June Cleaver Doesn’t Live Here Anymore

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Apr 212009
 

Eewww….thank goodness I didn’t know this was what I was supposed to aspire to during all those years when I was an exhausted zombie mommy with stringy hair and my haute couture consisted of baggy sweats with spit up all over them.

There’s no apron, no mom jeans or frump of any kind. These days, it’s all about being a “momshell,” the latest term used to describe a new generation of bombshell moms.

You can find these moms just about anywhere, in Hollywood, in the White House – probably in the house next door. And now a new reality TV show is on the hunt for the “Hottest Mom in America.”

“There’s never been a hotter time to be a mom,” says Jessica Denay, a Los Angeles mother. She wrote “The Hot Moms Handbook,” one of several recent books aimed at women who proudly sport T-shirts, mugs and other paraphernalia that declare motherhood sexy. Denay also founded the Hot Moms Club, which began as a small group of friends eight years ago and has since expanded to an Internet-based social network of more than 110,000.

Thank you American corporate culture (and the American media that shills for you) for yet another way to distract us from what  Moms (and Dads) really want for their children–affordable healthcare, good schools, food on the table, a roof overhead and clean air to breathe.

H/T to JMeador at the Louisville Eccentric Observer for tagging this story which I apparently missed when attempting to find real news in the Louisville Courier Journal this morning.

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 Posted by Fempeace on April 21, 2009

Mikhaela B. Reid On Torture: The 266th Time Is The Charm

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Apr 212009
 

It has gotten to the point where the working  definition of democracy in this country is something Orwell would be proud of. The Obama Administration’s refusal to take action against torturers is beyond human comprehension.

Waterboarding once is torture, 266 times bespeaks the utter failure of a free country.   I can’t say it any better than Mikhaela B. Reid does in this cartoon.  Reid describes herself as an “angry cartoonist” and it sure seems to me that anger is  exactly what we should feel, along with devastation and grief.

And then we better get up, start shouting, and keep shouting truth to power until we can no longer ignore the fact that the empire is butt naked.  What is happening is unacceptable and we elected Mr. Obama for the purpose of healing our country and that absolutely cannot be done until the perpetrators of the treasonous policies of the Bush administration are brought to justice.

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 Posted by Fempeace on April 21, 2009

Action Alert: Tell Burger King To Quit Airing Hyper Sexualized “Booty Is Booty” Ad Aimed At Children

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Apr 202009
 

I’ve never been a Burger King fan, even in my pre-vegetarian phase, something about the monarchal claim to culinary superiority that just didn’t jive with my concept of gastronomical satisfaction, but even being ever so charitable about the merits of their product, you really have to wonder what they had in mind when they came up with this advertisement:

Booty is booty? Measuring square butts? B-grade juvenile humor that at best might appeal to pubescent boys and make young girls feel they need to eat BK to measure up–oh wait, that’s exactly the problem… According the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood (CCFC), the ad has run at various times, including during the recent NCAA national championship.

“It’s bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it’s utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women,” said CCFC director Dr. Susan Linn.

“No parent watching a major sporting event with their children should have to worry about being assaulted by sexualized imagery,” said Joe Kelly of The Dad Man, a CCFC Steering Committee Member.

Not something you want your kiddies or anyone else’s kiddies watching? As CCFC puts it, “It’s bad enough when companies use a beloved media character like SpongeBob to promote junk food to children, but it’s utterly reprehensible when that character simultaneously promotes objectified, sexualized images of women.” Click here and help CCFC send a loud and clear message to Burger King that this ad is unacceptable.

Meanwhile across the pond… a recent ad for bedding makes us just drool with jealousy–imagine the major tizzy fit the babies-must-be-delivered-in-hospitals lobby would throw if this aired here:

According to Birth Activist via OBOS,

The slogan of this new ad campaign by Spanish company, Flex, is “Tu cama, el lugar más importante del mundo,” or “Your bed, the most important place in the world.” This commercial spotlights the home birth of Waira, daughter of Carolina and Nicholas Umpierrez of Barcelona, Spain. In the advertisement, they claim that their bed is special to them because it is where there son was born and they would like for their daughter to be born in the same bed.

Imagine, you can actually sell stuff using life-affirming, body and gender positive advertising instead of attempting to make your customers feel insecure and inadequate if they don’t run out and buy your product. Who knew.

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 Posted by Fempeace on April 20, 2009

The Girls’ Guide To The Economy Part 13: Elizabeth Warren Explains It All–Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About TARP And Were Very Afraid To Ask

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Apr 172009
 

In Parts 11 and 12 of The Girls Guide To The Economy we have highlighted the work of Elizabeth Warren, chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel over the TARP. Below are Parts 1 and 2 of her interview with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show on Wednesday. Kudos to Stewart for having her on because clearly she is not getting the airtime she should be getting which will become totally clear to you when you view these videos. It is critical that what she is saying be heard. Listen, cross-post, send to your mother, your boss, your worst enemy and everyone else–let’s insist that the Obama administration and the media pay attention to Elizabeth Warren.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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 Posted by Fempeace on April 17, 2009

We’re Not Surprised: Study Finds Disproportionate Number of Dead In Iraq Are Women And Children

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Apr 162009
 

I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve pointed out that since wars are not actually fought on battlefields but more often than not in heavily populated areas, the victims are disproportionately innocent civilians and most especially women and children.  A new study just published by Iraq Body Count puts the numbers to the sad truth of this assertion. From The Independent (UK):

Air strikes and artillery barrages have taken a heavy toll among the most vulnerable of the Iraqi people, with children and women forming a disproportionate number of the dead.

Analysis carried out for the research group Iraq Body Count (IBC) found that 39 per cent of those killed in air raids by the US-led coalition were children and 46 per cent were women. Fatalities caused by mortars, used by American and Iraqi government forces as well as insurgents, were 42 per cent children and 44 per cent women.

And by committing these atrocities we’ve achieved what?

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 Posted by Fempeace on April 16, 2009
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