Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Dec. 9, 2011)
[0 ] 3 4 voices- DECEMBER 9.20)1 Molly, a woman I went to high school with, posted a photo on Facebook with the follow ing status update: “Have to brag a moment about my 15-year-old daughter Maggie! Sophomore class picture without a speck of makeup, not even lip gloss! [I’m] happy she’s happy with her perfect self!” Her daughter is in fact a beautiful young woman. My daughters are also beautiful young women but it made my heart sink to realize there's no way they would sit for a portrait without makeup. I don’t know that I’ve even seen my 14-year-old without mas cara in months and my youngest has taken to wearing eyeliner and blue shadow. W hat has Molly done right that I obviously do wrong? A few months ago, I read an article on Huffington Post by Lisa Bloom, author of the book Ihink: Straight Talk fo r Women to Stay Smart in a Dumbed-Down World. She claims 25 percent o f women ages 18-34 would rather win America's Next Top Model than the Noble Peace Prize and 22 percent would rather lose the ability to read over their figures. Around the same time I was introduced to Dance Moms, a reality series about a Pittsburgh dance company, where owner and director Abby Lee Miller “molds” young girls for their illustrious careers as professional dancers. Miller is a nightmare all on her own, but most shocking are the mothers of these young girls, one of whom claims that school is sec ondary to dancing class; her daughter will be on Broadway someday and school doesn’t mat WWW.JUSTOUT.COM brace these changes as my friend has; I hate them and if I had extra money lying around, I’d probably make my own “Mommy Make over” appointment. Does this take away from my intelligence and cause me to collude with the very sexism I balk against? mr-: BY KATHRYN MARTINI My daughters are all smart and capable young women with a long list o f self-assured American women spend millions on cos female relatives and friends in their lives. I metics and salon services and the number o f don’t encourage them to do well in school, I plastic surgeries performed rises exponentially expect it, and I try each day to explain to them each year; tummy tucks alone were up more how the media and their environment form than 4,000 percent between 2000-06. Women their opinions about themselves. Sometimes I run to surgery weeks after giving birth to have get it right and sometimes, like when my old a “M ommy Makeover” (usually a tummy tuck est daughter misses calculus class because she and breast augmentation), allowing them can’t find anything to wear, I fail. I want to do a better job. I’ve tried to their “pre-baby” body back. Pretty soon doc tors will just offer same-day service: Give change how I talk to young girls. Instead of, birth and have plastic surgery, so the home- “She looks so pretty,” I say, “She looks so strong and confident.” I’m also trying to love from -the-hospital photos look fabulous. I have a friend who said she would never myself more. More than anything, I want to have plastic surgery because her body, now encourage young women to stand next to A1 stretch-marked and saggy, tells the story of Gore and Gandhi in history rather than Tyra how she conceived, carried, birthed and breast Banks or Heidi Klum. JW fed her three beautiful children, the greatest accomplishment of her life. Few women are The documentary M iss R epresentation pro able to do this and I believe that my friend is files how the media portrays women, even pow an exception. I look at my own, now nearly erful women, in an extremely negative light. The three years past 40, face and body and wonder film's goal is to educate young women how this what happened over the last few years. Sud perpetuates oppression and sexism. Visit thefilm's denly, lines and gray hairs have appeared that website, missrepresentation. org. weren’t there previously, the skin on my eyelids K athryn M artini is a freelance writer, blogger is looser than it was and I won’t even discuss and columnist in Portland with three teenage my own childbirth-ruined body. I don’t em daughters. Reach her through kathrynmartini.com. Miss Representation living out loud ter that much. I found myself screaming at the television: “If your daughter got a Ph.D., she could make a real difference in the world! You idiot\ You’re setting feminism back 50 years!” This is not to say there isn’t redeeming value in art and its contribution to our society, but focusing on a young girl’s extracurricular ac tivities over academics does nothing more than reinforce that what a girl does and how she looks doing it is more im portant than what she knows. I immediately bought Ms. Bloom’s book and started some serious thinking on the sub ject. More women now occupy college cam puses than men and more women obtain ad vanced degrees and enter prestigious professions than ever before, but these facts aren’t reflected in our mainstream culture or in the media. Women like Snooki and the Kardashians are celebrated, not for their IQs or humanitarian efforts, but rather their choice o f shoes, jewelry, cocktails and hus bands. This is modeled for women so it’s no big surprise that a huge.majority would rather focus on their weight and appearance than intelligence or success. --------------------------------------------------------------1 LGBT Chamber of Commerce for the Portland/Vancouver Area Join PABA at monthly luncheons for members, guests, and prospective members. Network with business and community leaders. Date Program W ednesday, D ecem b er 14 Fast and S m art N etw orking W ednesday, January 11 TBA Location: K ell’s Irish Pub. Tim e: D oors open at 11:30 A M . Lunch and program s ta rt a t 12:00 PM ROBERT RO M . I CM Mortgoge Broker • Retired Air ror<« msc CALL T ODA Y Red Hills To learn more visit PABA.COM ♦ 503.781.4181 .(■ ! > ¡ l ü h j 1 f î ] 4 1 l i t [>! I. "i,. ' 1 ! T I I f, Skatin' around the roller rink have a Jflappy JJoliday! * ^ B rin g o il yo u r fa m ily a n d frie n d s a n d jo in ju s to u t fo r a ro o k in ' Monday. December I9 (school’s out) of Oaks Pork Roller Skate Rink Doors o p en o f 7pm. $6 adm ission Please shore the holiday spirit by bringing a generous food donation for Esther's Pantry .v
