Abby F. and an anonymous reader sent in an Acuvue contact lens commercial aimed at teens that reinforces both gender and racial stereotypes. The teens look forward to their futures. For the boys, these involve future career success — notice the African American teen dreams of being a famous athlete, while the White boy’s future involves moving up the corporate career ladder. And what does the girl’s life hold? A boy who currently ignores her will want to dance with her:(via Boys Want Success, Girls Want Boys » Sociological Images)

Wow, could they be any more blatantly and painfully obvious with asserting these stereotypes? 

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As Fashion Week gets under way in New York City, Andrej is one of the most recognisable - and controversial - faces in the industry.

He’s the only top-tier fashion model who can walk down the runway as either a man or a woman.

His androgynous beauty has turned him into a trendsetter in an industry that’s always seeking to push the envelope.

“He’s just this beautiful thing that everyone wants a piece of,” says stylist Ken Anderson, who dressed Andrej for a German magazine cover.

He has the kind of face that makes even the vainest woman jealous: high cheekbones, flawless skin and plump, shapely lips.

Andrej graced the covers of 14 magazines last year alone, including an ad campaign for a Dutch push-up bra.

But life hasn’t always been so easy or glamorous for the 20-year-old.

Born in Bosnia, Andrej spent much of his childhood living in a Serbian refugee camp before his family fled the country and moved to Melbourne.

He was discovered by a talent scout while working at a McDonald’s as a teenager.

From an early age, Andrej says he exhibited qualities thought of as traditionally feminine, for instance, preferring Barbie dolls over toy cars.

As a teenager, he often hung out with girls and was once busted for stealing makeup.

Andrej says acceptance from his friends and family made him comfortable in his own skin.

At 6-feet-1, he’s rail-thin, a women’s size 2 or 4. His shoe size is the most problematic.

Technically a women’s size 11, he’s forced to squeeze his feet into a size 10 to walk in women’s shows.

He has plans to eventually begin his third level education, having deferred his acceptance to an Australian university.

If fashion doesn’t work out, he’d like to go back to major in economics or law.

Although open to discussing almost anything, Andrej remains secretive about his sexual orientation.

When asked whether he prefers men or women, he coyly smiles.

“Love has no boundaries,” he says.

(via Model Andrej Pejic risks being overexposed, experts say | Herald Sun)

jessicavalenti:

Ten Responses to the Phrase “Man Up” from an amazing slam poet.

"

The Shit Girls Say meme, where men in drag make videos saying, well, shit girls would say, could be taken as an incisive summary of how the political is the personal; how something as arbitrary as gender determines our most basic lexicon. Or maybe it’s just a joke.

I didn’t get the joke: gender-based stereotypes don’t make me laugh. I stayed thin-lipped when Shit Girls Say got racialised, and when Shit Black Girls Say, Shit Asian Girls Say and Shit Latina Girls Say hit YouTube.

But things took a turn when Franchesca Ramsey released Shit White Girls Say … to Black Girls, which quickly inspired Nicola Foti’s Shit Girls Say to Gay Guys, and Sameer Asad Gardezi and Kosha Patel then unleashed Shit White Girls Say … to Brown Girls”. Each video showcases a bewigged Ramsey, Foti and Patel reeling off a list of the most awful things your best white girlfriend has ever said. These videos skewer that verbal equivalent of friendly fire: friendly prejudice, if you will.

What’s friendly prejudice? The most common defence of racism is: “But I didn’t intend to be racist.” This response relies on the idea that if we didn’t intend to offend someone, then their feelings can’t possibly be hurt. The Shit X Says to Y videos are delightfully validating because they show that those with the genuinely lovely intentions of being your friend and seeking commonality with you can still be rude and hurtful.

These videos are important because they ask all viewers – regardless of what power they have and what power they lack – to reconsider if their best friendship with non-white and gay people grants them licence to cross the line.

Yet this doesn’t change the fact that though white men started Shit Girls Say – to poke fun at white women – the backlash is against white women. The lack of a Shit White Men Say to Y meme (or Simply Shit White People Say to Y meme) is uncomfortable proof that we always prefer lampooning women than men.

"

The Shit Girls Say meme: friendly prejudice, but prejudice all the same | Thea Lim | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk

Interesting take on the Shit Girls Say meme.

Tabloids foam over the famous tot’s attire, showing just how eager we are to narrowly define sex roles

Have you heard about the terrible things Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have been doing to their daughter Shiloh? The horrifying odyssey began this winter, when paparazzi snapped photos of the preschooler in Paris sporting jeans, a pullover, and — zut alors! — a short, breezy haircut.

Ever since, the tabloids have been stewing with concern for the child, reaching a pitch yesterday when Life & Style published a cover story that agonized, “Why is Angelina turning Shiloh into a BOY? Is it harming the 3-year-old?”

The story goes on to quote such authorities as a stylist for VH1 who decrees that “Shiloh is pushing the boundaries of a tomboy look and crossing over to cross-dresser territory,” and a representative from Focus on the Family who says, “Little girls have never been women before. They need help; they need guidance of what that looks like. It’s important to teach our children that gender distinction is very healthy.” (via Shiloh Jolie-Pitt: Preschool gender warrior - Gender - Salon.com)

Poor kid, leave Shiloh alone! Maybe Shiloh wanted the haircut and to look like a ‘Tomboy’….”It’s important to teach our children that gender distinction is very healthy.” —-this is just silly.

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The model is a man named Andrej Pejic, with hair and make-up usually seen only on women, sliding his shirt off his back. Some might say that he is gender-ambiguous and the image deliberately blurs gender; are we seeing a chest or small breasts? It is not immediately apparent.

Both Barnes & Noble and Borders “bagged” the magazine, like they do pornographic ones, such that one can see the title of the magazine but the rest of the cover is hidden. Barnes and Noble said that the magazine came that way, representatives for Dossiersay that the bookstore “chains” required them to do it (source). Non-ambiguously-male chests pepper most magazine racks, but this man’s chest hints at boobs. And so he goes under.

What’s going on?

Explaining why it is legal for men to be shirtless in public but illegal for women to do the same, most Americans would probably refer to the fact that women have breasts and men have chests. Breasts, after all, are… these things.They incite us, disgust us, send us into grabby fits. They’re just so there. They force us to contend with them; they’re bouncy or flat or pointy or pendulous and sometimes they’re plain missing! They demand their individuality! Why won’t they obey some sort of law and order!

It’s not true that women have breasts and men have chests. Many men have chests that look a bit or even a lot like breasts (there is a thriving cosmetic surgery industry around this fact). Meanwhile, many women are essentially “flat chested,” while the bustiness of others is an illusion created by silicone or salt water.

Is it really breasts that must be covered? Clearly not. All women’s bodies are targeted by the law, and men’s bodies are given a pass, breasty or chesty as they may be. Unless. Unless that man’s gender is ambiguous; unless he does just enough femininity to make his body suspect. Indeed, the treatment of the Dossier cover reveals that the social and legislative ban on public breasts rests on a jiggly foundation. It’s not simply that breasts are considered pornographic. It’s that we’re afraid of women and femininity and female bodies and, if a man looks feminine enough, he becomes, by default, obscene. (via What Makes a Body Obscene? » Sociological Images)

so ridiculous that they censored this.

(via Video Of Little Girl Getting Pissed Off About Pink Toys Will Make Your Heart Swell)

awww! awesome!

One teachers approach to preventing gender bullying in a classroom

togetherforjacksoncountykids:

“It’s Okay to be Neither,” By Melissa Bollow Tempel

Alie arrived at our 1st-grade classroom wearing a sweatshirt with a hood. I asked her to take off her hood, and she refused. I thought she was just being difficult and ignored it. After breakfast we got in line for art, and I noticed that she still had not removed her hood. When we arrived at the art room, I said: “Allie, I’m not playing. It’s time for art. The rule is no hoods or hats in school.”

She looked up with tears in her eyes and I realized there was something wrong. Her classmates went into the art room and we moved to the art storage area so her classmates wouldn’t hear our conversation. I softened my tone and asked her if she’d like to tell me what was wrong.

“My ponytail,” she cried.

“Can I see?” I asked.

She nodded and pulled down her hood. Allie’s braids had come undone overnight and there hadn’t been time to redo them in the morning, so they had to be put back in a ponytail. It was high up on the back of her head like those of many girls in our class, but I could see that to Allie it just felt wrong. With Allie’s permission, I took the elastic out and re-braided her hair so it could hang down.

“How’s that?” I asked.

She smiled. “Good,” she said and skipped off to join her friends in art.

‘Why Do You Look Like a Boy?’

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AWESOME STORY! I wish all teachers were like her! 

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(Source: volatile-bodies, via femalemonsters)