Commenter Seminar: Beauty Culture Rules...

N SRIO, ladies. Via katviola @ Flickr. From our recent “What Would You Guest Post About?” thread, came this gem from JennyK/Benevolent Dictatrix: I’ve been thinking lately that I would like to write a Cross-Referenced Compendium of Patriarchal Beauty Standards for Women. From pedicured...

Put the Oxygen Mask on Yourself First...

Is it funnier that this picture shows a dude, or that the oxygen mask makes said dude look like a cartoon pig? Via mockstar @ Flickr You’ve probably heard that phrase before, if only prior to taking off for a holiday somewhere. I’ve been seeing and hearing it quite a bit lately, and it’s...

Towards a Personal Theory of Change...

Via David Reece @ Flickr on a creative commons license. Last week a thing happened to me that I both wanted and dreaded: I was informed that my current employer wants me to leave my job in the coming months.  I’m just “not going to thrive in this environment.”  Which is fair enough,...

Our Labia Look Just Fine, Thanks: Part I...

As if it’s not enough that women can get our labia mauled beautified by plastic surgeons, we apparently need to dye them as well. Behold My New Pink Button, a ” Cosmetic Dye especially for the woman’s genital area, to help restore that healthy vibrant Rosy color. [sic]” Click...

Our Labia Look Just Fine, Thanks....

Immortalize your lovely labia at Vulvalovelovely @ Etsy. Click on photo for link. Commenter aspiringexpatriate recently sent me an e-mail entitled: I don’t even know what to say. It included a link to a BBC News article entitled “New Warnings on ‘Perfect’ Vaginas.” The...

Friday Fun Thread: Casting Your Autobiog...

As SarahMC said yesterday, we are all of us Harpies, a bit pressed for time and energy lately.  Some of us are juggling other writing gigs; some of us are juggling other, uh, life gigs.  Some of us are applying to liberating graduate school programs!  (Like, um, me!  More on that some other time.) ...

Too Little, Too Late?...

The oh-so-revolutionary imageGlamour magazine is, as Kate Harding put it, planning a “naked fat girl extravaganza” for its November issue. The editors sneaked a model with a belly bulge into their September issue, and are floored by the mostly positive responses. So I guess they’re...

“Cankles” Rankle...

In case you stopped being neurotic about all your body’s “imperfections” for just a minute, the media is here to remind you to always be vigilant! Apparently, American women are on a quest to slim down their “fat” ankles: “cankles.” This morning, the Today...

Bad Ideas For Girls...

As if it wasn’t enough that tweens and teens are getting mani-pedis and blowouts, there are some–in the affluent DC suburbs, at least–who are also have their own image consultants to glamorize them. These Stacies and Clintons are doing booming business, according to an article in this...

Our Bodies, Our Neuroses...

Apologies, readers; what I am about to write is as much for me as it is for you. Sometimes I think we could learn as much about being feminists from our failures as we can from our successes. Let me confess one of my major feminist faults here.  I’ve been thinking of calling for a one-month armistice...

Are You a Good Doormat?...

Via Claire L. Evans @ Flickr. The Internet is a window onto the world.  If something exists, you can find it on the web.  If it doesn’t, just check again tomorrow.   And as you click around, the elves inside your computer are noting where you go, when, and how often, and madly tallying up...

School’s In Session: Learning Elit...

This is a guest post by Harpy friend jessica gold haralson, who offered us an exclusive look at the new guide to etiquette we’ve all been awaiting from soon-to-be-ex-Countess LuAnn de Lesseps. As we all know, television provides a dearth of Harpy-approved feminist entertainment, so most of us...