I LOVE ELMO THOUGH: In celebration of Sesame Street's 40th Anniversary Dov Charney the Perv and his nevertheless totally socially responsible clothing company American Apparel will soon be peddling Sesame-Street related t-shirts! On the one hand, this is brill, I want ten, American Apparel is just the place to parlay Big Bird (who I genuinely love) out of Hot Topic kiddie-cute kitsch (or CTW official pledge-drive merch) into Hipster-ville. On the other hand, it's gross that Our
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Dear Dov Charney, he who has amassed many sexual harassment lawsuits, fired employees who weren't hot enough and consistently peddles his wears via sexually exploitative ads that often explicitly resemble child pornography and objectify females, is now associating himself with the purest most special thing in the whole world, which is the land of Jim Henson & his muppets.
This has always been a big debate for me. See; I love the feel of an AA hoodie, a pair of AA boyshorts, the soft caress of an American Apparel Jersey V-Neck. I estimate I own about 50 American Apparel shirts, not counting underwear or socks. (Sidenote; I didn't actually pay for 85% of these items, but that's another unseemly story for another day) Oh and? I realize that ads are always sexy, and women are often objectified. I appreciate that lately AA has started objectifying men as well; it feels somehow FAIR.
But objectifying women isn't about the outfit or the setting, it's about the subconscious messages sent by provocative poses which suggest submission, passive availability, vulnerability and evokes child porn:
I mean ... do you see what I see?
What do you think? Does anyone else feel ethically conflicted about Charney's empire as you shamelessly wear his clothing? I guess I just hope the advertising for the Jim Henson line is a little bit more tasteful, otherwise Autostraddle has its own in-house muppet who will fully regulate on Dov Charney's little ass.
This is all of course a segue into Autostraddle's FALL STYLE POST!!! Seriously, we spent a lot of time figuring out how to tell you what to wear.
#SWINEFLU: Forget the nation's number one party school, The Universities & Colleges Caucus has released a new ranking about, you guessed it, #swineflu! Check out the Best U.S. Colleges and Universities for Contracting Swine Flu. (@true/slant)
ALL THE GERMAN LADIES: Unlike Glamour's self-congratulatory "plus-sized" nonsense, Germany's highest-circulation women's magazine, Brigitte, plans to stop featuring professional models in its pages in a more straightforward way: they plan to use more normal-looking women, both anonymous and well known, who "have an identity" instead of "protruding bones." (@jezebel)
BOIS LIFE: "An intimate look at a slice of the new generation of queer identity: bois. Boi is a term used in the queer community to refer to a person’s sexual and gender identity, and it may include: a person who looks and acts like a young, heterosexual male and partakes in casual sex, a transman, an FTM or female to male, a submissive butch, or a bisexual gay with effeminate traits."
EXES AND OHS: "I think I'm the only lesbian in the world who doesn't insist on being friends with her exes. Despite that, it's always good to get a little lesbian wisdom from the rest of the lesbians who are. Also this includes a video of Miss Piggy lip synching Peaches." - Intern Katrina
SEX: Period. "Menstrual blood has definitely been stigmatized by many cultures, but our modern Western society seems to have made a lot of progress in that department. Hell, these days, there's even a menstrual activist movement," but can. we. have. sex? (@bitch)
R-E-S-P-E-C-T: While we're all busy getting our American Apparel boy-panties in a wad over marriage equality, maybe we should also be focusing on something a little more basic: respect. "With the introduction of the Respect for Marriage Act, gay and lesbian couples moved one step closer to marriage equality in America. The big question: Will that be enough to really effect change in places where gays are still ostracized and treated as second-class citizens? (@advocate)
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