Internet Meme Uses Domestic Violence as a Punchline

Trigger Warning: Disturbing imagery after the jump.

So, some out there may have been alerted to today's internet meme, The Time of the Month Tiger via Jezebel.com. The meme is pretty silly, though entertaining, and it's hosted on memegenerator.net, a site that lets you "make your own memes" using basic templates. Basically, it's for lazy internet people who don't use photoshop. Harmless fun though, right?

Um, I guess. But one of the memes on the site seriously made me do a double take.

The Great Mad Men Debate, Part One

For all of you Mad Men fans, stay tuned for a counter-argumentative piece by Liska, my fellow Looking Glass contributor!
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I should preface this piece by stating that I have not watched all of this show, nor am I up to date on the current season. I watched most of the first season, but gave up around the 13th episode. If things change drastically after this point, in other words, if there is some sort of "payoff," for all of the unbearable sexism, then I will gladly eat crow.

While I came to the party late (I just watched most of the first season on itunes), I also came with high expectations. I'd heard really good things about this show from friends who normally share my taste. I really enjoyed the first four or five episodes. I'm a sucker for vintage 60's style, and though the misogyny that the male characters displayed was irritating, it was also so over-the-top that it was comical...at first. After a while, though, it just started getting old. If I were to use this show as a gauge for all humankind, I would have to conclude that there are no men in the world who view women as equal—or at the very least anything other than something for them to project their own insecurities/desires onto—whether its the constant humiliation of Don Draper's meek secretary, Peggy, or the more blatant objectification of sexpot Joan Holloway (who is, admittedly, quite fabulous...I'll get back to her in a bit).

The first episode gave me hope that the show would explore sexism in a thoughtful way. When we are introduced to Don Draper's wife, Betty, we can see that on the surface she is the quintessential "angel in the house" figure. There is an underlying sadness to her, however, and a propensity to literally "freeze up"—that is, she experiences a kind of paralysis in her hands, brought on presumably by the specter of a divorced woman who has moved to her neighborhood—a grim reminder of a fate she may one day share if she fails to be the perfect wife to Don—who is already showing signs of straying. We can see that this is a woman that has absolutely no power over her own destiny. This subplot intrigued me. It's saddening, and depressing, but poignant. Possibly they went further with it, but I just couldn't stick it out. I felt more and more as the show went on that there could not be any kind of resolution to this character. Maybe it was just too bleak for me. I can't know, since I haven't continued watching.

Let me say something positive about the show. I love Joan Holloway. I think Christina Hendricks is amazingly talented and amazingly hot, and I love seeing larger women on TV who aren't ashamed to be that way, who celebrate it, and are even admired for it by the people around her (both men and women in her case, seeing as how her roommate has a tragic crush on her). That said, I wish that people would get over her figure and focus on her as an amazing actor and character.

The funny thing about this show is that it's not so much its depiction of women that puts me off—it's the depiction of men. Call me a crazy optimist, but I just have a hard time believing that every single man in sixties acted like that. All it would take would be one positive male character in the show. Just one. But there are literally none—at least in the first season. Every guy on this show is either is cheating on his wife, cheating on his mistress or making it a point to belittle women in the workplace.

I mean come on! Weren't there any nice guys in the sixties?

Star Quotes - Cybill Shepherd

"Having witnessed the segregated south, and the inhuman treatment of blacks where I grew up, and being in Memphis when Martin Luther King was assassinated—that was the moment that I had to become a political activist. And once you look at equality, you can’t draw any line based on sexual orientation, or religion. We just want our children to grow up and flower. The world needs all its flowers."

 -Cybill Shepherd, on being honored at the GLAAD Media Awards in San Francisco, 2010.

Beyond Pink Ribbons

A few days ago I logged onto my Facebook profile, only to be confused by  many of the "risque" updates.

"I like it on the floor," one read.

"I like it on a chair," read another.

What was going on? Had the women in my social network suddenly become super bold and outspoken about their sex lives? Not that there would be anything wrong with that, but it seemed strange.

When I learned what this meme was aimed at, I couldn't help but roll my eyes. Apparently, by stating where you like to keep your purse (how does that have anything to do with anything?) YOU TOO can help raise awareness for breast cancer! And titillate (pun unintended) all the creepy guys you went to High School with in the process! Everyone wins!

This sort of "awareness" campaign is nothing new. A few years back we had the charming Save The Ta-Tas campaign, which, while well-intentioned, also makes light of a serious and horrifying disease.

Both of my grandmothers fought against breast cancer during their lives. They both underwent mastectomies. There is nothing playful or sexy about their experience, and though they were strong women who ultimately beat the disease, I could tell that the experience left them scarred emotionally as well as physically.

That's why I think it is so important to remember the harsh realities of the disease, and why I think causes like The Scar Project are so inspiring. The site features beautiful and heart-wrenching pictures of real women, 18-35, who have fought the disease, or are in the midst of various stages.

Photographer David Jay sums up his mission on the website:

Dedicated to the more than 10,000 women under the age of 40 who will be diagnosed this year alone, The SCAR Project is an exercise in awareness, hope, reflection and healing. The mission is three-fold: Raise public consciousness of early-onset breast cancer, raise funds for breast cancer research/outreach programs and help young survivors see their scars, faces, figures and experiences through a new, honest and ultimately empowering lens.

The project makes a good point of not only raising awareness, but also of acting upon that awareness by funding research.

All Muslims Are Terrorists, According To Bill O'Reilly

In his latest bout of diarrhea-of-the-mouth, Bill O'Reilly, the wonderful specimen of a human being who took on "lesbian gangs" a few years ago, has declared on The View that "Muslims killed us on 9/11," and that it would be "inappropriate" to build a mosque at ground zero.

Saying that there shouldn't be a mosque at ground zero because of extremist Muslim attacks is the same as saying there shouldn't be a Christian church in Oklahoma city because of extremist Christian attacks. Extremists are extremist, no matter what religion they follow, and do not represent the whole of that religion.

After his diatribe, Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar walked off the set.




O'Reilly's racist rant came after a particularly tense interview, during which he chastised Goldberg about her seemingly unfriendly or stand-offish body language and just generally acted like a creep. Whether or not Goldberg and Behar should have left the premises is debatable, but if it were me, I probably would have done the same thing.

The Politics of Curves

In the last year or so I have gained 25 pounds.

This is not something that I obsess over. In fact, I've never felt happier or healthier than I do at the moment. If I was considered "skinny" before, it was probably because I was suffering from depression, not eating, and chain-smoking well into the wee hours of the night. When I think about it rationally, the body that I have now is probably the body that I was always meant to have as a healthy person.

First Post - Welcome to The Looking Glass

Greetings. My name is Lisa, and I am writer dedicated to feminism and LGBTQ issues.

While this blog will contain posts about my own life and experience, it is also about community. I hope that you, the reader, will find the subjects that I and my cadre of writers intend to tackle—subjects ranging from representations of women (gay, straight, transsexual, of color, etc) in the media, to everyday accounts of what it’s like to be a woman in modern society—to be interesting and informative.

The name for this blog comes from Virginia Woolf’s polemic essay, "A Room of One’s Own." In her essay, Woolf likens women to looking glasses, although not in a positive sense:

“Women have served all these centuries as looking glasses, possessing the magic and delicious power of reflecting the figure of man at twice its natural size. Without that power probably the earth would still be swamp and jungle...Whatever may be their use in civilized societies, mirrors are essential to all violent and heroic action.”

The purpose of this blog is to turn the mirror back onto ourselves. It is also to challenge the representations of women that we see in culture and media. Here at The Looking Glass, we believe that feminism does not belong to any wave, age or race. 

I hope you enjoy the site!

Lisa