Recently in Video Category

Here it is! After the fabulous Feministing happy hour - where we got to talk to activists, readers and regular commenters like TheSoyMilkConspiracy and Thomas - we headed over to NARAL NY's watch party. It was amazing to get to watch this incredible speech with such a great group of people. Awesome night.

Here's my fave part.

It's safe to say that evangelist John Hagee isn't a fan of stay-at-home dads. Yikes.

Via Shine.

Check out our gal Courtney, along with author and activist Kenyon Farrow, Andrea Batista Schlesinger of the Drum Major Institute, and Lisa Witter of Fenton Communications, discuss the veepstakes with Laura Flanders. The segment was recorded before Biden was announced, but the panelists have a lot of great insights about what Obama's VP pick means, or should mean:

The snippet of the transcript that's about Biden is below the jump...

Shorter Cosmo: Men cheat because women aren't fucking well enough and don't pay enough attention to poor widdle boys.

I also love that editor Kate White throws out some of the most hackneyed stereotypes about men - that they cheat because "they really love sex," they're "hardwired" to and they're "not as discriminating" as women.

And seriously, the creepy porn music in the background is doing no one any favors.

Thanks to Robin for the link!

UPDATE: My boyfriend's response to the video, via IM: "If I cheat on you, it's your fault for not being multiple women who fuck me a lot." Heh.

But I'm digging it, in a "it creeps me out" kinda way.

I know when I was a little girl, I dreamed that someday I'd be a robotic-man-washing-machine.

Thanks to Jay for the link.

Check out Keith Olbermann's takedown of Limbaugh's oh-so-hilarious joke about Edwards' affair.

Via Community blogger Stellar.

Big Think, a site dedicated to fostering discussion outside of the "talking heads" model, has a series of interviews with women scientists. We're going to be featuring them on Feministing in the coming weeks, so be on the look out.

Above, Dr. Bonnie Bassler - a professor at Princeton - talks about the challenges associated with being a female scientist.

Note: In our recent Feministing retreat, we decided that some back and forth dialogue between editors would be a cool thing, so every once in a while you may see a post title with "re:" in it - that's how you'll know it's us doing some good old fashioned feminist debating.

Miriam, I'm so happy that you posted this amazing video of An Open Letter to Alix Olson. I thought it was just incredible and I really appreciated your take on MichFest.

I have to say, though, that it really bothers me when MichFest is framed as a feminist "controversy" rather than straight up discrimination. This isn't a controversy - it's deliberate exclusion and it's shameful.

I also find the "Oh, but we're not doing genital checks"(!) just as offensive as a stated and enforced womyn-born-womyn policy. There doesn't have to be a written policy on the website for the discrimination to still be there. If MichFest wants to do the right thing, they'll be proactive and have a statement denouncing their womyn-born-womyn policy and stop hiding behind their silence on the issue.

I personally think the festival should be open to people who identify as women (or womyn), and if there are issues with safety or harrassment (which seems to be a fear) then they should be dealt with directly, not via discriminatory policies.

I totally agree, though I wanted to just point one thing out. I find the "safety" issue really uncompelling - as did Carasande in comments. Not only because it's not just penises* that rape women, but also because it uses rhetoric of the Right. As thebeatles11 noted on the Community blog, the latest anti-trans campaign (tellingly called "Not in My Shower") cites the fear that women will be assaulted as the reasoning behind their discrimination. Feminists shouldn't resort to the language (or actions!) of fear and discrimination - we're better than that!

You mentioned Julia Serano--who I think is probably the most brilliant feminist writing today--and I think that no one talks about trans woman exclusion better than she does. So I thought it fitting to end my post (though hopefully not the discussion!) with her words:

*Because the fear here does seem to be about penises, rather than "men."

Making faces at NeW on 12seconds.tv

I have a lot more to say about this article on this anti-feminist organization, but I thought I'd share my initial reaction.

UPDATE: It was pointed out in comments that NeW's blog reveals them to be truly awful human beings. Did they really mock an old woman with a wheelchair?! Charming.

Reading a book on anti-feminists! on 12seconds.tv

So I just signed up for this video Twitter-like thing called 12 seconds (because my actual Twitter wasn't taking up enough of my time, it seems.) If you want to follow my oh-so-interesting 12 second musings on feminism, click here.

Babble has a great post of The 15 Most Sexist Daytime TV Commercials. It has old ones and new ones, but this one, which we posted on last year, is by far my favorite:

Ah, the Rose Petal Cottage. Because it's never too early to start indoctrinating girls about how their "dreams have room to grow" - all the way to the washer/dryer.

Now this is a good way to start the week off!

Thanks to Katie from MI for sending this awesome vid along.

Transcript below the jump.

The real question is, will Sarah Haskins be my best friend? And will someone put this lady on The Daily Show already? Seriously.

(Also, is that MobLogic host Lindsay Campbell in the first commercial?!)

Check out this spoken word performance from Sonya Renee; towards the end my jaw was dropped and I was near tears. (And I'm not that big of a softie, believe me.) Just amazing.

Via KaeLyn at Feministe.

UPDATE: Get the transcript here.

This is the second time Snickers will have to pull a gay-hating commercial. (Remember this nonsense?) But this commercial is just one of many that punishes men for being too "feminine," whether it's growing breasts after having the audacity to cry at the movies or being crushed by a giant beer can after screaming "like a girl." Anxious masculinity, anyone?

Via Consumerist and community blogger shellchin.

UPDATE: Renee has more.

So yeah, they didn't give her nearly enough air-time, but our own fabulous "Ray of Light"* Courtney Martin was on Good Morning America today discussing Keira Knightley's stand against digital makeovers. Check out the story and video here.

*A nickname recently discovered at the Feministing retreat because of C's shiny-light goodness.

And that's not easy to do. I'm not sure if this is an actual Guinness commercial or something some oh-so-clever asshole concocted and put online, but either way I'm horrified. I mean, I'm not anti a good sexy commercial, but this is just anti-sexy. There is nothing appealing about women being portrayed as silent slightly shaking receptacles/beer coasters. This really ruined my day.

Via Broadsheet and many, many emails.

Because I certainly do. And my crush was re-established last night when I got to see her in action (along with Paul Rieckhoff) at Lizz Winstead's Shoot the Messenger. It was bad-ass. Since a video of the show won't be up right away, I figured I'd get my Maddow-fix elsewhere for now. Above is a somewhat recent video of her take on McCain's birth control stumble, which also features the super cool Nation editor (and fellow outer borough native) Chris Hayes. Enjoy!

Lovely, no? (It's an ad for an online dating site aimed at married people looking to start an affair.)

I have to say, I'm kind of in shock that such a gross racist term would come out of John Kerry's mouth - and with such nonchalance! Renee at Womanist Musings has more.

Is it just me, or is this commercial telling women that they might get raped if they don't buy Goodyear tires? (I know there's no explicit rape threat, but the woman walking alone in a scary dark alleyway says it all to me.)

Happy Monday, folks.

We posted on this song before, but now there's a lovely video to go along with it! This is now officially my favorite song titled "Mother of Pearl." (Sorry, Roxy Music, #2 slot for you.)

via Lauredhel (and lots of other feminist bloggers, too). Lyrics after the jump...

We've posted before about India's Gulabai Gang, but it's even better seeing them in action!

We're already well-established Sarah Haskins fans here, so we'll just present this without comment and bask in the funny.

It's an all-too-rare bloggingheads.tv episode up now featuring two ladies -- feminist ladies, at that! Feministing faves Michelle Goldberg and Rebecca Traister chat about Hillary and Obama, race and gender, and so-called "women's issues." Check it out:

As long as we're discussing what does and doesn't work as satire, I saw for the first time today (via the Bitch Blog) this video from Thunderant -- aka Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney and NPR-bloggin' fame and Fred Armisen of Saturday Night Live. Check it out:

I find it pretty funny -- gently poking some fun at feminist stereotypes. But maybe that's just my crush on Carrie Brownstein talking.

What do you all think?

I wanted to write a post about how annoyed I am about Midol's "Reverse the Curse" commercials. (Seriously, the curse?) But I couldn't turn up any videos on the damn internets. What I did find however, was this commercial from about 10 years ago that is a damn lot more progressive than the commercials the product has now.

It also fit very nicely into one of the double standards I talk about in my book (shameless plug alert!): "He's Angry, She's PMSing." Indeed.

So, dear readers, where are the cool progressive ads about women's health? Why are we stuck with curses and fish references? Please, if you find any cool, funny ads - send them my way!

Laura Flanders' great show GRITtv takes on sexism in the media with two of my fave people: Rebecca Traister of Salon and Chris Rabb of Afro-Netizen. (They start talking about gender about 12 minutes in)

So I watched this segment on 60 Minutes this weekend (which was a rerun of an old episode) about African Americans using genetic genealogy to find out about their family history. Unsurprisingly, a lot of people are finding out that they have white relatives. The whole segment is super interesting but it killed me that not once did anyone talk about the rape of black women and how that figured in to this genealogy. Wtf, 60 Minutes?

Any day that includes Sarah Haskins is a good day indeed.

Anti-feminism on the internet is widespread, vicious, and fucking hilarious. So we figured why not make a list of the top ten worst anti-feminist videos (or anti-feminism caught on video) out there?

So after the jump, enjoy the list of crazy, funny, and just plain odd anti-feminist videos we've compiled.

(If you have a video you think we're missing - send it to us!)

No shocker there, but thought it was worth repeating.

Thanks to Eric for the link.

I think I need some underoos.

I don't know how I missed this, but thanks, readers, for sending it in!

I did an interview with the charming Lindsay Campbell of MobLogic. It was a fun time. Though, not-so-shockingly, the comments devolved into how ugly I was. Fun, it's like junior high all over again! (It's hilarious, you look primped up in one appearance and you're a flighty hot feminist with nothing more to offer than your looks; you show up un-made up and you're nasty. There's just no winning.)

What really bothered me, however, was my own reaction to these particular comments. I get hateful, violent, sexist comments and emails every day - mostly about how I need to get back in the kitchen, I'm a stupid slut/cunt/whore. You know, your run of the mill misogyny. I can handle those pretty well. But throw a couple of comments about ugliness my way and I'm all upset, actually thinking to myself, "I knew I looked like shit that day!" It's amazing how women are taught to hate themselves, and how no matter what we do and what we look like, no matter how confident we are, how many compliments we get or how much we don't give a shit - there's always that creeping voice in there telling you that you are indeed an ugly, unworthy mess. (And then there's the feminist guilt, of course, for caring about what some idiot says.)

Self-loathing rant over. Now, back to your regularly scheduled sexism-smashing. (Random note: I was totally wearing my "end patriarchy shirt," even though you can't see it.)

Ann reported in our Weekly Feminist Reader that John McCain canceled a Texas fundraiser to be given by Clayton Williams after it was revealed that Williams, during his 1990 campaign for governor of Texas, compared rape to the weather: “As long as it’s inevitable, you might as well lie back and enjoy it.”

After canceling the fundraiser, McCain's campaign said that they would be keeping the money raised by Williams - more than $300,000. (Various bloggers suggested, and I agree, that McCain should donate the money to an organization that works to combat rape.)

But the latest, and perhaps most egregious news, is that the fundraiser is back on! Because what's the big deal about rape, right? This is completely unacceptable. You can contact McCain's campaign here to let them know what you think.

Some choice quotes from Williams, including the rape remark, are highlighted in the video above.

UPDATE: I was remiss in not mentioning that Williams will be not be hosting the revived rundraiser. I didn't realize that was the case. I still think this whole situation is fucked, and that the money should be given to an organization working against rape.

Personally, I vote with my vagina. And let me tell you, pulling that lever is not fucking easy.

Via MediaMatters.

Michelle Bernard, President and CEO of the Independent Women's Forum (the anti-feminist organization we love to hate), is out promoting her book, Women's Progress: How Women Are Wealthier, Healthier, and More Independent Than Ever Before. And boy oh boy is she fun to watch!

In the clip above, Bernard explains that she's a "real" feminist - you know not like those nasty hairy man-hating kinds that want women to excel at the expense of men.

She also notes that women who call IWF anti-feminist just "think it's cute to throw bombs." I'd hardly say that calling IWF anti-feminist - an organization that exists to bash feminism and convince women that sexism is actually fantastic for them - is throwing bombs. It's more like...lobbing marshmallows.

Just take this description of Bernard's book:

Though many influential groups feed on the prevailing myth that women are oppressed, most women are healthier, wealthier, and better educated than ever before. Michelle Bernard, the president of the Independent Women s Forum, lays out the facts in a new book that will make life harder for radical feminism's ideological hucksters.

Oh you caught us! We're such hucksters...trying to peddle the myth of equality! For shame.

Some more undeniable proof that IWF could in no way, never ever, be an anti-feminist organization:

• IWF's campus program is dedicated to shutting down productions of The Vagina Monologues across the country because it "glorifies promiscuity and treats women as sex objects."

• The organization was home to now-notorious Charlotte Allen, who wrote a WaPo piece about how stupid women are.

• The org spoke out against the HPV vaccine, claiming it would make girls slutty.

• In a press release for a report IWF did on young women and sex, it states that by "pouring through women's studies texts, [IWF VP Carrie] Lukas found feminist authorscriticizing the institution of marriage as repressive for women and uncovered essays glorifying promiscuity." (Oh noes!)

• They believe that women making less money than men is actually a good thing.

So yeah, nothing anti-feminist or actively anti-woman about them. Nothing to see here!

Thanks to Bella for the heads up.

Some warm fuzzies to start off your weekend.

(I've included a transcript after the jump, per our readers' suggestion.)

Also, they pee by themselves.

This new trend of commercials defining what "real men" are and should like (and of course deriding women/femininity) is making me nutso.

I frigging love this Sarah Haskins gal

I like these folks.

Thanks to Robin for the link!

If you haven't ever watched Everywoman on Al Jazeera English, you really should. They do great coverage of women's rights issues.

Many of you have emailed us about this Klondike commercial. And I agree, it's atrocious. Not only does it feed into the sexist idea that men deserve a cookie for being halfway decent human beings, but it also denigrates men by suggesting that they're animals, unable to resist any ass that that happens to pass their way. Thumbs down.