Cross-posted at Brave New Films Blog. Also on featured on AlterNet.
Disney, the 800,000,000 pound gorilla of kids fantasy entertainment, annouced that they are going forward with their plans to have their first Black princess in 2009's The Frog Princess.
Disney has had opportunities to show the uniqueness of non-white cultures in it's films, but has failed miserably at doing so in a respectful, non-stereotypical way (see Aladdin and Mulan). I have zero confidence that this film will be any different.
This is doubly dangerouse given how Black women are portrayed in today's media. Bringing back up the Aunt Jemima images of old and coupling them today's over-sexualization of Black women and the racist indifference shown towards Black women sets the table for a pretty nasty racial stereotype feast.
It sounds like we not only need to save our girls, but we also need to debunk the myths of girls’ interest in science, technology, math, and engineering, which are literally killing girls’ desires to pursue these fields.
Here’s the most interesting quote:
The mentality of needing to “weed out” weaker students in college majors — especially in the more quantitative disciplines — disproportionately weeds out women. This is not necessarily because women are failing. Rather, women often perceive “Bs” as inadequate grades and drop out, while men with “Cs” will persist with the class.
I agree that this weed-out mentality is complete BS and is actually anti-competitive because it eliminates diversity in total competition.
Also, am I the only one to read this and think, “Man, the perceived bar for success is much lower for boys than it is for girls.” Perhaps those C-student boys should have been weeded-out too…
One Love. One II.
What’ s up fam,
I just checked my email to see that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resigned and that was a great way to wake up. I am still trying to figure out how this guy got confirmed in the first place. It will take years to appreciate how much he has done to undermine our civil liberties. In other news, I was listening to a radio show and of course, they were talking about Michael Vick. One of the co-hosts of Mojo in the morning poignantly noted that while the NFL and local police turn a blind eye to domestic abuse against women, people are getting really worked up over some dogs. How did we get to a place where animals get more respect than women?
Stay up fam,
Brandon Q.
Given the post I just wrote about saving our girls, this post broke my heart. I pulled this from BronzeTrinity. Read all of this post!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Austin, TX – August, 5 2007- Fresh off a battle with Black Entertainment Television, Gina McCauley isn’t slowing down on her blog, What About Our Daughters? McCauley is outraged over Al Sharpton’s planned ” Day of Outrage” scheduled for August 7, 2007, also sponsored by the BloggingWhileBrown Blog. Her next targets are Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the NAACP and other African American elites who have been noticeably silent about what may be one of the most horrific crimes committed against a Black woman in recent history, she’s talking about the June 18th gang rape of a 35-year- old woman that took place in Dunbar Village, a housing project in West Palm Beach, Florida. Read the rest of this entry »
When I was in Chicago for the YearlyKos Convention, I took the bus to the convention site. On Thursday I took the bus and a young girl, no older than 11, boarded the bus. She had thick braids, an attitude, and pimples on her face. There were no places for her to sit so she had to stand. Read the rest of this entry »
Father’s Day has just passed and hopefully you took the time to appreciate the father in your life, whomever it may be. As I have written before, Father’s Day is an interesting holiday to me. I am not a father, but I think the relationship between a father and a child is a unique one and it tends to be a more complicated one than the mother and child dynamic.
As I was driving around the city last week, enjoying the excellent weather, for the first time I noticed that there were women and children everywhere, but you rarely saw the fathers or men. I am not talking about young men, but grown men. And I not only asked where are all the fathers, but where are all the men period?
I read a powerful article at Slate.com by Dahlia Lithwick, discussing the violent sexual harassment many women bloggers endure at the hands of men. The central question that the article explores is “whether the blogosphere is different for women and if it is, why.” This is another angle to answer Garlin’s question, “Are you afraid of the internet?” Read the rest of this entry »
The other day while I was at a social event with some of my co-workers, I was about to leave early from the event when one of my co-workers proclaimed loudly (and I am paraphrasing), “He must be leaving early to go get a booty call!” Now his wife was there and I was thinking to myself, “Wow, this guy has a lot of nerve talking like that, especially in front of his wife and other women” Anyways, there was about twenty of us there and most everyone started to boo and hiss, anxious to see how I would respond to this accusation. And then I smiled politely and said, “Well actually, I don’t use that type of terminology because it is degrading to women.” The women went wild and the guys booed me down claiming that I was on “their” side.
I had couple observations about this situation. First of all, I never told anyone where I was going so how is it that we make this huge jump that this must mean a booty call? And while there was alcohol and no harm was meant, why can men get away with so many chauvinistic remarks? Then I thought about all the guys that were there laughing, who were probably thinking the same thing but didn’t have the gall to say, “Hey man, those types of jokes are not funny and they are disrespectful to women.” I get mad at men who are pre-programmed to laugh at jokes that degrade women and I get even more upset when the ones have a little sense don’t stand up for what’s right.
So here’s a little advice for guys that want to do the right thing but choose not to. Sticking up for women’s rights doesn’t make you a feminist and neither does it make you gay. Jokes that degrade women are not funny and the only require ignorance and disrespect; no wit necessary. Think about if all of those jokes were focused solely on a woman in your family, namely your mother or sister. Not too funny now is it? And if you try to exclude your family, then you are sadly mistaken because whatever woman you are degrading is someone’s sister, daughter, wife, etc. Lead a life of character and make decisions to do the right thing even when you might be the outcast. Noah was a freaking outcast and look what happened to the people who sneered at him.
And speaking out doesn’t mean you are an expert on women’s rights or that you never have disrespected women, it just means that you are a man of integrity who is willing to confront ignorance, the plague that people are afraid to be diagnosed with. When a doctor gives you a shot, it only hurts for a second, but it will help protect you for a lifetime. Be that doctor because you are always on call….
Stay up fam,
