A Michigan nurse is suing for discrimination after seeing this taped to a newborn baby's clipboard in the neonatal unit last fall:
Photo c/o abcnews.com
For real, son?! What did the hospital personnel think would happen? - That black nurses would just see the note and pass on by, no questions asked, all hunky-dory.
Ummmm, no.
I understand that the manager on duty was concerned for the staff, especially after the father in question showed off his well-thought-of swastika tattoo but, at that point, if I was nurse manager on duty, I'd tell him to get his racist ass out of the place, if he didn't like how I ran my floor.
I, of course, have a big mouth.
Night nurse, only you alone can quench this here thirst. My night nurse, oh gosh, oh, the pain is getting worse. (Night Nurse, Gregory Isaacs)
A few posts ago I wrote about the whole YouTube Kate Upton shenanigans and who would have thought that I would be writing about another Sports Illustrated: Swimsuit model within the same month! ... Not me! Especially because I don't really care too much for the magazine, in general ... But when I stumbled upon this article earlier today I was stunned!
Now I have been following Crystal Renn for years. She's modeled for loads of stores that I have shopped in and I am aware of her consistent up and down weight issues, as well as her battle with anorexia ... AND I worked on a show focused completely around the SI: Swimsuit Edition (heck, I met Kate Upton ... although that photo has never seen the light of day - never pose next to a supermodel ladies ... It never makes you feel good) but I did not even recognize Renn in the photos within the magazine. She has had a complete transformation - to looking generally healthy, not that as a previous "plus-size model" at a size 8 or 10 she didn't look healthy.
I am happy that Renn seems to have finally taken control of her body and seems to be at a happy and healthy place with herself. The fashion and modeling industry can take a toll on women and it does not seem like an easy world to navigate so I really do commend her for what she seems to have done here.
We go out to a party somewhere, the moment we walk in the door, people stop and everybody stares. She don't know what they're staring for. She don't know she's beautiful - never crossed her mind. She don't know she's beautiful - no, she's not that kind. She don't know she's beautiful though time and time I've told her so. [She Don't Know (She's Beautiful), Sammy Kershaw]
I've been blogging for quite some time now and if you've been following, you know that I am pretty passionate about media representation issues and how they affect women, so this story hit me like a brick when the Roomie sent it to me.
Be prepared because it's another story of parents and their lack of sense when it comes to raising their children to have some idea of a healthy body image.
Sarah Burge is a mother of very nontraditional gift-giving.
You may remember her as the so-called "human-Barbie" woman who, last year, gave her daughter a birthday voucher for a boob job when she turns the ripe age of eighteen.
Well, friends, she's done it again. I hope you're no longer comparing holiday gifts because you may be in for a disappointment.
This year for Christmas Burge gave her seven year old daughter, Poppy, a liposuction voucher worth about $11,000.
Burge (far right) with Poppy (the young one, obviously) ... Photo c/o http://www.thesarahburge.com/
Seriously!? What is wrong with this woman? I can understand if she wants to undergo cosmetic surgery herself, but to teach her daughter at such a young age that she basically needs to change herself in order to fit some type of ideal? ... Now that's just wrong.
And as much as she tries to defend herself, there's no hope, especially considering her daughter has been quoted as saying things such as, "I think it's great because you can change yourself if you're not happy."
Aren't there already enough influences in this media-driven world telling young girls that they aren't good enough without their parents basically implying that they won't be good enough as they get older? Because that is basically what Burge is doing ... even if she doesn't realize it, or won't admit it to herself. By presenting these types of gifts to Poppy, who is extremely impressionable as a 7-year-old, she is ultimately harming her daughter's body image and her ability to form a healthy relationship with food, fashion, mirrors, men, and a slew of other things that stem from having a healthy body image.
The fashion and advertising industries alone can kill a girl's self-esteem and considering Burge is in the limelight, Poppy was going to be bombarded with images of unhealthy models and the media's portrayal of the ideal body at a young age ... So by pushing the so-called benefits of cosmetic surgery on her daughter, Burge simply exasperated a problem that could harm her daughter greatly.
It would be a lot better for Burge to teach Poppy to love herself for who she is - especially as a little girl. If she wanted to promote cosmetic surgery when her daughter was older, then whatever ... I still think it's strange as a mother to tell your daughter to change herself ... But at least Poppy would then have made the decision on her own. As much as Burge says Poppy wants the boob job and liposuction, it seems like she is making these decisions for her daughter, and that's just wrong.
Hey, little girl with your tangled hair, your tattered clothes - you're fifteen and you're about to bloom just like a rose. You’re wishing that you had designer jeans like the ones you see in magazines. Now I know you’d give anything just to fit in but your worth ain't on a price tag, it comes from within. Don’t you know you’re beautiful? Don’t you know you’re beautiful? Don’t you know you’re beautiful? Just the way you are! (Don't You Know You're Beautiful - Kellie Pickler)
Side Note: Check out this site ... Just discovered it and love it!
You don't need superhuman powers like X-Ray vision or gamma-radiation-inundated strength to give yourself a monthly self-breast exam ...
At least that is what a new advertising campaign out of South Africa is trying to tell you! The new campaign by Associação da Luta Contra o Cancer features four ads - each with a different girl super hero, drawn from their chin down to their mid-torso, feeling up her boobies for lumps!
The lucky ladies which are featured in these ads (suggested by their artfully rendered uniforms, of course) are ... Catwoman, She-Hulk, Wonder Woman, and Storm (of X-Men fame for you non-nerdy people, out there).
The ads also all feature a comic-book looking caption that reads: Nobody's Immune To Breast Cancer.
It goes on to say: When we talk about breast cancer, there’s no women or superwomen. Everybody has to do the self-examination monthly. Fight with us against this enemy and, when in doubt, talk with your doctor.
I would suggest clipping your nails before a monthly self-exam.
She-Hulk is Hella-Endowed. Just saying.
Leather and all that super hero clothing is cool ...
But I would suggest any type of metal be removed before a monthly exam.
Storm could totally donate her hair to women with cancer.
I love this ad campaign. It not only has a positive message outwardly ... But it also has another message in the imagery ... These super hero women are all women who prevent crises from occurring on an everyday basis based on the actions they choose to do --- I mean let's face it, no one's forcing them to save the world. By choosing to perform breast self-exams, you are choosing to take a preventative step against cancer. You are choosing to check yourself for lumps and bumps and funniness and to report it to a doctor when you find it. Basically, you are being your own super hero. To yourself. To your friends. To your family. To all your loved ones. So, please do me a favor, ladies ... And gentlemen ... Go ahead - be my hero and go touch your boobies ... Just not at Happy Hour like this song suggests ... It won't end well. Trust me.
There's boobies of all different kinds but do you know the warning signs!? I touch my boobies for any strange lumps. I touch my boobies for any weird bumps. Touching is key to being lumpy free. So, please touch your boobies, touch your boobies, for me![Touch Your Boobies (I Touch Mine!) - Taryn Southern]
Side Note: If you have discovered a lump or have any other signs of breast cancer, visit your doctor right away. You can access information about the disease here. If you would like to donate to breast cancer research, you can do so here. Or, if you have some long tresses you are willing to donate in order to have wigs made for those who have been affected by cancer, check out Pantene Pro-V's Beautiful Lengths Program (I'll post my before and after pictures next month!).
This week I have just been slapped in the face with media representation issues ... and since it's kind of my thing ... I guess I should probably say a little something (or more than a little something) about one of the giant problems that lie within the media.
I recently attended the National Communication Association Conference in New Orleans and attended a seminar about magazines. One of the speakers mentioned that the current stats say that 68 million women read magazines each month without fail.
This statistic scares me considering what I have observed about the messages that magazines (and media in general) send to its female consumers - and males too in certain cases, just to be fair! Just in scanning through a few of the more popular women's magazines, you notice what the media considers the "perfect" and "ideal" woman - both in the pages of its content and in its advertisements. For example, in the most current issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, there are 62 ads which feature front-facing females. Only one of those women are depicted as having a position of power (I think it was an Orajel ad) and from what I can remember counting - only 20-somewhat ads featured women of color. None featured plus-size women.
What is Cosmopolitan telling women about themselves simply through the ads they choose to accept and run, let alone through their actual content? (By the way, all that counting was done for preliminary research for possible thesis topics! ... OH YEAH. I can never get away from grad school which is why I have been so MIA on the blog posts lately).
Considering the state of the media today and the ways in which it is treating its women, we are the only ones who can change it. We need to stand up to the media (and the fashion industry - we can't forget them!) and say that we aren't scared of not seeing size 0 models on our runways and in our magazines. We need to see more women of color and of differing body types on our TV stations. We also need to be the ones working in the media. Today I was appalled to hear someone make a bulimia joke in a media setting and I didn't even know what to say as I was so shocked - especially when you consider the facts like the ones presented here:
All those facts should stir a little something in you to want to make a change, and even if that change is just a personal one to accept yourself and give yourself a little slack when you look in the mirror and to love yourself for who you are ... then that's enough. But if it stirs a little more in you to make more changes like contacting fashion designers and magazine publishers/editors, then more power to you! Hopefully we can help change the world before a new generation of girls are hurt by the media messages they are fed every day.
I want to be beautiful. Make you stand in awe. Look inside my heart and be amazed. I want to hear you say who I am is quite enough. Just want to be worthy of love and beautiful. Sometimes I wish I was someone other than me, fighting to make the mirror happy - trying to find whatever is missing. Won't you help me back to glory. (Beautiful, Bethany Dillon)
So ladies, if you are my age ... let's say mid-to-late twenties ... when we were younger, feminine hygiene product commercials were a lot like pharmaceutical commercials. They meant anything from women jogging happily through parks or cooking dinner for their husbands or gardening with their new puppy ... Like this woman who just douched her way to happiness and is strolling along a beach thinking about unicorns and rainbows ...
But apparently today, feminine hygiene marketing campaigns come in the form of a talking hand appropriately named Vagina (you can call her V for short) in a campaign by Summer's Eve called "All Hail to the V."
Summer's Eve has released three separate commercials, using different colored hand models using stereotypical voice-overs and, of course, consumers are ripping into the company and calling the campaign racist. I'm just calling it straight up hilarious ... and informative. I cannot watch a single one of these commercials enough times without rolling. And here's your chance.
Commercial Number One:
Summer's Eve Take On White Girl Vagina Problems
Yes boys, it's true. Every time us ladies pick up a copy of Cosmo we need to read another article on the newest craze of Vagina madness ... whether it's vajazzling or hair styling down there. It's pure insanity. And, no, it's not just a white girl problem ... but Summer's Eve made the commercial and it was just too funny not to laugh, especially when products like this exist to help you style yourself into a peace sign down under.
Commercial Number Two:
Summer's Eve Take On Black Girl Vagina Problems
Oh, yeah. Summer's Eve went there and made a black hair joke. We all know that is taboo territory, especially when it's attached to a dry, itchy V on the way to the clubbbbb. HOLLAAAAAA. Oh, and since when is wonder spelled with a "U" ... Oh, maybe when it refers to the WUNDERRRRR DOWN UNDER, of course.
Commercial Number Three:
Summer's Eve Take On Hispanic Girl Vagina Problems
Ay-yii-yii, boo, I find this commercial to be the funniest. Apparently miracle-working Hispanic vaginas burst into Spanish spontaneously ... and make slight sexual innuendoes in the process. Hispanic vaginas also have an innate sense of fashion because they know when they need to trash their own underwear.
The Summer's Eve "Hail to the V" campaign didn't just end with these three commercials. There was also this lovely number on YouTube that pushed consumers to their website, which I personally found very informative.
Yes, the ID the V Quiz ... Because Vagina told me that "nearly 70 percent of all women can't accurately identify [her] and [her] lovely lady parts." So, I took her up on the challenge and took the quiz, and I guess I fell into that 70 percent because I only got 3 out of the 5 part, right. Granted I got the 3 most important parts, if you ask me, but still ... I didn't accurately identify all of them.
So go ahead and take the quiz, and see how you do! Because like V said, it's like jumping in a car without knowing where the accelerator or the ignition is (I'm pretty sure I accurately identified those).
Love your what-not, your money slot, your secret little honey pot. Love your Mary Lou, your va-joo-joo, your little man in a canoe, your naughty bits, your peachy lips, that little thing between your hips. Love, love, love your vagina. That important place inside 'ya. Love, love, love your vagina. Love that special place inside. (Love Your Vagina Song, Mooncup Ltd)
This was a (very catchy) jingle written for Mooncup, a British menstrual cup ... Click this link, to see the many other interesting names that fans submitted - which they call their vaginas (or submit your own). My personal faves that were submitted are Pleasure Island, Snatchy Patch, Spadoosh, The Grumpy Elf, The Unicorn Fairy's Palace, and Faffaroon.
Oh, and yes, you can download the song at the site also. I know. I plan on it.
