Barbie Beats Bratz

A judge today said that Bratz makers can no longer sell their dolls. It has nothing to do with their sexy outfits and excessively made up faces though.

Apparently Bratz infringed on a Mattel copyright. According to Salon:

"For several years, Mattel has promised to 'litigate to the death' over what it called (for realz, no joke) a 'Barbie genocide.' After winning a $100 million lawsuit against MGA, Mattel decided to wage its own 'genocide,' and called for all Bratz dolls to be impounded and destroyed. It's like a feud between rival prom queens, only in the language of, like, actual war."

Oh goodness--the jokes are gonna write themselves!

So now that Mattel owns the Bratz concept (they must be so proud!), who knows if they'll destroy all the dolls or start selling them. Barbie and Bratz all under one big Mattel umbrella of unrealistic body images for girls? Whoa that might be too much for me! Let's hope they opt to destroy the Bratz dolls.

Love Your Body Day 2008

I'm all about being happy with your body everyday, but it's still fun to have one day a year to focus on it.

I'll have a Sticker Sisters table at the annual Love Your Body Day celebration in West Hollywood tomorrow. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by! It's free and there'll be music, comedy, and a "real women" fashion show. And the icing on the cake is free massages and self-defense lessons. Nice!

Love Your Body Day
Sunday, October 12, 2008
12:00 - 4:00 p.m.

West Hollywood Park Auditorium
647 N. San Vicente Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Check out my recap of last year's event.

Also here are 10 Ways to Celebrate Your Body Sticker Sisters Style.

More about the Love Your Body Day campaign.

More Spooky Stereotypes

So it's old news that Halloween costumes for women and girls keep getting "sexier" and more stereotypical. Not to mention all the racist "ethnic" costumes. And then there's the "sexy," "ethnic" costumes. Those really take the cake.

But apparently there's a new fad for men and boys. Move over scary costumes, this year "muscle" costumes are all the rage. From "Mini Muscle Man Infant" to "Macho Biker Man Adult" costumes, there's no scarcity of stereotypes for guys either.


Tolerance.org has a list of questions to help identify stereotypes in costumes:

WEARING A FUNNY COSTUME?
Ask yourself: Is the humor based on "making fun" of real people, real human traits or cultures?

Though intended to be funny, last season’s "Mental Patient" costume by Disguise was considered demeaning, dehumanizing, and humiliating to individuals struggling with a mental illness and their families. Complete with a "Hannibal" type mask and a straightjacket, the costume reinforced stereotypes and fears about persons with mental illness.


WEARING A SCARY COSTUME?
Ask yourself: Is the "fear factor" based on real forms of violence or grotesque depictions of human traits?

"This scary stud can empty out a full house just by walking through the door," touts the tag line for Fright Catalog’s "Vato Loco" mask. The bandana clad, tattooed, brown-skinned vinyl creation makes light of gang violence, which takes a serious toll on families and neighborhoods across the country. The costume also sends the message that Latinos are violent.


WEARING A HISTORICAL COSTUME?
Ask yourself: If the costume is meant to be historical, does it further misinformation or historical and cultural inaccuracies?

The "Indian" get-up prevails each year as culture-turned-costume. But did you know few Native Americans wore buckskin and headbands and even fewer wore them together? Did you know "war paint" and feathers carry religious meaning and were never worn by Native American children?


WEARING A "BEAUTIFUL" COSTUME?
Ask yourself: If the costume is meant to be beautiful, are these characteristics drawn from commercial references, such as movie characters?

Too often, beautiful at Halloween means white, blonde, princess masks. What statement does your Halloween costume make about what constitutes beauty -- and about who is beautiful and who isn't?


WEARING A "CULTURAL" COSTUME?
Ask yourself: Does the costume reduce cultural differences to jokes?

People like Leigha Baugham, a former communications student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, believe when it comes to picking Halloween costumes, we should "keep our hands out of the melting pot."

There are a zillion great things to dress up as that don't promote stereotypes. My favorite costumes have been a tube of toothpaste, a jellyfish, a gecko, a teabag, and a picnic. What great costumes have you worn or seen?

Another T-Shirt to Hate

Part of what pushed me to start making t-shirts was because there are so many awful ones out there. Well here’s the latest from Wal-Mart that I hope will make you as angry as it made me.

The t-shirt reads: "Some call it stalking, I call it love."

The Charlotte News&Observer says:

Its message was a slap in the face to the woman who called me Thursday after seeing it in her local Wal-Mart.

"Some say it's stalking, I call it love."

For the past two years, this woman has been stalked until she feels like a prisoner in her own life. She has been spied upon, bullied and threatened with her life..."It's reprehensible," said the woman, whose story is well documented but who asked not to be identified for fear that her stalker might retaliate.

"People don't realize how serious stalking is," she said. "You constantly live in fear, look over your shoulder and suffer from psychological and physical symptoms due to the stress of the stalker."

She wondered aloud: What's next? "Some say it's rape, I call it hot sex"? Or: "Some call it domestic violence, I say I'm just teaching her a lesson"?

The N.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence has already sent a letter asking Wal-Mart to remove the t-shirts from stores.

The Charlotte News&Observer goes on to say:

The question now is how the world's largest retailer will respond. Tara Stewart, a spokeswoman for the company, forwarded me information about Wal-Mart partnering with the attorney general's office in South Carolina on a public education campaign to combat domestic violence.

"We work hard on this issue and do a great deal to bring awareness and help families in need," she wrote in an e-mail message.

And the T-shirts fit into that public education campaign how?

Want to let Wal-Mart know what you think?

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716
1-800-WALMART
479-273-4000

Or email them.

Glue On Gender for Pipsqueaks

So I just discovered another absurd way parents are trying to prevent that oh so scary question, “Is that a boy or a girl?” And it really takes the cake. They’re “stick on bows” for infants who don’t have enough hair to hold a regular bow. They come with a little bottle of glue that you use to adhere the bow to the baby’s scalp. And of course they’re available in pink, pink, and more pink.

“Chaste but Chic?” Gimme a break.

Have you been hearing about this so-called “modesty movement?” Of course I’m all for providing alternatives to Bratz style clothes (have you seen the latest Sticker Sisters t-shirts?), but this “modesty movement” makes me gag.

They’re trying to push a "chaste but chic" dress code on girls. Not surprising that this movement is connected to faith-based organizations and abstinence only advocates. But perhaps the scariest part is that the mother of the modesty movement, Wendy Shalit, is still trying to blame sexual harassment and rape on women’s "lack of modesty." And here I thought we were past that ridiculous idea that a women is "asking for it" if she wears a short skirt. Ugh.

Ann Ream (founder of Voices and Faces Project) says it well in the LA Times:

"Scratch the surface [of the modesty movement], and what's supposed to be good for girls reveals itself to be all about the boys: dressing in a way that doesn't over-excite them, demurring so that their manhood remains intact and holding tight to our sexuality until we find a husband who is worthy of that ultimate 'prize.'"

More
LA Times: "The false modesty movement"
Talk of the Nation: "Modern Girls and the Modesty Movement"