The never-ending critique of girls' and womens' bodies

I've been neglecting my blog this week in favor of trying to get my paper done, a project that has been hanging over my head for no less than two years now! And it looked like it was going to be another day without an entry, that is, until I sat down at my computer with my morning coffee to engage in my usual a.m. routine of reading the news and my favorite blogs.

The illustration accompaning "the bitch wrinkle"In search of some interesting and engaging news stories I was shocked to find my usual national read, The Globe and Mail, had run this article by Sarah Hampson. Titled "Obsession with aging female parts has created a new body lexicon", the article proceed to dissect a woman's body according to how the aging process has affected it with accompanying cartoon-like sketches. There's "the bitch wrinkle", "the old lady butt", and the "vampire dinner lips." Yes, I'm serious, this was published in arguably our nation's most sophisticated paper (evidently, it has lost this title in my mind).

Perhaps the Globe caught me on a particularly feisty day, or perhaps it's all of the reading I've been doing recently about the way girls (and women) are constantly being equated with their bodies, but I fired off angry emails to Hampson and the Globe higher-ups and now I'm writing this post. Quite honestly, I'm fed up with sexist content being touted and "funny" and openly accepted in the media.

At the very basic level, focussing an entire article on dissecting a woman's body into individual "parts" is troubling and sexist, but unfortunatley has a long history in media. I would expect it from a celeb glossy, magazines that are known for reporting on Britney's cellulite, but it is even more disgusting coming from a "reputable" newspaper.

The irony of it though is that Hampson genunienly seems to wonder why women have developed such a hatred for their bodies, writing "The names suggest annoyance, never love or fondness of the type men have for some of their parts." (To which I would ask her, where has she been living the past, oh 50 years?!) Hello?! It's articles like these that make women so self conscious about their "aging female parts." She has obviously consciously overlooked the fact that she is contributing to the problem or is so unfamiliar with basic feminist debates about body image and aging that she really needs to enrol in Women's Studies 101 if she is to continue to pen articles about women.

Even Madonna can't escape misogynist body critiqueBut returning to her query about men: Why do men have a "fondness" for their aging bodies while women only seem to express hatred and disdain? Answer: Could it be because men are still depicted and regarded as aging gracefully and with sophistication while women are viewed as just getting "old"? The aging double standard lives on, in case Hampson hasn't realized it. When was the last time you heard someone pick apart George Clooney's body, while Madonna (arguably in better shape than any of us will ever be) was, as Hampson points out, criticized for having "bingo wings" while she waved to fans last month.

I understand that Hampson was perhaps trying to be "funny" with this article, a type of girlfriend gabfest where we can all get together and have a bit of a laugh about our changing mid-life bodies. And in that context - think a couple close girlfriends, a bottle of wine and some good food - it might be funny. But a national newspaper isn't that setting and I'm surprised that nobody in the editing room caught on to that.

I could even, perhaps, see the humor in the piece if male bodies were dissected alongside their female counterparts. But - surprise, surprise - this is never the case. The article would have never been published in relation to mens' bodies because it is not socially accceptable to critique male bodies the way we so avidly do womens'. Because men age with sophistication, remember?

The article also spawned numerous digusting comments, including one along the lines of: "So that's why the divorce rate is so high!"I won't even comment on such a ridiculous and troubling statement.

I'm still mystified why overt sexism is still often labelled as "funny". Problem is, it's easy to shy away from critique because no one wants to be accussed of being uptight or not having a sense of humor. But when I see things like this I'm willing to take the chance on being called "uptight", which is arguably better than "saddlebags", right?

I encourage anyone else who is offended (even my non-Canadian friends, please!) to contact the Globe and express your anger with this misogynistic article. The contact emails are:

Sarah Hampson (author) shampson@globeandmail.com

Editor-in-chief John Stackhouse: jstackhouse@globeandmail.com

Deputy Editor Sylvia Stead: sstead@globeandmail.com

I hope we one day get to the point when we can celebrate women's bodies in the media for all of the amazing things they do (like, make life!) rather than pick them apart with hatred.

xo, jessalynn

New Moon, Old Story?

Ever since reading Twilight last fall I’ve been asking other readers what they think about it. Perhaps this was a bit naïve of me (I admit that I didn’t read any of the reviews before picking it up!), but I was kind of expecting it to be…well, good. At the very least I was expecting it to appeal to my teeny bopper self who still enjoys Gwen Stefani and Mad Love (yes, the Drew Barrymore flick from the mid-90s).

I gave it my all, even finishing the book, but upon turning the last page I couldn’t help but find myself picking away at Bella and Edward’s – troubling – relationship. The controlling, almost suffocating relationship, coupled with the damsel-in-distress narrative received a brief flurry of critique in the mainstream press as well as in blogs, but the critique has been overshadowed by the series’ popularity which has blossomed beyond the actual books themselves to movies, shirts, store displays, book release parties, and celebrity tabloid gossip about the actors that play Edward, Bella, Jacob, and Co.

Because of the release of the New Moon movie trailer (above) last week, seemingly depicting the continuation of the same rigid gender stereotypes we saw in Twilight, I did a bit of searching for Twilight critique and found this interesting commentary on Bitch Magazine’s blog about what author Christine Seifert has dubbed the book’s “abstinence porn.” And it’s not only the way that premarital sex is subtley demonized as a life-threatening act (well, for girls anyways) - the pro-life subtexts found later in the series, when Bella insists on bringing a dangerous, potentially-fatal pregnancy to term, is enough to make any women’s studies student uncomfortable at best.

So it’s little surprise that if you spend only a couple minutes searching online you’ll find ample feminist critique written about the series. Or if you attend the PCA conference in New Orleans this past spring, you also had the opportunity to hear more than enough academic critique of Edward’s controlling nature and Bella’s tendency towards victimhood. Problem is, most of these critiques have been directed towards adults, whether at an academic conference or in a publication like The Huffington Post.

So, I’m asking, what are girls – the audience the books are actually targeted for – thinking about Twilight? We haven't spent much time pondering that, aside from the general assumption that they must eat it up, or else why would it be so popular?

Teen mags like CosmoGirl.com and Seventeen.com are still filled with Twilight talk, but most (ok, all I read) were indeed high on the praise for the series. A review in CosmoGirl of the last book Breaking Dawn, seemed to gloss over the troubling aspects of the book in favor of romantic musings about Bella and Edward. To wit: “There are more than a few swoon-worthy scenes to make you weak in the knees, and it’s clearer than ever that in spite of the odds, Edward and Bella are destined to be together” reads the CosmoGirl review. Ditto with Seventeen’s coverage.

I did find a more critical review in Paper Dolls Magazine, whose reviewer wrote, “Breaking’s message in itself is infuriating, but more importantly, it isn’t a very good message for the millions of teen girls reading this book”, and messages boards like this one on Yahoo. One teen reader asks “Am I the only one who noticed that Edward displays most of the signs for being an abusive boyfriend?” And, contrary to what most people might think of Twilight fans, several girls agreed that Edward is a not the dream guy he's heralded as.

Another (fantasy art) message board reveals a lengthy conversation about Twilight. One girl writes, "Edward is a controlling character. I endured the first two books, then I couldn't handle it. I HAD TO STOP. Against my best friend's wishes, lol."

Moral of the story? Not all teen girls are obsessed with Twilight and many are willing to critique the characters. Let’s give these opinions weight and attention, and a basis for dialogue as we continue to see more Edward this year.

Write me if you come across any great Twilight critique, especially from girls… I’m always looking for more!