Lots boiling regarding women in the news, here are my top 5 stories:
1. Meryl Streep took the stage at the National Board of Review awards gala in New York to present an award to Emma Thompson for her role in Saving Mr. Banks. She started out with praise for the actress, but according to Variety and other sources, Streep soon launched into a little speech about Disney’s anti-Semitic. racist and sexist views. She also declared Thomson as a “rabid, man-eating feminist. How I loved this speech. Check it out here.
2. Lena Dunham still has to explain why she gets naked on her own show. At a Television Critics Association panel, a reporter from the Wrap asked about why she is constantly naked on her show. Here’s what he asked: “I don’t get the purpose of all the nudity on the show. By you particularly. I feel like I’m walking into a trap where you say no one complains about the nudity on ‘Game of Thrones,’ but I get why they’re doing it. They’re doing it to be salacious. To titillate people. And your character is often naked at random times for no reason.” To which Dunham responded: “Yeah. It’s because it’s a realistic expression of what it’s like to be alive, I think, and I totally get it. If you are not into me, that’s your problem.” Girls Exec. Producers Jenni Konner and Judd Apatow proceeded to go nuts about the question, calling The Wrap reporter a misogynist. Oh, is it erupting, the story keeps unfolding. Read more here.
3. Mindy Kaling posed for the cover of Elle Magazine. Kaling was happy with the outcome but her audience has been freaking out how her body isn’t shown. She says they’re all wrong, it looks like she “died at my most beautiful.” She also says, “There was a weird reaction, which was, ‘Does Elle magazine think Mindy’s not skinny enough to show her whole body?’” Women are going nuts about it, including some women I know on Facebook. I also thought that Melissa McCarthy looked amazing a few months ago on her fashion cover. Let’s be happy for these women, people!
4. SNL hired Sasheer Zamata as a new member of their cast, plus LaKendra Tookes and Leslie Jones as staff writers. By bringing in Jones and Tookes, SNL triples the number of black writers on its staff and of course Zamata will add a whole new dimension to the existing extremely white cast. She’s hilarious, you can check out a recent segment here. I only hope that now the media will go pick on another late night talk show and get them to re-examine their writing teams. This can’t be a problem unique to SNL, but I am glad that they are taking positive steps to improve the situation.
5. As a reaction to Jezebel’s cry that selfies are “a high tech reflection of the fucked up way society teaches women that their most important quality is their physical attractiveness,” feminists are posting selfies and are calling them empowering. Eve Vawter (@EveVawter) tweeted “Women are in control of how they look in the pic and where they post it. #feministselfie.” Google it and you’ll see hundreds of photos of fabulous women looking fearless and many have joined the #365feministselfie project. To learn more, read this post, #365FeministSelfie — Are you in? and if you’re ready to dive in, check out the #365FeministSelfie group on Flickr or simply post your selfies on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #365feministselfie.
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