Activism
Abercrombie CEO Hates Ugly and Fat Chicks
Mike Jeffries, CEO of Ambercrombie and Fitch, has come under fire for his corporate policy of only offering small-sized clothes for women at his store and his accompanying comments that he only wants the fairest (thinnest) of them all as customers. While A&F competitors H&M and American Eagle offer XXL sizes for both men and [...]
Grimes Gets Real About Sexism
There certainly has been an uptick in news about music industry sexism lately. The latest bout with boneheads is courtesy of Grimes (aka Claire Boucher), who bravely took on sexism and condescending – even if well-intentioned – attitudes aimed at her. She wrote about unfortunate experiences on her Tumblr blog on Tuesday. “I have so [...]
Women at Coachella 2013 Were Mostly Off Stage
Coachella is one of the largest music festivals in the country. It now spans two consecutive weekends and more than 60 bands perform each year. But a recent article from Buzzfeed (and a review of that article from Slate) shows that bands that include women comprised only about 15% of the bill in 2013. In [...]
Skechers Under Fire for Daddy’$ Money Ads
Skechers has been getting stomped by feminist and mom bloggers this week over an ad campaign for their new line of sneakers aimed with a hidden two inch wedge called Daddy’$ Money. Using the $ for an S, a la Ke$ha, the product name and ads, say moms, are sending a dangerous and sexist message. [...]
PBS Debuts Makers Documentary
Makers, a three-hour documentary that explores the impact of women in America, will premier this Tuesday, February 26th on PBS. This inspiring and ambitious project begins with the role of women as homemakers in the ’50s and covers the changes in politics and the daily lives of women stemming from the Women’s Liberation movement of [...]
Not Equal Yet – Not Even Close
It’s almost 2013 and close to four years after the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act was signed into law. Surely, the gender wage gap has been closed, right? Wrong. Even with moves toward equalizing pay between men and women, men still make almost 20% more than women in nearly all industries. This is despite the [...]
Wu Lyf Goes Totally Insane Over Sexist Car Ad
Manchester, England based group Wu Lyf are seeing red over a sexist Toyota ad from the Netherlands that they claim uses their music without permission. In addition, Wu Lyf says they weren’t asked by Toyota or paid for the use of the song “Heavy Pop,” featured in the ad. The Toyota GT86 ad called “Wives [...]
Lesley Gore Speaks Up for Women
Lesley Gore and her song “You Don’t Own Me” set the stage for practically every cool young A-list woman in music and Hollywood to get the word out for women’s rights. Obviously a shout-out to presidential candidate Obama (and a diss to opponent and woman-binder Mitt Romney), this awesome PSA includes cameo lip-synching by Lena [...]
ACL By Numbers: Where Are the Women?
Looking over the Austin City Limits Festival schedule, I couldn’t help but wonder just how many women actually played at the three day weekend. Fortunately, my friend and notorious number-cruncher, Jean Synodinos, wondered the exact same thing and did the math for us. According to Jean’s figures, only one female artist – Florence + the [...]
The Stranger Takes On Rolling Stone – And Wins!
Apparently we’re not the only ones sick of Rolling Stone‘s annual “celebration” of “Women Who Rock.” Seattle’s bratty alt-weekly, The Stranger, is too. And they’re out for blood – and laughs. With “Men Who Rock” The Stranger has created a whole issue worthy of The Onion, brilliantly making the case that sexism is stupid. “Men,” the headline claims with a [...]
