Post-debate, Candy Crowley told CNN that she altered her position on the floor as moderator. She was supposed to sit, but she decided to stand. “I have a bad back,” she said. But there was another reason. Crowley watched Jim Lehrer and saw how he was seated lower down than the candidates. “He looked like he was in an orchestra pit,” she said. In that position, “You’re not on the same level.” She thought that made it harder for Lehrer to keep control of the debate.
There was so much internet chatter before the debate about how all the teeth were taken out of the moderator. Crowley didn’t let happen, in no small part because she took control of her pose.
Anyone who reads Reel Girl knows I spend a lot of time analyzing the poses of males and females, real and imagined, actors and politicians, kids and grown-ups.
Poses matter and women know this from a lifetime of being led into idiotic, submissive poses and watching the stupid, idiotic poses other women get led into. Crowley was alert, prepared, and took action when she had the power to alter her position. She kept control of the debate.
Nice job, Crowley, and thank you to three teen girls from New Jersey for advocating to get the first female moderator in 20 years to moderate a presidential debate.
Obama, you rocked! THANK YOU. Good job. Keep it up and you will win in November.
Candy Crowley was great too. She picked good questions, followed up well (unlike Lehrer) and Romney came off as an arrogant know-it-all when he was rude and condescending to her.
In honor of Malala Yousufzai, the 14 year-old Pakistani girl who was tragically shot [Wedensday] by the Taliban for exercising her fundamental right to an education, the Women in the World Foundation is launching a Woman of Impact Award for Girls Education to provide funds to women and girls fighting for girls education in Pakistan and Afghanistan. We are making an emergency appeal to our Women in the World Community to join Tina Brown and Angelina Jolie in this campaign. 100% of the proceeds will go towards girls education on the ground in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Ms. Jolie’s Education Partnership for Children of Conflict will contribute the first $50,000 to this effort.
Angelina Jolie writes:
Malala was just 11 years old when she began blogging for the BBC. She wrote of life under the Taliban, of trading in her school uniform for colorless plain clothes, of hiding books under her shawl, and eventually having to stop going to school entirely…The Taliban claimed that 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai “ignored their warnings, and she left them no choice.” They approached her school bus, asking for her by name, and shot her in the head for promoting girls’ education.
Nicolas Kristof writes in the NY Times:
Surgeons have removed a bullet from Malala, and she remains unconscious in critical condition in a hospital in Peshawar. A close family friend, Fazal Moula Zahid, told me that doctors are hopeful that there has been no brain damage and that she will ultimately return to school.
After recovery, she will continue to get an education,” Fazal said. “She will never, never drop out of school. She will go to the last.”
Women and girls around the world are supporting Malala.
And you know what is so amazingly fucked up about this? All of the “Sesame Street” sexy costumes for women ((Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch) are male characters, because all of the best known characters on Sesame Street — a PBS show created to educate children— are male. I guess I should be grateful no one’s heard of Abby Cadabby. Or Elmo’s fish, Dorothy.
Because some people believe every costume should be available in a sexy version, Yandy is selling these sexy Sesame Street costumes for ladies. They come in Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Elmo, Cookie Monster and Oscar the Grouch versions, and all are pretty sad looking. Regardless of how you feel about them, if you’re at a Halloween bar party and a girl shows up wearing one because it’s her favorite character you need to tell a bouncer because there is NO WAY she’s legal.
Tonight, Candy Crowley will become the first woman to moderate a presidential debate in twenty years. This moment in women’s history brought to you by 3 teen feminists from New Jersey & online organizing. This is not just the future of the movement, it’s the now!
Please talk about women tonight. You didn’t, even one time, in the last debate.
If you get asked about the role of government again tonight, please be more eloquent and passionate. Please point out Mitt Romney’s hypocrisy: he claims to support small government when he wants to get involved in the most intimate and private parts of women’s lives. Clearly, he doesn’t care about small government; he cares about big business.
Mr. President, please explain to Americans tonight that reproductive rights, including choice and birth control, are economic issues. Please say that if women don’t have access to basic health care, which, of course, for female bodies must include contraception, it makes it much harder to get or hold a job.
Please tell Americans that we can’t talk about jobs for women, or the economy improving for women, without securing basic reproductive rights.
Please explain to Americans that if embryo rights supersede human rights, women have no rights at all.
“The comedic duo will be taking over for Ricky Gervais, who manned the hosting duties for three years.”
Not sure if that humor is intended, but this hosting gig is a huge victory for women. Fey and Poehler will become the first female duo ever to host this high profile awards show.
Tina Fey is a pioneer. She was the first female head writer ever of “Saturday Night Live,” a notoriously male dominated show that launched the career of many high profile male comedians from John Belushi to Adam Sandler. Fey’s brilliant book, Bossypants, was a best-seller. One of my favorite sections was her beautiful prayer for her daughter. Like Fey, Amy Poehler is a groundbreaker as well; she’s funny, smart, beautiful, a mom, and the star of her own show. Even cooler, both women are…FRIENDS.
Winning this hosting job helps to repudiate ridiculous but persistent myths about women, mainly: (1) Women aren’t funny (2) “Pretty” women aren’t funny (3) Women aren’t friends (4) Women can’t work together (5) Moms aren’t high-profile, breadwinners, funny, smart, or sexy.
Tina Fey’s prayer for her daughter:
First, Lord: No tattoos. May neither Chinese symbol for truth nor Winnie-the-Pooh holding the FSU logo stain her tender haunches.
May she be beautiful but not damaged, for it’s the damage that draws the creepy soccer coach’s eye, not the beauty.
When the Crystal Meth is offered, may she remember the parents who cut her grapes in half And stick with beer.
Guide her, protect her when crossing the street, stepping onto boats, swimming in the ocean, swimming in pools, walking near pools, standing on the subway platform, crossing 86th Street, stepping off of boats, using mall restrooms, getting on and off escalators, driving on country roads while arguing, leaning on large windows, walking in parking lots, riding Ferris wheels, roller-coasters, log flumes, or anything called “Hell Drop,” “Tower of Torture,” or “The Death Spiral Rock ‘N Zero G Roll featuring Aerosmith,” and standing on any kind of balcony ever, anywhere, at any age.
Lead her away from acting but not all the way to finance. Something where she can make her own hours but still feel intellectually fulfilled and get outside sometimes and not have to wear high heels. What would that be, Lord? Architecture? Midwifery? Golf course design? I’m asking You, because if I knew, I’d be doing it, Youdammit.
May she play the drums to the fiery rhythm of her own heart with the sinewy strength of her own arms, so she need not lie with drummers.
Grant her a rough patch from twelve to seventeen.Let her draw horses and be interested in Barbies for much too long, for childhood is short – a tiger flower blooming magenta for one day – And adulthood is long and dry-humping in cars will wait.
O Lord, break the Internet forever, that she may be spared the misspelled invective of her peers And the online marketing campaign for Rape Hostel V: Girls Just Wanna Get Stabbed.
And when she one day turns on me and calls me a Bitch in front of Hollister, Give me the strength, Lord, to yank her directly into a cab in front of her friends, for I will not have that shit. I will not have it.
And should she choose to be a mother one day, be my eyes, Lord, that I may see her, lying on a blanket on the floor at 4:50 A.M., all-at-once exhausted, bored, and in love with the little creature whose poop is leaking up its back. “My mother did this for me once,” she will realize as she cleans feces off her baby’s neck. “My mother did this for me.” And the delayed gratitude will wash over her as it does each generation and she will make a mental note to call me. And she will forget. But I’ll know, because I peeped it with your God eyes.
Tired of sexed-up, “cute,” and endless princesses and rainbow fairies marketed to your daughters on Halloween?
A Mighty Girl has put together a great collection of awesome costumes.
My three year old is super- psyched to be Batgirl. We actually own this, but I bought a new one because ours is worn, ripped, and missing parts.
(Of course, potential Batgirl enthusiasts would be helped along if there were multiple Batgirl movies and derivative toys, games, and clothing. As is stands now, most kids haven’t heard of her, though her existence makes perfect sense to a three year old. Sadly, an eight year old, not so much.)
Look what I saw while shopping at Walgreen’s: 6 boxes feature male characters, 2 boxes feature female characters.
It’s bandaids, you say, who cares?
These images matter because they normalize the lack of females for little kids. Girls gone missing seems normal, and you know where this lack of females, half of our population, is normal? Congress, the Supreme Court, boardrooms, and top levels of most professions all across America.
If you can’t imagine it, you can’t be it. It’s as simple as that. How sad that our imaginary/ fantasy world is so sexist that females go missing, get stereotyped, sidelined, or show up as a minority. It doesn’t have to be this way. It’s the fantasy world, anything should be possible. So why is the imaginary world as sexist as reality? What does that sexism teach little kids?
Consider the variety of roles that males are shown that they can play. Compare that to the limited roles that females are shown that they can play.
One reason that it is so hurtful to show females in a minority all the time is because that limitation makes it easy to stereotype them. The more females you have, the more narratives you’ve got to come up with.
By the way, if you’re wondering about Angry Birds, 5 Angry Birds are female: Female Red Bird, Female White Bird, Jewel (Angry Birds Rio only), White Bird and Pink Bird.) Here are a couple descriptions:
Unlike the other birds, the Female Red Bird isn’t an actual species that is used in the game, rather it only serves as a background character used in various materials to promote the game, and is also seen in the ending sequence upon completing Hogs and Kisses, alongside a solo Red Bird. A plush toy version of her was released along with a plush toy version of the Female White Bird.
The Female White Bird is a bird only seen in Angry Birds Seasons. She is a female bird like the White Bird. She only serves as a background character and only appears on wallpapers in Hogs and Kisses, and her existence has led to many beliefs that the basic White Bird is male. She has a naive, maybe nervous expression.
Where the Female Red Bird is approximately the same size as the Red Bird, one image implies that the Female White Bird is significantly smaller than both the White Bird as well as the Female Red Bird. She has the same face as the White Bird, but only with makeup, a bow, and lipstick.
