WOMEN WITH A VOICE
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Miss USA gets flack and Others for SEXY Pics [Sheryl Lee gives them Hell!][VIDEO]
In usual form, Larry King brings us the latest scandal discussion. This time it is the controversy of the “racy” Miss USA pictures. The 51 women are shown in fishnets, smudged black eyeliner, lacy lingerie, garters, and knee high boots. Instead of the cheesy cheek to cheek smile, the women give the camera seductive looks toward the camera.
Behind the scenes of “WAKING UP IN VEGAS” MISS USA Shoot
“We are in the business of beauty and the contestants who compete for the title of Miss USA are not afraid to be sexy,” said Miss Universe VP of Marketing and Public Relations Lark-Marie Anton. “These ladies are the full package – smart, accomplished, relevant and sexy!”
Video: Sheryl Lee Ralph lays in on Miss USA Pageant as she says that society are “sexualizing women” younger and younger. As Ralph rants, former Miss USA tries to defend the women as humanitarians, but Sheryl Lee Ralph emphasizes that the message of humanitarian do not show in the racy photos.
What is pageant owner and organizer Donald Trump saying? According to Trump, he claims that those who are critical of the MISS USA pictures are simply “jealous”. Larry King also brought in one of the pictures’ biggest advocates- the greasy and adorable down home cook, Paula Dean. Dean celebrated the photos which she called “fabulously beautiful good taste.” Paula has spoken.
Video: Hear from Donald Trump, Johnny Weir and Paula Dean about the photos.
After all this chaos, we have a letter for Donald Trump. Again, it’s short.
Dear Donald,
It’s 2010, we don’t need to parade women around anymore and judge them on their supposed “poise”. Women can make a difference without bathing suits and fancy crowns. Find another way to brand and find sponsorship.
Women have a voice and yes we know they are lawyers, doctors and artists. We don’t need them to take a seductive picture to show their beauty or intelligence.
However, if they do, we hope that it is on their own terms and has nothing to do with you.
Let’s
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Banned Lane Bryant Ad. A double standard.
ABC and FOX News have banned Lane Bryant’s new commercial and it did not involve any wind blowing or real nudity. However, they have ran several Victoria Secret commercials with way more oily bodies and let’s not forget the wind. Look at both of the ads. Is the company is facing a double standard? Give us your thoughts below.
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A Girl Like Me, words from young African American women
Color is more than skin deep for young African-American women struggling to define themselves.
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Celebrate International Women’s Day! Walk in Solidarity!
Women for Women International provides women survivors of war, civil strife and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency, thereby promoting viable civil societies. We’re changing the world one woman at a time.
With the tenth anniversary of the UN Millennium Development Goals in 2010, we are given pause to reflect on the tremendous work left to be done in order to eradicate poverty and achieve equality for all the world’s citizens. 70% of the world’s poor are women and 75% of the civilians killed in war are women and children.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, site of over 5 million deaths and hundreds of thousands of rapes in a conflict spanning more than a decade, women are imagining peace. They say peace means being able to live and to work freely. They see peace as walking to the fields without fear of rape; they envision a more prosperous future, harvesting from the fields the fruits of their own labor. Yet war wages on.
To honor the resilience of these and the millions of other women survivors of war around the world, Women for Women International is hosting a global campaign – Join me on the Bridge – which will unite women all over the world in a global women’s movement showing that women can build the bridges of peace and development for the future.On March 8, 2010, thousands of women will stand together in Congo and neighboring Rwanda to demand peace and development. Supporting them in their call for the war’s end will be thousands of women from Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq, Sudan, Nigeria, as well as in the United States and the United Kingdom, to say no to war and yes to peace and hope.
We are planning Join me on the Bridge events on Monday, March 8 in New York City and London. Join us as we walk together across major bridges and then gather to create peace banners! If you cannot attend our bridge events in New York City or London, or one being planned by a supporter in your neighborhood, we invite you to organize your own Join me on the Bridge event! It doesn’t matter how big or small the event – every single effort will help us demonstrate that we have a unified, powerful voice for peace. A toolkit with step-by-step instructions is available here. We will be asking for photos and video from all bridge events so that we can capture the broad impact of this movement.
Visit womenforwomen.org to sign up to walk in solidarity.
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Kathryn Bigelow’s Hurt Locker Sweeps The Oscars!
It’s International Women’s Day and what a celebration. Last night, women made history with Kathryn Bigelow becoming the first woman ever to win an Oscar. Kathryn did it all while directing a movie filled with male protagonists. In fact, she has always been one of the few female director’s to take on the psyche of the male with past films like Point Break(1991).
Bigelow was born in California in 1951. She studied film at Columbia University before later teaching at the California Institute of the Arts.
Her first short film “The Set Up” was a 20-minute depiction of two men brawling which reflected her interest in the relationship of men to each other and their world. In 1982, she made her feature film debut with “The Loveless,” a biker movie starring the then little-known Willem Dafoe.
In 1991, she made the action movie “Blue Steel” starring Jamie Lee Curtis as a New York policewoman on the trail of a serial killer. This was later followed by the cult classic “Point Break” which was a commercial success.At 58, Bigelow has finally broken through the glass ceiling of Hollywood. Who will be next? Before Bigelow there were three women nominated. The first being Lina Wertmüller for ‘Seven Beauties’ (1975). Next came Jane Campion for ‘The Piano’ (1993) and finally, Sofia Coppola for ‘Lost in Translation’ (2003).
Lina.
Jane.
Sofia.The Hurt Locker also took home Oscars for Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Original Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Picture.
Congratulations Bigelow!
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Lady Gaga does a little gender bending for Q Magazine!
Lady Gaga is putting on the pants and grabbing her package for the new Q shoot and as usual all we can say is…Go Gaga! Gaga has been pushing the envelope and raising up the community through her heart since her inception and it’s nice to see her give us a little twist.
We are still working through the whole Grammy incident so Gaga just know we are with you! In the article, Gaga gives a little gender schooling:
If a guy says, “Oh I f—-ed all these chicks this week,” there’s a high-five and giggling. But when a woman does that and it’s publicized or she is open about her sexuality or she’s free or liberated, it’s, “Oh, well, she must have a d–k.”
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Precious’ Gabby Sidibe on V Magazine
‘Precious’ star Gabby Sidibe graces the cover of V Magazine for “The Size Issue’. This month V celebrates a more diverse represenation of beauty and features an alternate cover of Dakota Fanning.
It’s a rare treat as there are numerous high fashion spreads with ladies not afraid show all their curves.Solve Sundsbo, the Norwegian fashion photographer who shot the spread, told the Daily Mail that he “loved the opportunity to show that you can be beautiful and sexy outside the narrow interpretations that normally define us.”
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Glamour Plus-Size Photo Shoot Redefines Beauty
Glamour is redefining the supermodel in their latest issue featuring a spread of “plus sized” models. The photo was response from the overwhelmingly positive feedback that Glamour received on a photo in its September issue that showed plus-sized model Lizzie Miller wearing just a G-string and a smile.“I was just shocked and amazed and overjoyed at the reaction that Lizzie’s picture got,” said Leive, who said that readers “seemed like they were starved for any kind of image that in any way looked like what they saw when they looked in the mirror. We thought why not do more?” Leave it to Ellen to make the unveiling. Loving this Glamour! Their headline…”Are you ready to start a body image revolution?”
Finally, we realize that we can break the mold that too long has been keeping a lid on the expression of beauty. Even Tyra is turning “supermodel” on its head with a season of America’s Next Top Model Cycle 13 featuring women under 5′7″. I think I smell changing times people.
Watch the video and read more at GLAMOUR.
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Woman with a Voice: Mariah Carey, see Precious
I am first to admit that one of my favorite songs is “Butterfly”, followed by “Hero” then it’s “Oh Baby I love your way.” Enough about me. Two of my three favorite songs come from Mariah Carey who is not only a woman with the “most number one hits”, but a woman who says “she finds freedom being imperfect.” Mariah imperfect? Interesting. I guess no one told her that she could sing in up to 7 octaves and that she is the only female artist who had 7 albums triple platinum.
Now Mariah is getting “ugly” for what may be her first Oscar nomination as she takes on the role of the “social worker” in Lee Daniel’s Precious.
“Precious” is produced by two media moguls, Oprah and Tyler Perry and Mariah’s transformation is one of the biggest stories of the film. The superstar songstress which usually has her tresses in tact and make-up complete, decided to bear it all under fluorescent lights and dark eye make-up. We all remember Mariah’s less than perfect film, “Glitter”, a title which people try to block out of their mind. On November 6th Mariah Carey will get to prove them all wrong.
“That was such a freeing experience for me,” Carey says during a recent interview. “By making me look so bad he brought out the ability to never be self-conscious again, and that was a gift that he gave me.”
At 39, Mariah has done it all with strength. She can even call herself a ‘certified cougar’ with her young hubby Nick Cannon.
“Nick is just a really supportive, very unique man who no matter what the differences are between us, he has been just such, like, a helping hand for me as a human being and a husband,” she says. “I feel like I’m not by myself anymore, and no matter who I was with I always felt alone.”Today, we will call her “Woman with a Voice.” Go Mariah!
Precious TrailerPrecious plays at the New York Film Festival at 10p this Saturday. GO SEE PRECIOUS.
A discussion takes place this Sunday Oct. 4: 2pm
BUY A TICKET TO SEE LEE DANIELS.
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Woman with a Voice:13 year old blogger, Tavi, Takes over Fashion Week
With over 1.5 million views gracing the pages of the fashion blog “Style Rookie”, I must admit that I am jealous of Tavi Gevinson. The North Dakota native who started the fashion blog nearly 2 years ago is taking the fashion world by storm and making veteran fashion editors jealous. This fashion week, she sat front row at many shows and provided a frist hand account of the elements that inspired her.“At the beginning of Fashion Week I developed what I thought was an ingenious plan to TAKE NOTES DURING SHOWS (gasp!) in the hopes that some passionate poetic masterpiece would pour out of my quill (okay, Papermate pen) upon seeing the shows. Um, fail?” she writes reflecting on her New York Fashion week experience. Then, she goes onto describe the leopard print shoes that caught her eye. Her writing style is a honest stream of feeling and description. It’s the type of real writing without the fluff and high brow references that you may see from the regular print. With 1.5 million viewers since September, she is doing something right.
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