mature and not fetishized. She's a healthy way for young girls to see themselves as "older" without being... a Bratz doll. Hell, even the amazing Dora the Explorer got a makeover to look older and more attractive! Not cool. What was wrong with the other Dora?

So to me, the real magic of Barbie is that yes, she was an adult, but she wasn't telling girls to grow up and be an adult too quickly. Bratz et al on the other hand are telling girls that they can be adults now. All they need is to hike that skirt, lower that shirt and load up on the makeup. Barbie on the other hand, let you imagine you really were a Vet who was checking up on Skipper's dog or that you were cruising along the beach with your fancy car and all your lady friends. You were imagining it, after all.

So I say kudos, Barbie. You and your man have created impossible beauty ideals and promoted heterosexism above all else, but your plastic ways have also shown young girls (and boys!) that pretty girls aren't just pretty girls, they can be doctors, pilots, vets and singers, too.

Here's to 50 more years of synthetic tresses and disproportionate torsos!

Botulism For a Wrinkle-Free Future

Botox always struck me as one of those things that society would look back on and say "WTF were people thinking?!"

Botox, for the 4 of you out there who don't know, is an injection that people (typically womyn) get injected into their body (typically their face) in order to hold the muscle and "reduce the appearance of wrinkles". It's temporary, expensive and well, ubiquitous now a days.

Now it seems that Health Canada has come out and repeated what the US has said, which is that Botox is dangerous as hell and should be labelled strictly. Which should come to no surprise to anyone who even spends 5 mins thinking about how "healthy" injecting chemicals into your face can actually be. Considering it's also temporary, which would indicate that it's moving around somewhere in your face.

"In its advisory, Health Canada said the symptoms of "distant toxin spread" include:

* Muscle weakness.
* Difficulties swallowing.
* Pneumonia.
* Speech disorders.
* Breathing problems."

So it seems that people have actually died from Botox injections, which is what prompted the major overhaul of its labelling in the United States. Now its important to note here that the reported cases of fatality from Botox involved children who were using Botox for experimental therapy for cerebral palsy, which is not an approved method.

But personally, I've gotta believe that if you KNOW the chemical spreads and little research exists on the long-term effects of the product, why bother using it for cosmetic purposes? Botox has proved effective for excessive sweating and migraine relief, but even then, the chemical spreads! And without long-term research, people should know they're taking a risk.

I truly hope Botox is looked back on and mocked like asbestos and blood letting cures.

Seriously people: When you know better, do better.

The Importance of Being Earnest

In case you and your cat haven’t heard, Oprah Winfrey weighs 200 pounds. Yes, that’s right. I said it.

Now I know this, not because I adore Ms. Winfrey but because it’s on the cover of her latest issue of O Magazine. It’s not just a sub-heading on her magazine but a full fledged screaming headline with a picture of her now, juxtaposed with a picture of her “then”. Then being when she wasn’t 200 pounds, I suppose. And the whole issue at hand is “how she let this happen again”. *cue horror music here*

Now let me start off by saying that I freakin’ love Oprah. Honestly. Genuinely. I’ve been watching her show religiously since I was a kid and although I don’t agree with everything she does or says or the people she endorses (I’m looking at you, Dr Phil), I still adore her.

So when I first saw that headline, and the subsequent stories about it, I thought WTF?! Who cares?! Oprah Winfrey is rich, successful, an incredible philanthropist and damn good at her job. So why does it matter what you weigh? And hasn’t she been flogging this dead horse for years?

But then I start thinking about what made her so successful in the first place. Mostly, her hard work and honesty. And she’s made an entire career out of being herself, being open about her faults and strong points and “self-improvement”. So in that case, I guess this plays into that quite well. She’s being honest about her weight problem (something she’s done from the start) and in many ways, just calling what everyone is saying.

Then I flip again and think that it’s so sad that someone as successful as Oprah Winfrey is constantly diminished down to her weight. As though what she weighs (or rather, how she looks) defines her success or lack thereof.

And this is reinforced by reading the Globe and Mail discussion boards, talking about this controversial cover story. Comment after comment after comment talks about how “She’s so rich and can afford all the trainers, self-help gurus and chefs in the world. Clearly she’s lazy and narcissistic” or “Wow, what a sloth” or “I hope she can afford all the medication she’s going to need” or my favourite, “She ONLY weighs 200? She looks way heavier than that!”

Which not only shows the lack of intelligence from most online posters, but also the real stigma and fixation that this society has on body weight and image. Oprah Winfrey made her career out of being “Just like every other womyn, just with better shoes” and yet we expect her to buy her way into a “perfect body”. While at the same time, hating on womyn who have gastric by-pass and/or cosmetic surgery because they’re “fake”.

So do I think that Oprah needs to be drawing attention to her weight again? I want to say no but she opened up that can of worms long ago so she can’t go back. Plus, according to her, the article is about demonstrating the realities of trying to maintain a “healthy” weight and that nobody, even the almighty Oprah herself, can succeed all the time.

I suppose this goes to show that she’s succeeded in being just like every womyn because even she can’t escape the wrath of impossible beauty standards.

The Skinny on Fat

I don’t need to tell you that fat is a problem in North America. Let’s face it, we’re chunky. And statistics after statistic (legitimate and otherwise) indicate that we’re tipping the scales more and more everyday. Hell, all you need to do is turn on the TV for a whopping 5 mins to get inundated with North American fat culture.

Fat is everywhere. Literally and figuratively. I know it, you know it, we all know it. First, the questions were “Who and what is to blame?” Let’s face it: North Americans eat shitty and don’t exercise. We’re sedentary fat asses for the most part.

We started off by blaming the fast food industry and beauty industries. The academics, activists and thinkers of the world are now talking about the way in which we’re now blaming the obese for well… being obese.

All the latest body image experts are chatting noisily in the latest journals about “fat shaming” and there’s a movement within feminism who call themselves “Fat Activists”. Reclaiming the so-called fat body. Add them to the list of medical experts who say that genes really do play a large part. (“Do these genes make my ass look fat?”) All these folks believe that shaming the individual fat person isn’t doing a damn thing for them or society as a whole.

These discussions came to a loud rumble recently when airlines in Canada announced that they would give an extra free seat to obese flyers. The logic? The seats are considered too small for the average person, so it’s practically impossible to stay comfy if you’re obese.

This of course raised a giant firestorm of controversy with people saying “Hey, it’s their fault for being huge, let them suffer!” My initial reaction was much the same, to be honest. Mostly I thought of my 6’7 sibling who is forced to duck and hug his knees everywhere he goes but nobody ever gave him a discount. And he was born that way!

Although I quickly changed my mind on this one when I read an editorial which pointed out that an extra seat for the obese benefits greatly the poor sap who was stuck sitting beside them in the first place. I imagine it was rather uncomfortable for them too.

So where do we go from here? We blame various industries for weight-gain woes but there’s a new set of industries cropping up to service the obese. Extra-large coffins, for example, is a big industry now. Should they be grouped in the same category as Burger King or are they simply… moving with the times? Should we supersize our coffins and MRI beds (as we are doing now)? Or is that enabling?

Are individual obese people to blame or is it the culture? Capitalism? Genes?

When pointing the chunky finger of blame, who should be the accused?

Beauty is in the eye of the sexy salesperson

I love me some Canadian Broadcasting. I grew up wanting to be a journalist and never having had cable, was raised on the CBC. Being a publicly owned broadcaster, they tend to shy away from the Sun Times, FOX news sensationalism and stick to really good investigative journalism and in-depth analyses.

All my CBC dreams were crushed this weekend however, when I came across this whopper of a headline

Attractive clerks ring up sales: study

It seems those classy people from the University of Alberta conducted research to find out what influence sexy people had on other people’s buying habits. Their conclusion? If a hot salesperson shows interest in your purchase, helps you with your purchase or (the best part) claims to have worn that piece of clothing that you are looking at, you are more likely to purchase it yourself.

Why? Well it seems that pretty people know best. And their germs are sexier apparently too.

"People actually want what we would call the essence — germs — of the other person to come into contact with them. They want part of that other person to rub off on them, basically."

Apparently, pretty people cooties are all the rage. As well, this researcher also forgot that not everyone is straight.

As a researcher myself, I had to ask myself “What is the point of this? Funding was given to this research and so what was the motive?” The U of A School of Business just wanted to examine the impact of beautiful salespeople apparently. But they warned that one should not hire on the basis of beauty alone.

Not because it’s discriminatory, unjust, heterosexist and assumes a certain ideal based on skin colour, physical ability, etc. NO NO NO. One shouldn’t hire on the basis of beauty alone because… they don’t want to get sued.

“In 2003, nine people who applied for sales jobs at Abercrombie & Fitch sued the U.S. clothing chain, alleging it favoured blue-eyed, blonde-haired salespeople. The company, which has employed shirtless male models to greet customers at some of its stores, settled the lawsuit for $40 million.”

CBC: In times of international conflict, environmental disaster and religious wars, you really focus on the stories that matter. Thanks for that.

Oil of OMG you must be joking...

This may surprise you, but I wasn't born yesterday. I say this because I want to establish that I am not naive, nor am I new to the ways of the world. I'm a feminist, after all. I'm well versed in the reality of our media saturated society and our quest to buy, buy, buy.

But for some reason, a commercial I saw last night for this really struck a nerve.

I had heard of womyn wanting to "plump" up their lips with collagen because it is a scientific fact that womyn's lips thin with age. Full lips translate into youth and fertility and therefore thin lips = old hag. And in our youth obsessed culture, this makes sense (in a tragic, tragic way).

But this Oil of Olay Regenerist Anti-Aging Lip Treatment doesn't plump up your lips. It gets rid of the wrinkles on your lips. Yes that's right ladies. The "vertical lines" to be more precise. There is only one thing to say to that: Good Lord Have Mercy.

It's bad enough that "pro-beauty" Dove advertised deodorant for womyn that "smoothed" their underarms so that they were no longer ashamed to wear tanktops and show them off. Thanks to Oil of Olay, your armpits are the least of your problems.

Add that to the lovely statistic that the average womyn will consume 4 pounds of lipstick in her lifetime and you've got yourself a sticky situation.

Moral of the story: Embrace your "wrinkled" lips. When your tas-tas are down to your knees, they'll be the least of your worries anyway.