An Idea That Is Way Overdue - Star Wars Themed Lingerie!

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Monster Island News: An Idea That Is Way Overdue - Star Wars Themed Lingerie!

ABC, Fox Refuse to Air Lane Bryant Commercial

The irony and hypocrisy are amazing. Fox won't air a Lane Bryant commercial featuring real women, with real breasts, but they'll air inappropriate, sleezy "cartoons" like American Dad and Family Guy. (Both shows I like by the way; particularly American Dad, but they are utterly tasteless.) But showing full figured women with big boobs is tasteless...

ABC, Fox Refuse to Air Lane Bryant Commercial

Apparently, in a startling display of censorship, both Fox and ABC refused to air the advertisement. Lane Bryant’s website-hosted blog, Inside Curve, maintains that the two networks presented unrealistic demands for re-edits and prohibited the ad from running during critical air times, including “Dancing with the Stars” and “American Idol.” According to Inside Curve, Fox only relented after Lane Bryant threatened to cancel the ad buy completely, and compromised by running the advertisement in the last 10 minutes of the show.

The reason is shocking: both networks insisted that the advertisement contained “too much cleavage.”

Allow that to sink in for a minute. A lingerie company for curvy and plus-sized women, which primarily features full-sized bras, is showing too much cleavage. Versus, say, Frederick’s of Hollywood or Victoria’s Secret, well-known for creating edgy cuts of lingerie that are roughly the equivalent of two postage stamps held together by a single string. In other words, advertisements featuring large–preferably augmented so as not to be too large–breasts are acceptable; naturally large, full-figured breasts are not. More to the point, naturally large, full-figured breasts are obscene, suggesting that the networks have an awfully thin (and hypocritical) threshold for decency.

The article is very good and insightful, with links to blogs and articles commenting on this. For example, this:

“People who shame women for wearing “too-revealing” clothes like to center their objections on women’s clothing “choices,” but make no mistake—this is not about what we choose. This is about the things we don’t choose—having chests or butts or legs or necks or hair or any other part of our human bodies that others decide to project their particular sexual interests—and their slut-shaming—upon. The man who is horrified at a woman’s “overly exposed” breasts will likely never have to worry about wearing one shirt—one shirt out of a lifetime of shirts—that happens to accidentally set off some random person’s slut meter, because of the way his body just is.”

In my opinion, part of this is sexism because it's about power and self-determination; as Roseanne once said, (paraphrasing) "People don't like it when women take up space."

More Shoes and Stuff

I know it is easy to think that I love shoes and mostly I do, but not in the summer.  I live it NM, it is hot here and in the summer I can’t stand to have my feet confined in a shoe, any type of enclosed shoe (or socks) makes me miserable.  So that is why when I bought new hiking shoes Tuesday, they were Teva sandals.  Oh yes, I know the problem with sandals, little rocks can get under your feet and it is easier for creatures like ants to get to you and bite you -- I am willing to put up with that.  I haven’t had any Teva shoes for a while, but they do have great soles for hiking, especially compared to what I had been wearing which were burkies and betulas. :-) 

Actually, I noticed yesterday when we took a short hike that the soles slip less than my New Balance athletic shoes.  I only had one very minor slip, unlike most days.  Slips where I don’t fall on my ass wouldn’t be so bad except they almost always cause me to twist which throws my back out of whack.

Just so you know that I don't only buy shoes, check out these great notebooks I got at borders for 75% off:

The Traveling Red Dress on The Bloggess Blog

Photo by Karen Wolword, via the Bloggess

I love this blog: The Bloggess; I found it thanks to Deirdre O'Lavery of The Interstellar Housewife, a blog I also love. The dress is beautiful, and I agree that it's impractical, and very very red, but I would wear it! Bloggess writes, of the poppy red dress:

For one thing, it’s not sensible.  It’s impractical.  It’s bright red and vibrant and shocking and “inappropriate for a woman my age”.  And I have no shoes to go with it.  And I have no place to wear it.

I'd find a place to wear it, and one thing about getting older, once you realize you're not going to wake up one morning and suddenly find yourself magically 21 again, (or a size 9) you say "fuck it" and do what you damn well please. There's more to the article than just the red dress; it's also about what the red dress inspires.  Anyway, the entire blog is witty, funny and check it out.

New Shoes

Last week Fashion Bug sent me a coupon for $10 off any purchase of $10 or more.  I haven't shopped there in a long time because the last several times I was there I didn't see anything that appealed to me.  That was why they sent to coupon and the letter said they had changed and now have more of the fashions women want.  Wednesday I had to be in that area anyhow, so I dropped in.  No, they didn't have more of the fashions I want.  For some reason it seemed like way too much stuff in the store had patterns consisting of huge flowers in bright shades.  Those types of patterns on clothing always remind me of certain ladies in my neighborhood where I grew up that wore moo-moos, almost always with huge bright flowers all over them.  Anyhow, those weren't for me and I was kind of wondering if I would find anything that was.  Just as I was about to give up and leave I noticed a back wall with shoes.  So I ended up with these snake print sandals with lots of shiny silver buckles, which actually I think are pretty cute and only cost me $5 with my $10 off coupon.

Typical Woman's Magazine

A friend emailed this to me yesterday.  It is so true!  Not that I buy those, but I did buy a couple back in my teens and I read the covers when I am in the check out line.  The only thing missing is the stupid quiz, which normally breaks down into figuring out if you are good enough to deserve a man.  Blah! 

Happy May Day!

JK Rowling on Britain's Conservative "nasty' Party (from Boing Boing)

Boing Boing has posted a letter written by JK Rowling, in response to the UK's conservative party, and their views on being a single parent (ie, a woman), poverty, etc. Parallels to neo-cons and right wingers here.

Nobody who has ever experienced the reality of poverty could say "it's not the money, it's the message". When your flat has been broken into, and you cannot afford a locksmith, it is the money. When you are two pence short of a tin of baked beans, and your child is hungry, it is the money. When you find yourself contemplating shoplifting to get nappies, it is the money. If Mr Cameron's only practical advice to women living in poverty, the sole carers of their children, is "get married, and we'll give you £150", he reveals himself to be completely ignorant of their true situation.

The Sarah Palin Network

The Eight Not-So-Wonderful Wonders of the Dating World...

 A very good post for any of you that are still dating:
Receipts of The Boyfriend Shopper: The Eight Not-So-Wonderful Wonders of the Dating World...

Most of the guys on this list can be fun if you are just dating them for fun and not thinking that you may some day marry them.  Two big exceptions I can think of to that though #1 The Lawyer (they are no fun at all) #2 and the worst IMO, the clinger.  There is nothing I hate more than clingers.  You know the ones that call you every 5 minutes to find out what you are doing and have to know exactly where you are going and when you will be back, like you are 5 years old?  If you even speak to another man they pout and whine about how you are going to leave them and you will, but not for another man, just because they drive you away with their constant "love."  You know they go through this over and over and yet they never seem to figure out why they keep getting dumped or keep themselves from doing the same thing all over again.   I am sure there are plenty of women that are the same way, it isn't limited to men.