Hall of Shame - Angelina Jolie's Leg

I was not one of the many people watching the Oscars on Sunday night, but I have heard about Angelina Jolie's right leg.  

This picture (along with thousands of others of Jolie) is evidence of Jolie's status as a sex icon in our society.  But she is not just a sex icon, she is a loving and caring mother.  There are also thousands of pictures of her with her kids.

Jolie embodies our society's conflicting message about female sexuality.  Women and girls constantly see images of women dressed provocatively.  These images set the standard for what is sexy in our society.  But then women and girls also receive messages about being "good girls" and may be labeled as a slut based on their clothes and/or behavior.  

These conflicting messages - the virgin vs. the whore - are incredibly confusing for women and girls.  It is important for each of us - male or female - to think about how these messages about female sexuality impact us and our own sexuality.  It is also important to continue to have a dialogue about the contradictions and bring light to the fact that women and girls are increasingly sexualized but are not punished and judged when they act on their sexuality.  

Hall of Fame - National Pretty Brown Girl Day

Today is the first National Pretty Brown Girl Day.  The organization Pretty Brown Girl wants brown women and girls around the world to feel empowered and increase their self-esteem.  It is a great cause and I want to bring attention to it.  One day I may have a pretty brown girl and I hope that when that happens some things will have changed and she will feel empowered and able to love her skin, hair, and everything else about here.

In previous posts I have discussed the societal views of women with dark skin.  One article on National Pretty Brown Girl day also featured a trailer for a documentary called Dark Girls.  I think it is important to show it here:

Hall of Fame - Isabel Allende

Much of the posts on this blog have focused more on women in the United States, but it is also important to discuss the disempowered state of women worldwide.  While I wish that things were more equal and women in the US more empowered, the fact remains that women living in other countries have it worse.  In the below video, Isabel Allende speaks about women throughout the world and the need for women to be more empowered.

Allende makes some amazing points about how our world could be if women were more empowered and viewed as equals. 

• Women do two-thirds of the world’s labor but own less than 1% of the world’s assets.  Paid less then men, if they are paid at all.  They remain vulnerable because they have no economic independence and they are constantly threatened by coercion, violence, and abuse.
• If a woman is empowered her children and family will be better off.  If families prosper, the village prospers and eventually the whole society.
• Women are 51% of human kind, empowering them will change everything.
• Men run the world and look at the mess we have.  We want a world where life is preserved and the quality of life is enriched for everybody, not only the privileged.

The statistics that she shared that she me the most was that for every $1 given to a women's program, $20 are given to men's programs.  Allende calls attention to a pressing need for change in our society and our world.  

For real change, we need feminine energy.