- Published on
Ruth
I met Ruth exactly two years ago today
Give or take a few days
We were in New York before camp
Visiting Aaron’s family.
As a couple, we were still kind of new then -
Even though we’d been together for a
year
Most of it had been long distance -
Everyone met at Jake and Ruth’s
apartment
Pictures of times gone by
Baby Aaron. Baby cousins. Weddings and celebrations and friends and lives lived
Richly.
And then we went out to dinner somewhere uptown
Most of the family gathered, a few key branches were not in the city
I was excited because the Tony Awards were uptown that year
And we could see the barricades and television
trucks setting up from the restaurant
Ruth was already elderly
Already in the late stages of alzheimer’s
But she smiled the whole evening
Seemed happy to see her family gathered
Jake hardly said a word
But I knew I’d been accepted when, towards the end of the meal
He ate food right off my plate
And two years later
Aaron and I are married
And on the way to living in New York
We’re still new in a way
But together forever now
We were on our way to Richmond
When we received the sad news
That Ruth had passed away
We drove to New York
Exhausted from twelve days on the road
And were greeted by the family
My first full family dinner
With my American family
The thrill of everyone being together
Tempered by the fact that the
Matriarch was missing
A joyful meal in her memory
Lobster and plates upon plates of Chinese dishes
from Chinatown
And today, the funeral
We drove to Dobbs Ferry
Saw Ruth’s body dressed in a white shroud,
Resting in a plain wooden coffin
She looked peaceful, just sleeping.
Family and friends gathered
Stories shared
Tears and tissues
The laughter of shared stories remembered
A kind and loving matriarch
A teacher who worked professionally before children
and marriage
A wonderful cook
A beloved friend
A gutsy socialist who believed in better for all
The funeral procession up to the cemetery
The coffin lowered into the earth
The Rabbi (female) leading the kaddish
Religious tradition providing a framework
Comforting custom
Helping to bury the dead
Ruth's final resting place
Overlooking a valley of trees
One of the most beautiful I've seen
In the afternoon
More eating, of course
I sat next to Jake, who ate right off my plate
The family gathered in celebration of their mom
And grandmother
I didn’t get to know Ruth during her life
But today I feel like I have a better sense of who she is
Who she was
My place in this as her grandson’s wife
The changing of the guard
Picking up where she left off
Carrying on her legacy
Education and travel and experience
A love of food, a love of people, a love of life
I grew up a world away
And yet, I feel at home with this family
Sitting with them in their grief
And memories
And love
Give or take a few days
We were in New York before camp
Visiting Aaron’s family.
As a couple, we were still kind of new then -
Even though we’d been together for a
year
Most of it had been long distance -
Everyone met at Jake and Ruth’s
apartment
Pictures of times gone by
Baby Aaron. Baby cousins. Weddings and celebrations and friends and lives lived
Richly.
And then we went out to dinner somewhere uptown
Most of the family gathered, a few key branches were not in the city
I was excited because the Tony Awards were uptown that year
And we could see the barricades and television
trucks setting up from the restaurant
Ruth was already elderly
Already in the late stages of alzheimer’s
But she smiled the whole evening
Seemed happy to see her family gathered
Jake hardly said a word
But I knew I’d been accepted when, towards the end of the meal
He ate food right off my plate
And two years later
Aaron and I are married
And on the way to living in New York
We’re still new in a way
But together forever now
We were on our way to Richmond
When we received the sad news
That Ruth had passed away
We drove to New York
Exhausted from twelve days on the road
And were greeted by the family
My first full family dinner
With my American family
The thrill of everyone being together
Tempered by the fact that the
Matriarch was missing
A joyful meal in her memory
Lobster and plates upon plates of Chinese dishes
from Chinatown
And today, the funeral
We drove to Dobbs Ferry
Saw Ruth’s body dressed in a white shroud,
Resting in a plain wooden coffin
She looked peaceful, just sleeping.
Family and friends gathered
Stories shared
Tears and tissues
The laughter of shared stories remembered
A kind and loving matriarch
A teacher who worked professionally before children
and marriage
A wonderful cook
A beloved friend
A gutsy socialist who believed in better for all
The funeral procession up to the cemetery
The coffin lowered into the earth
The Rabbi (female) leading the kaddish
Religious tradition providing a framework
Comforting custom
Helping to bury the dead
Ruth's final resting place
Overlooking a valley of trees
One of the most beautiful I've seen
In the afternoon
More eating, of course
I sat next to Jake, who ate right off my plate
The family gathered in celebration of their mom
And grandmother
I didn’t get to know Ruth during her life
But today I feel like I have a better sense of who she is
Who she was
My place in this as her grandson’s wife
The changing of the guard
Picking up where she left off
Carrying on her legacy
Education and travel and experience
A love of food, a love of people, a love of life
I grew up a world away
And yet, I feel at home with this family
Sitting with them in their grief
And memories
And love
- Published on
One day the wind changes
And a new nanny blows in from the north
A young lady who is on her own journey
But your four-year-old self has no concept of any of that
She is a magical lovely being
With bright curly hair
And a big smile
She makes everything fun
Your very own Mary Poppins
She is even English!
And she becomes a part of your life. Your family. Your
world.
Eventually, the wind changes
As it must and always will
And your very own Mary Poppins
Heads off again for more adventures of her own
Over the years you all keep in touch
Until it grows sporadic
Life just happens
You go to school
Parents separate
You go to high school and university
And travel
And write
And everybody goes about their days filled with breakfasts, and lunches, and
dinners
And the small things we don’t think about
That mark and pass each day
Until over twenty years have passed
And you’re a year off from thirty
And out of the blue
Your very own Mary Poppins writes to you through your
website
And you discover she lives in Chicago!
You plan to meet up.
You’re nervous. Why?!
It has been close to twenty-five years since you’ve seen each
other!
And you see her, and she’s still your nanny
She’s still magical and lovely
Still has the great big smile, though all her curls are gone
And she has children of her own
(The same age you were once upon a time!)
And even though all this time has passed
Even though all these lives have been lived in the intervening
time
It’s just like being with family, with a very close aunt or big
sister
She asks if you could stay in Chicago and become her
nanny!
You wish you could. You really do.
You never want to leave!
But the wind has changed
And you’re headed off for adventures of your own
You give her a hug
And promise to return
That night, your heart is so full
You can’t even sleep.
It’s not memories, or even topics of conversation,
It’s this sense
That you’ve rediscovered who you are
Where you came from
And who was there
Who made you who you are
And that time and space
Can never separate kindred spirits
People who are supposed to be in our lives
And make it better
The end.
And a new nanny blows in from the north
A young lady who is on her own journey
But your four-year-old self has no concept of any of that
She is a magical lovely being
With bright curly hair
And a big smile
She makes everything fun
Your very own Mary Poppins
She is even English!
And she becomes a part of your life. Your family. Your
world.
Eventually, the wind changes
As it must and always will
And your very own Mary Poppins
Heads off again for more adventures of her own
Over the years you all keep in touch
Until it grows sporadic
Life just happens
You go to school
Parents separate
You go to high school and university
And travel
And write
And everybody goes about their days filled with breakfasts, and lunches, and
dinners
And the small things we don’t think about
That mark and pass each day
Until over twenty years have passed
And you’re a year off from thirty
And out of the blue
Your very own Mary Poppins writes to you through your
website
And you discover she lives in Chicago!
You plan to meet up.
You’re nervous. Why?!
It has been close to twenty-five years since you’ve seen each
other!
And you see her, and she’s still your nanny
She’s still magical and lovely
Still has the great big smile, though all her curls are gone
And she has children of her own
(The same age you were once upon a time!)
And even though all this time has passed
Even though all these lives have been lived in the intervening
time
It’s just like being with family, with a very close aunt or big
sister
She asks if you could stay in Chicago and become her
nanny!
You wish you could. You really do.
You never want to leave!
But the wind has changed
And you’re headed off for adventures of your own
You give her a hug
And promise to return
That night, your heart is so full
You can’t even sleep.
It’s not memories, or even topics of conversation,
It’s this sense
That you’ve rediscovered who you are
Where you came from
And who was there
Who made you who you are
And that time and space
Can never separate kindred spirits
People who are supposed to be in our lives
And make it better
The end.
- Published on
Come hither Lego.
Warning: The below contains spoilers. All pictures in this post from here.
The Lego Movie is fun, clever, and visually spectacular. It’s one major flaw is its failure to adequately represent, or include, women in its story-telling.
You Can Build It!
In a world whose premise is you can build anything if you only have the imagination, it seems we still can’t build gender equality.
It’s just a movie! Why should we care? Because it has raked in $425 million worldwide, and in the US was the number one film at the box office for three weeks after its initial release, and third in its fourth week. Because media influences both the way we perceive ourselves, and the way in which we frame our world. It is not the be all and end all. Education, family, and a variety of other factors will also come into play. But we cannot deny that media plays an enormous role.
The Lego Movie fails the most basic test of females on screen, the Bechdel test (two or more named female characters, who talk to each other, about something other than a man). While there are more than two named female characters, they never engage with each other (unless the two sentence throw-away lines between WyldStyle and Princess UniKitty constitutes a “conversation”).
The women in the film are representations of outdated stereotypes of women. The Rebel. The Mother. The Perky One. The Demon. The film establishes very quickly that the idea of Lego is play and imagination. In a world where absolutely anything can be built, created, or established, why are women still relegated to these few (tired) roles? Where are the space women? The inventors? Explorers? Sage women? The female heroes who actually get to save the day?
The Lego Movie is fun, clever, and visually spectacular. It’s one major flaw is its failure to adequately represent, or include, women in its story-telling.
You Can Build It!
In a world whose premise is you can build anything if you only have the imagination, it seems we still can’t build gender equality.
It’s just a movie! Why should we care? Because it has raked in $425 million worldwide, and in the US was the number one film at the box office for three weeks after its initial release, and third in its fourth week. Because media influences both the way we perceive ourselves, and the way in which we frame our world. It is not the be all and end all. Education, family, and a variety of other factors will also come into play. But we cannot deny that media plays an enormous role.
The Lego Movie fails the most basic test of females on screen, the Bechdel test (two or more named female characters, who talk to each other, about something other than a man). While there are more than two named female characters, they never engage with each other (unless the two sentence throw-away lines between WyldStyle and Princess UniKitty constitutes a “conversation”).
The women in the film are representations of outdated stereotypes of women. The Rebel. The Mother. The Perky One. The Demon. The film establishes very quickly that the idea of Lego is play and imagination. In a world where absolutely anything can be built, created, or established, why are women still relegated to these few (tired) roles? Where are the space women? The inventors? Explorers? Sage women? The female heroes who actually get to save the day?
women: demonic robots or cat ladies
Women in the World
The four main worlds, Bricksburg, the Wild West, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and the Octan Corporation, of The Lego Movie did portray some women, but women still fail to make up half the population. In the Bricksburg community, just one female is named, Mrs Scratchen-Post. Her defining feature is her parade of cats, because older women without husbands around are OBVIOUSLY cat ladies! At the construction site, we hear many female voices (progression!), however only one is named, Gail the Construction Worker. Her defining feature is that she is “perky”. In the Wild West, females are heard, but not entirely visible. Denzil over at Medium states in her post that women were visible as performers or barmaids, but I missed that entirely. If this is the case, women exist in this world for the benefit of men to watch, or to serve them. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Council of Master Builders is inhabited by a crowd of mostly men, and a grand total of three women - Wonder Woman, Princess Unikitty, and WyldStyle. One of these women is not human, but a unicorn/kitten, one is scantily clad and only around for comedic value (invisible space ship! LOLZ!). Women can become leaders, but their presence is the exception, rather than the rule, or even close to standard. Over at the Octan Corporation, the females are represented by the company computer, and Ma, BadCop/GoodCop’s suffering mother. In this evil-looking dark world, women are either subservient, or mothers. Women in leadership positions?! Forget about it.
In the brief portrayal of the human world, women are off-screen voices, a mother and sister whose sole purpose is stop/destroy the fun of the boy’s playful and imaginative world.
The four main worlds, Bricksburg, the Wild West, Cloud Cuckoo Land, and the Octan Corporation, of The Lego Movie did portray some women, but women still fail to make up half the population. In the Bricksburg community, just one female is named, Mrs Scratchen-Post. Her defining feature is her parade of cats, because older women without husbands around are OBVIOUSLY cat ladies! At the construction site, we hear many female voices (progression!), however only one is named, Gail the Construction Worker. Her defining feature is that she is “perky”. In the Wild West, females are heard, but not entirely visible. Denzil over at Medium states in her post that women were visible as performers or barmaids, but I missed that entirely. If this is the case, women exist in this world for the benefit of men to watch, or to serve them. In Cloud Cuckoo Land, the Council of Master Builders is inhabited by a crowd of mostly men, and a grand total of three women - Wonder Woman, Princess Unikitty, and WyldStyle. One of these women is not human, but a unicorn/kitten, one is scantily clad and only around for comedic value (invisible space ship! LOLZ!). Women can become leaders, but their presence is the exception, rather than the rule, or even close to standard. Over at the Octan Corporation, the females are represented by the company computer, and Ma, BadCop/GoodCop’s suffering mother. In this evil-looking dark world, women are either subservient, or mothers. Women in leadership positions?! Forget about it.
In the brief portrayal of the human world, women are off-screen voices, a mother and sister whose sole purpose is stop/destroy the fun of the boy’s playful and imaginative world.
Leading ladies are SEXY!
Leading Ladies
The film boasts two central female characters. Princess UniKitty and WyldStyle. Women have two options here: fluffy sparkle rainbow girl, or punk-goth-angsty girl. The range of role models is overwhelming. We’re being generous if we throw in Wonder Woman, the busty, scantily clad, though mostly silent and absent in this film, cameo. Beyond two throwaway sentences, the women never interact. Princess Unikitty comes from the land of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. She is always positive, and when she’s not, she’s fierce and angry. Women can only have two sides: outrageously happy, or a demon.
We learn very quickly that WyldStyle is highly skilled and talented - she initially finds the Piece of Resistance, and rescues the protagonist, Emmett, in a daring and exciting high speed chase. Unfortunately, her skill and bravado ends there. Emmett’s only sees her as “beautiful” - face radiantly lit, hair swirling round her perfect yellow lego head, so beautiful that he cannot even focus on her words. The film reinforces the idea that woman can only be pretty, and it’s ok if a man doesn’t engage with her actual thoughts and words. Once in the Wild West, in order to “blend in”, WyldStyle changes into a busty costume, despite the fact that no other females are dressed in this way. Again, women can only be busty, pretty, and overtly sexualized, even when there is zero need for them to be do.
The animators/story-tellers use these tropes so that audiences (at least adult ones) understand that this is itself a joke, set-up as tongue in cheek, but we never get to see any other side of WyldStyle. She is never given an authoritative voice. That privilege is given to Vitruvius, old man lego, (although voiced by Morgan Freeman, Vitruvius is a yellow/white lego. The presence of one or two black-skinned legos suggests the yellow “regular” legos are representative of caucasion people. Why can’t Vitruvius be black? Because in our world, ultimate status is given to old white men, reinforced in the film by the presence of Dumbledore, Shakespeare, and Gandalf. Which leads to another important question, where are the women of color in the Lego world?).
We discover that WyldStyle has undergone a series of name changes in order to “find” her current persona. The name WyldStyle in itself refers to the fact that she is not a regular female. By dressing in black, dying her hair, and being a rare female master builder, she is not a regular female, she is “wild”, and untamed. WyldStyle only becomes happy with her “real” name, Lucy, and “true self” (which apparently means no longer being an action hero) when a man tells her he likes it. In the end, despite establishing that Lucy and Batman genuinely care for each other, Lucy gives up gives up her love for the “flawed” Batman in order to be with Emmett, the “hero” of the film. Again we see the tired trope of women as objects, in this case a trophy that the male protagonist wins by saving the world. Although established as an exciting, gutsy, and capable women, WyldStyle becomes the object of Emmett’s affections (not for her skill, but her beauty), and once Batman arrives on the scene, fails to offer leadership, new ideas, or anything of substance. Girls can be independent, but once a boy arrives on the scene, their job is to look pretty. The end.
The film boasts two central female characters. Princess UniKitty and WyldStyle. Women have two options here: fluffy sparkle rainbow girl, or punk-goth-angsty girl. The range of role models is overwhelming. We’re being generous if we throw in Wonder Woman, the busty, scantily clad, though mostly silent and absent in this film, cameo. Beyond two throwaway sentences, the women never interact. Princess Unikitty comes from the land of sunshine, lollipops, and rainbows. She is always positive, and when she’s not, she’s fierce and angry. Women can only have two sides: outrageously happy, or a demon.
We learn very quickly that WyldStyle is highly skilled and talented - she initially finds the Piece of Resistance, and rescues the protagonist, Emmett, in a daring and exciting high speed chase. Unfortunately, her skill and bravado ends there. Emmett’s only sees her as “beautiful” - face radiantly lit, hair swirling round her perfect yellow lego head, so beautiful that he cannot even focus on her words. The film reinforces the idea that woman can only be pretty, and it’s ok if a man doesn’t engage with her actual thoughts and words. Once in the Wild West, in order to “blend in”, WyldStyle changes into a busty costume, despite the fact that no other females are dressed in this way. Again, women can only be busty, pretty, and overtly sexualized, even when there is zero need for them to be do.
The animators/story-tellers use these tropes so that audiences (at least adult ones) understand that this is itself a joke, set-up as tongue in cheek, but we never get to see any other side of WyldStyle. She is never given an authoritative voice. That privilege is given to Vitruvius, old man lego, (although voiced by Morgan Freeman, Vitruvius is a yellow/white lego. The presence of one or two black-skinned legos suggests the yellow “regular” legos are representative of caucasion people. Why can’t Vitruvius be black? Because in our world, ultimate status is given to old white men, reinforced in the film by the presence of Dumbledore, Shakespeare, and Gandalf. Which leads to another important question, where are the women of color in the Lego world?).
We discover that WyldStyle has undergone a series of name changes in order to “find” her current persona. The name WyldStyle in itself refers to the fact that she is not a regular female. By dressing in black, dying her hair, and being a rare female master builder, she is not a regular female, she is “wild”, and untamed. WyldStyle only becomes happy with her “real” name, Lucy, and “true self” (which apparently means no longer being an action hero) when a man tells her he likes it. In the end, despite establishing that Lucy and Batman genuinely care for each other, Lucy gives up gives up her love for the “flawed” Batman in order to be with Emmett, the “hero” of the film. Again we see the tired trope of women as objects, in this case a trophy that the male protagonist wins by saving the world. Although established as an exciting, gutsy, and capable women, WyldStyle becomes the object of Emmett’s affections (not for her skill, but her beauty), and once Batman arrives on the scene, fails to offer leadership, new ideas, or anything of substance. Girls can be independent, but once a boy arrives on the scene, their job is to look pretty. The end.
Gail: building progress!
Gail: Building Progress! The Lego Movie 2: Let's Try Again
Women in the Lego world? Cat ladies, mothers, construction workers (only if you’re perky), girlfriends, perky v. demon, rainbow v. goth, and subservient. Not very imaginative. A sequel is already in the works. I only hope that the writers and story-tellers get the Bechdel Test memo and a crash course in feminism 101 before they start writing. In a world where anything is possible, I hope they can start imagining and building lands where women and men play equal roles, or at least where there are more than two female women, who speak to each other at length, about something other than a man.
I believe you can build it, all you need is the imagination.
Women in the Lego world? Cat ladies, mothers, construction workers (only if you’re perky), girlfriends, perky v. demon, rainbow v. goth, and subservient. Not very imaginative. A sequel is already in the works. I only hope that the writers and story-tellers get the Bechdel Test memo and a crash course in feminism 101 before they start writing. In a world where anything is possible, I hope they can start imagining and building lands where women and men play equal roles, or at least where there are more than two female women, who speak to each other at length, about something other than a man.
I believe you can build it, all you need is the imagination.
- Published on
In response to my request to
Veet
Asking them to remove their ads
Purporting that hairiness will turn a woman into a man
My friend wrote about
“The poor girl
With the hair on her upper lip”
Poor
As in tragic, bad, ugly
Because she was born into a society
That deems body hair
On women
Ugly, unwanted, uncool
Unfeminine
I read a book as a child
The story of a baby
From the baby’s perspective
Where
Daddy = hairy
Mummy = smooth
And I thought
Well, I’ll never be a mother
At least not the quintessential one
Because I’m not smooth
I am hairy
And I grew up in a family
Where that was a bad thing
Hair = Ugly
And must be shaved off
Gotten rid of
My body was a place of shame and disgust
This notion reinforced by
Magazines, films, music videos where
Women did not have hair
And those who did
Were Unattractive
Or Hippies or Deviants and Therefore
Socially. Unacceptable.
And for someone who is
Naturally hairy
That is utterly, utterly crushing
It made me nervous to go swimming
Terrified to wear a bikini
“But you’re so skinny! Show off your body!”
I could never say why I was afraid
Being hairy was less than womanly, less than feminine
Less than human
We live in a world
Where there exists a
Multi-billion dollar industry
For the removal of hair
Waxes, razors, lazers
Bleaches
Lotions, creams, gels
Epilators, tweezers
And sprays
To serve the purpose of
“Looking Good”
There was a magazine
In the University Women’s Room
(A safe space for women)
That someone had defaced
By drawing hair on the models
Adding in eyebrow hairs
Underarm hairs
And sprouting pubic hairs
And I thought it was shocking
That someone would do that
Hair was Ugly. Inappropriate.
Distressing.
Let me say this
Because no one ever said it to me
In varying degrees of
Darkness, thickness, and density
Women. Have. Hair.
On our heads
On our legs, on our arms
On our hands
On our knuckles
On our feet
On our bellies
On our lower backs
On our nipples
On our pubic bone
In our underarms
On our upper lips
Sometimes even from the chin
And cheeks.
Women. Have. Hair.
It is not ugly.
It is convention, history, and the desire to control women’s bodies
And what happens in them and on them
That states that hair on women, in particular places, is ugly.
Hairiness does not make you less attractive
Hairiness does not make you a failure at life
Hairiness does not denote how feminine or masculine you are
It exists.
And it is a Woman’s. Personal. Choice.
Whether she wants to get rid of it or not.
Stubble on her legs
Does not make her manly.
Hair on her upper lip
Does not make her ugly, unfeminine, or unworthy
If your judgements on a human being
Go no further than the presence of hair
I ask you to please
Re-assess.
The world is full of far more important things
Worth pulling your hair out for
The end.
For an amazing story about dealing with hair, go here.
Veet
Asking them to remove their ads
Purporting that hairiness will turn a woman into a man
My friend wrote about
“The poor girl
With the hair on her upper lip”
Poor
As in tragic, bad, ugly
Because she was born into a society
That deems body hair
On women
Ugly, unwanted, uncool
Unfeminine
I read a book as a child
The story of a baby
From the baby’s perspective
Where
Daddy = hairy
Mummy = smooth
And I thought
Well, I’ll never be a mother
At least not the quintessential one
Because I’m not smooth
I am hairy
And I grew up in a family
Where that was a bad thing
Hair = Ugly
And must be shaved off
Gotten rid of
My body was a place of shame and disgust
This notion reinforced by
Magazines, films, music videos where
Women did not have hair
And those who did
Were Unattractive
Or Hippies or Deviants and Therefore
Socially. Unacceptable.
And for someone who is
Naturally hairy
That is utterly, utterly crushing
It made me nervous to go swimming
Terrified to wear a bikini
“But you’re so skinny! Show off your body!”
I could never say why I was afraid
Being hairy was less than womanly, less than feminine
Less than human
We live in a world
Where there exists a
Multi-billion dollar industry
For the removal of hair
Waxes, razors, lazers
Bleaches
Lotions, creams, gels
Epilators, tweezers
And sprays
To serve the purpose of
“Looking Good”
There was a magazine
In the University Women’s Room
(A safe space for women)
That someone had defaced
By drawing hair on the models
Adding in eyebrow hairs
Underarm hairs
And sprouting pubic hairs
And I thought it was shocking
That someone would do that
Hair was Ugly. Inappropriate.
Distressing.
Let me say this
Because no one ever said it to me
In varying degrees of
Darkness, thickness, and density
Women. Have. Hair.
On our heads
On our legs, on our arms
On our hands
On our knuckles
On our feet
On our bellies
On our lower backs
On our nipples
On our pubic bone
In our underarms
On our upper lips
Sometimes even from the chin
And cheeks.
Women. Have. Hair.
It is not ugly.
It is convention, history, and the desire to control women’s bodies
And what happens in them and on them
That states that hair on women, in particular places, is ugly.
Hairiness does not make you less attractive
Hairiness does not make you a failure at life
Hairiness does not denote how feminine or masculine you are
It exists.
And it is a Woman’s. Personal. Choice.
Whether she wants to get rid of it or not.
Stubble on her legs
Does not make her manly.
Hair on her upper lip
Does not make her ugly, unfeminine, or unworthy
If your judgements on a human being
Go no further than the presence of hair
I ask you to please
Re-assess.
The world is full of far more important things
Worth pulling your hair out for
The end.
For an amazing story about dealing with hair, go here.
- Published on
image from Billboard
Singing musical theatre
Is hard work
You are required to
Sing, act, and sometimes dance
All at the same time!
Belting
Sometimes referred to as
Controlled screaming
Requires technique.
Training. Breath.
Control of vocal chords
The diaphragm.
Being able to access
Every single body muscle
Whilst singing about
Love, loss, and dreams.
Movie musicals
Along with the Patti’s and Kristen’s and Bernadette’s
Have made it look effortless
And that’s the performer’s job
Right?
To make it look easy.
But the ease
Belies the effort it takes
To be. That. Good.
There is a theory
That belting changed
For women
With Lloyd-Webber’s
Evita
Before Evita, women were usually belting up to B’s and C’s
Think Don’t Rain on My Parade or Rose’s Turn or On My Own
Yes, the women could/can sing higher
But the money note sat right in a woman’s chest voice
Noboooody is gonna raaaaaaaain....
Etc.
Then Evita
And Patti. With a belt range from here to eternity
And the game changed.
Belts were written and sung up to E’s
Which sit higher in the voice
And now we have our Defying Gravity’s and Surabaya Santa’s and
Let It Go’s
And in the words of Jason Robert Brown,
Girls
Belting as hiiiiigh as they can.
Bette, Pink, and Idina
All performed iconic songs
At the Oscars last night
And in varying degrees,
Nailed it, hit it out of the ball park,
Or weren’t quite there.
Pink’s performance
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The slightly husky voice
Capable of deliciously pleasing
Vocal gymnastics
The end of the first section
“Somewhere beyond the raaaain”
Rain, hitting the traditional money note
Bb
Satisfying to the ear
(And mighty satisfying to sing)
The chorus, one of the most well-known refrains,
Somewhere over the rainbow
Needs to be seamless
Smooth
The octave jump between
Some and where
One of those phrases that sounds easy
But try singing it
Without sliding
Keeping the where light
Remembering you’re singing about
Rainbows and dreams and lullabies...
Pop singing is less precise
Allows for riffing
And sliding between notes
And showing off.
Pop is about sound.
Musical theatre is about story-telling.
Pink sang
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up (breath) where the clouds are far
Be (breath) hiiiind me.
Twitter was ablaze
PHRASING!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
MUSICAL THEATRE 101!
DON’T BREATHE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORD!
And I’m certain no self-respecting music director
Conducting one of the most iconic songs of the
Twentieth century
Would have gone through rehearsal and said
“Those breaths in the middle are totally cool.
Good job”.
The song ended on a satisfying
Ab
Rich, resonant
The chords underneath creating movement
Resolve.
A lovely performance, but too breathy
For musical theatre. Even a pop rendition of musical theatre.
Perhaps it was nerves
Perhaps it was the
“Oh-god-I’m-singing-THE-song-at-the-OSCARS-in-front-of-LIZA-FREAKING-MINELLI” adrenalin
Sometimes nerves just grab you by the throat
And no amount of rehearsal
Meditation
“I’ve got this” vibes
Will be controlled
Once you’re on that stage
There is no going back
The show must go on.
Then the In Memoriam
Wind Beneath My Wings and
Bette. Oh Bette.
How to sing musical theatre 101.
She walks out, cool as a cucumber
Takes her place
And starts singing.
Her face radiates calm
She is in control
She is telling a story -
Dear friends who have departed
I am singing this for you.
A quick sneaky little mid-phrase breath -
You always walked a step (breath) behind -
But her face remains calm
It’s about the song. Not about her singing the song.
She connects with the audience
She connects with the words, the text,
Thank god for you
Vocally
She sang the song in a lower key
From the original
Riffed down rather than up
Never belted higher than a B
Came straight off the top notes
But it was all about connection
Control, calm and
Breath
Finally, THE. BIG. NUMBER.
The most written about
Played, covered, and parodied
Record-breaking Disney tune
Since Part of Your World,
Let It Go
Sung by Adela Mazim. Oh Revolta.
The musical theatre community may never forgive you...
(I’ve done it myself. Fraught with nerves
In a presentation
I kept referring to my co-presenter, and good friend,
As Ethey, instead of Ethel
I didn’t even realize what I’d been saying until afterwards
When everyone asked
WTF?!
It’s mortifying)
So Idina.
The beltress who is
Maureen. Elphaba. Queen Elsa
Emerged amidst
Sparkling Swarovski crystals
She looked tense
You could almost read her inner monologue
Stay connected. BREATHE. I. Got. This.
And it made us nervous to watch
Oh god, she’s gonna crack...
But the notes kept coming
Clear and strong
And while it’s a song she has sung
Many times over
Unlike Bette, it’s not standard repertoire, yet.
She’s not had years to perfect the performance of it
It wasn’t about story-telling
Or being an ice queen liberated from the strictures of a patriarchal society.
It was about BIG NOTES.
AND BELTING.
You could see the relief in her eyes
Every time she nailed a big note
It’s an awesome song
It speaks to us
It’s empowering
It’s gutsy,
It builds and swells,
And right to the last phrase,
I held my breath...
She might actually nail it?!
Let the storm rage....
That last money note,
A bitch of an Eb
OOOOOON...
Her voice cracked.
Dammit!
Too forcefully hit
Too much tension.
I pity the woman
Who’ll play Elsa on Broadway.
Eight times a week of
Let It Go is going to wreak some sort of damage.
In one night
Pink, Idina, and Bette, showed us that
Belting is hard work.
Even for highly regarded
Pop stars and Broadway veterans known
For their belting prowess
(Except for Patti. Nothing seems hard for Patti. Watch this and you’ll understand what I mean).
Somewhere beyond the excitement
Of the big belt
Perhaps we need to return
To story-telling
Where the music serves the story
Rather than “controlled screams”
Of terrifying heights
Dominating our minds and vocal chords
And for the belt
Learn to
Let it go
Read about Idina Menzel's completely different performance the next day!
Is hard work
You are required to
Sing, act, and sometimes dance
All at the same time!
Belting
Sometimes referred to as
Controlled screaming
Requires technique.
Training. Breath.
Control of vocal chords
The diaphragm.
Being able to access
Every single body muscle
Whilst singing about
Love, loss, and dreams.
Movie musicals
Along with the Patti’s and Kristen’s and Bernadette’s
Have made it look effortless
And that’s the performer’s job
Right?
To make it look easy.
But the ease
Belies the effort it takes
To be. That. Good.
There is a theory
That belting changed
For women
With Lloyd-Webber’s
Evita
Before Evita, women were usually belting up to B’s and C’s
Think Don’t Rain on My Parade or Rose’s Turn or On My Own
Yes, the women could/can sing higher
But the money note sat right in a woman’s chest voice
Noboooody is gonna raaaaaaaain....
Etc.
Then Evita
And Patti. With a belt range from here to eternity
And the game changed.
Belts were written and sung up to E’s
Which sit higher in the voice
And now we have our Defying Gravity’s and Surabaya Santa’s and
Let It Go’s
And in the words of Jason Robert Brown,
Girls
Belting as hiiiiigh as they can.
Bette, Pink, and Idina
All performed iconic songs
At the Oscars last night
And in varying degrees,
Nailed it, hit it out of the ball park,
Or weren’t quite there.
Pink’s performance
Somewhere Over the Rainbow
The slightly husky voice
Capable of deliciously pleasing
Vocal gymnastics
The end of the first section
“Somewhere beyond the raaaain”
Rain, hitting the traditional money note
Bb
Satisfying to the ear
(And mighty satisfying to sing)
The chorus, one of the most well-known refrains,
Somewhere over the rainbow
Needs to be seamless
Smooth
The octave jump between
Some and where
One of those phrases that sounds easy
But try singing it
Without sliding
Keeping the where light
Remembering you’re singing about
Rainbows and dreams and lullabies...
Pop singing is less precise
Allows for riffing
And sliding between notes
And showing off.
Pop is about sound.
Musical theatre is about story-telling.
Pink sang
Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up (breath) where the clouds are far
Be (breath) hiiiind me.
Twitter was ablaze
PHRASING!!!! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!
MUSICAL THEATRE 101!
DON’T BREATHE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORD!
And I’m certain no self-respecting music director
Conducting one of the most iconic songs of the
Twentieth century
Would have gone through rehearsal and said
“Those breaths in the middle are totally cool.
Good job”.
The song ended on a satisfying
Ab
Rich, resonant
The chords underneath creating movement
Resolve.
A lovely performance, but too breathy
For musical theatre. Even a pop rendition of musical theatre.
Perhaps it was nerves
Perhaps it was the
“Oh-god-I’m-singing-THE-song-at-the-OSCARS-in-front-of-LIZA-FREAKING-MINELLI” adrenalin
Sometimes nerves just grab you by the throat
And no amount of rehearsal
Meditation
“I’ve got this” vibes
Will be controlled
Once you’re on that stage
There is no going back
The show must go on.
Then the In Memoriam
Wind Beneath My Wings and
Bette. Oh Bette.
How to sing musical theatre 101.
She walks out, cool as a cucumber
Takes her place
And starts singing.
Her face radiates calm
She is in control
She is telling a story -
Dear friends who have departed
I am singing this for you.
A quick sneaky little mid-phrase breath -
You always walked a step (breath) behind -
But her face remains calm
It’s about the song. Not about her singing the song.
She connects with the audience
She connects with the words, the text,
Thank god for you
Vocally
She sang the song in a lower key
From the original
Riffed down rather than up
Never belted higher than a B
Came straight off the top notes
But it was all about connection
Control, calm and
Breath
Finally, THE. BIG. NUMBER.
The most written about
Played, covered, and parodied
Record-breaking Disney tune
Since Part of Your World,
Let It Go
Sung by Adela Mazim. Oh Revolta.
The musical theatre community may never forgive you...
(I’ve done it myself. Fraught with nerves
In a presentation
I kept referring to my co-presenter, and good friend,
As Ethey, instead of Ethel
I didn’t even realize what I’d been saying until afterwards
When everyone asked
WTF?!
It’s mortifying)
So Idina.
The beltress who is
Maureen. Elphaba. Queen Elsa
Emerged amidst
Sparkling Swarovski crystals
She looked tense
You could almost read her inner monologue
Stay connected. BREATHE. I. Got. This.
And it made us nervous to watch
Oh god, she’s gonna crack...
But the notes kept coming
Clear and strong
And while it’s a song she has sung
Many times over
Unlike Bette, it’s not standard repertoire, yet.
She’s not had years to perfect the performance of it
It wasn’t about story-telling
Or being an ice queen liberated from the strictures of a patriarchal society.
It was about BIG NOTES.
AND BELTING.
You could see the relief in her eyes
Every time she nailed a big note
It’s an awesome song
It speaks to us
It’s empowering
It’s gutsy,
It builds and swells,
And right to the last phrase,
I held my breath...
She might actually nail it?!
Let the storm rage....
That last money note,
A bitch of an Eb
OOOOOON...
Her voice cracked.
Dammit!
Too forcefully hit
Too much tension.
I pity the woman
Who’ll play Elsa on Broadway.
Eight times a week of
Let It Go is going to wreak some sort of damage.
In one night
Pink, Idina, and Bette, showed us that
Belting is hard work.
Even for highly regarded
Pop stars and Broadway veterans known
For their belting prowess
(Except for Patti. Nothing seems hard for Patti. Watch this and you’ll understand what I mean).
Somewhere beyond the excitement
Of the big belt
Perhaps we need to return
To story-telling
Where the music serves the story
Rather than “controlled screams”
Of terrifying heights
Dominating our minds and vocal chords
And for the belt
Learn to
Let it go
Read about Idina Menzel's completely different performance the next day!
- Published on
"Stitch 'n bitch"
When a group of people,
Usually women,
Get together
Eat and drink
And knit and sew and
Work on crafty projects
It was lovely to watch
Women working on
Patchwork quilts
And curtains
And bags
Made from pretty fabrics
How delightful to participate
For one afternoon
In this world
Of feeding and project making
The whir and rattle of
Sewing machines
The chatter of women
And new mothers
Their three tiny babies
Hanging out in basinets
Or on blankets on the floor
The eldest of the three
Six months old
Reveling in her newly acquired skill of
Rolling Over
You can almost see joy in her face
When gravity, and a little effort,
Changes her view of the world
Yet understanding with complete clarity
This is not my world
I have no desire to be a mother
To cradle
And rock a little one to sleep
To discuss feeding habits
Or diaper changes
Or what foods to eat to produce more breast milk
Or where to seek useful information
On all of the above
Colouring a mandala
And knowing
All of our stories, choices, and worlds
Are different
And that we all contribute to the vast
Patchwork of life
With our own forms of creation
The end.
When a group of people,
Usually women,
Get together
Eat and drink
And knit and sew and
Work on crafty projects
It was lovely to watch
Women working on
Patchwork quilts
And curtains
And bags
Made from pretty fabrics
How delightful to participate
For one afternoon
In this world
Of feeding and project making
The whir and rattle of
Sewing machines
The chatter of women
And new mothers
Their three tiny babies
Hanging out in basinets
Or on blankets on the floor
The eldest of the three
Six months old
Reveling in her newly acquired skill of
Rolling Over
You can almost see joy in her face
When gravity, and a little effort,
Changes her view of the world
Yet understanding with complete clarity
This is not my world
I have no desire to be a mother
To cradle
And rock a little one to sleep
To discuss feeding habits
Or diaper changes
Or what foods to eat to produce more breast milk
Or where to seek useful information
On all of the above
Colouring a mandala
And knowing
All of our stories, choices, and worlds
Are different
And that we all contribute to the vast
Patchwork of life
With our own forms of creation
The end.
- Published on
One has only to set the date, buy the ticket, and let the earth, sun, and moon make their passages through the sky, until inexorable time carries us with it to the moment of parting. Jill Ker Conway
A book on the shelf
The name, Jill Ker Conway,
Stirs a memory
A historian and writer
Born in Australia
Now living in America
The Road from Coorain
An autobiography
A story of growing up in rural NSW
Barely surviving the drought
Living in Sydney
Post the second world war
The familiar names of
Mosman, Waitara, and Pennant Hills
The relief of reading stories
Of someone
Who never felt at home in Australia
In Sydney
Despite the beaches and bush
The smell of eucalyptus and earth
What it feels to board the plane
To leave
Knowing that Australia will always
Be a part of who you are
But knowing that your life
Exists somewhere over the ocean
Relief and tears
Connection with a woman
Whom, despite an age gap
Of half a century,
Loves history and reading and learning
And discovery
And finds a place
Beyond the continent
Of her birth.
The end.
The name, Jill Ker Conway,
Stirs a memory
A historian and writer
Born in Australia
Now living in America
The Road from Coorain
An autobiography
A story of growing up in rural NSW
Barely surviving the drought
Living in Sydney
Post the second world war
The familiar names of
Mosman, Waitara, and Pennant Hills
The relief of reading stories
Of someone
Who never felt at home in Australia
In Sydney
Despite the beaches and bush
The smell of eucalyptus and earth
What it feels to board the plane
To leave
Knowing that Australia will always
Be a part of who you are
But knowing that your life
Exists somewhere over the ocean
Relief and tears
Connection with a woman
Whom, despite an age gap
Of half a century,
Loves history and reading and learning
And discovery
And finds a place
Beyond the continent
Of her birth.
The end.
- Published on
There is an episode of Friends
The one with the football
Phoebe has no idea
Rachel just can’t play -
“Go long, sweetie”
And Monica is overly competitive
(And neurotic
And crazy
And the macho one next to her brother
Who is an academic and therefore kind of wussy
So they balance each other out)
Tomorrow, in real life,
Is The Big Game.
The most watched
Sporting event
In America,
The Super Bowl.
The focus of the game,
Apart from the advertising,
Will be the men.
In the world of American football
Women
Are the cheerleaders, metaphorical or real
Playing the feminine, on-looking,
Supportive roles
In 2011
The American NFL did open up the game
To women players
In March 2013
The first woman, Lauren Silberman, went to regional try outs.
As of Super Bowl 2014, no woman has been selected for an NFL team.
But there are women football players
Who play
Full contact American football
(And don’t wear bikinis to play)
The Women’s Football Alliance
The Independent Women’s Football League
And Spring Football League
Represent over forty teams
Across America
When the New York Sharks
Professional Women’s Football Team
Appeared on Good Day New York
The male host, in his introduction, quipped
“A women’s football team? Well, I’m skeptical!”
At the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896
Women were not permitted to compete
As it was felt their presence would be
Impractical
Uninteresting
Unaesthetic and
Incorrect
(Though a few women did compete, in
Tennis, golf, croquet, and sailing)
It was not until the 2012 Olympics
In London
That every participating country
Had a female athlete present
Today, in 2014
The Tour de France
Olympic Ski jumping
The Mavericks International Surfing Competition
And 5 set tennis matches at top tournament level
Are closed to women competitors
While major sporting events
Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup, State of Origin, The Ashes
Have women’s teams at amateur, or even professional levels
In their respective sports
The BIG GAME
The highlight of the sporting calendar
Is always the men’s competition.
The press barely reports
Matches, games, and results
Of women’s sporting events
In the USA
In 2009
A twenty year study
Found that 96% of
Sports media coverage
Was devoted to men’s sports
Similar statistics can be found
In Australia
Where in 2010
9% of sports coverage in the news
Was about women’s sport
Or in the UK
Where in 2013
The Guardian newspaper featured just
2.5% of articles about women in sport
So tomorrow is the Big Game
And my (now) home state is playing
But I won’t be watching
I’ll be channeling my
Inner Rachel
Going long
And seeking out the women’s games.
I want to live in a world
Where women matter
Take centre stage
As competitors
Athletes and
Sporting heroes
And are recognised
For their efforts and prowess
And are represented as more than
Unknowing, incompetent, and neurotic.
Women play sport.
Let's support them
As much as we
Cheer on the men.
The end.
The one with the football
Phoebe has no idea
Rachel just can’t play -
“Go long, sweetie”
And Monica is overly competitive
(And neurotic
And crazy
And the macho one next to her brother
Who is an academic and therefore kind of wussy
So they balance each other out)
Tomorrow, in real life,
Is The Big Game.
The most watched
Sporting event
In America,
The Super Bowl.
The focus of the game,
Apart from the advertising,
Will be the men.
In the world of American football
Women
Are the cheerleaders, metaphorical or real
Playing the feminine, on-looking,
Supportive roles
In 2011
The American NFL did open up the game
To women players
In March 2013
The first woman, Lauren Silberman, went to regional try outs.
As of Super Bowl 2014, no woman has been selected for an NFL team.
But there are women football players
Who play
Full contact American football
(And don’t wear bikinis to play)
The Women’s Football Alliance
The Independent Women’s Football League
And Spring Football League
Represent over forty teams
Across America
When the New York Sharks
Professional Women’s Football Team
Appeared on Good Day New York
The male host, in his introduction, quipped
“A women’s football team? Well, I’m skeptical!”
At the first Modern Olympic Games in 1896
Women were not permitted to compete
As it was felt their presence would be
Impractical
Uninteresting
Unaesthetic and
Incorrect
(Though a few women did compete, in
Tennis, golf, croquet, and sailing)
It was not until the 2012 Olympics
In London
That every participating country
Had a female athlete present
Today, in 2014
The Tour de France
Olympic Ski jumping
The Mavericks International Surfing Competition
And 5 set tennis matches at top tournament level
Are closed to women competitors
While major sporting events
Super Bowl, FIFA World Cup, State of Origin, The Ashes
Have women’s teams at amateur, or even professional levels
In their respective sports
The BIG GAME
The highlight of the sporting calendar
Is always the men’s competition.
The press barely reports
Matches, games, and results
Of women’s sporting events
In the USA
In 2009
A twenty year study
Found that 96% of
Sports media coverage
Was devoted to men’s sports
Similar statistics can be found
In Australia
Where in 2010
9% of sports coverage in the news
Was about women’s sport
Or in the UK
Where in 2013
The Guardian newspaper featured just
2.5% of articles about women in sport
So tomorrow is the Big Game
And my (now) home state is playing
But I won’t be watching
I’ll be channeling my
Inner Rachel
Going long
And seeking out the women’s games.
I want to live in a world
Where women matter
Take centre stage
As competitors
Athletes and
Sporting heroes
And are recognised
For their efforts and prowess
And are represented as more than
Unknowing, incompetent, and neurotic.
Women play sport.
Let's support them
As much as we
Cheer on the men.
The end.
- Published on
the power of body language
To get what she wants (travel, experience of another culture),
Ariel must trade in her voice
But, without my voice how can I-
You have your looks!
Your pretty face!
Because a princess from the most powerful, if not only, kingdom under the sea,
Has nothing to communicate with
Beyond BODY LANGUAGE
For as we all know, and has been well documented,
Disney exists to reinforce the patriarchy
And the notion that girls/women are there to be looked at
Not heard
And certainly not to use their skills to expand their horizons
Or fulfill their deepest wishes
Ariel must trade in her voice
But, without my voice how can I-
You have your looks!
Your pretty face!
Because a princess from the most powerful, if not only, kingdom under the sea,
Has nothing to communicate with
Beyond BODY LANGUAGE
For as we all know, and has been well documented,
Disney exists to reinforce the patriarchy
And the notion that girls/women are there to be looked at
Not heard
And certainly not to use their skills to expand their horizons
Or fulfill their deepest wishes
ready to know
Ariel is educated
She is an explorer and hungry for knowledge
I’m ready to know what the people know
She can grasp metaphorical concepts beyond her own experience
What’s a fire, and why does it, what’s the word?
BURN?!
She has a shining shimmering treasure trove,
A complete collection of human paraphernalia
Organized by type
But beyond things, Ariel wants more
Our mermaid heroine has feminist notions of a utopian place/time
Where educated women have freedom
To do as they please, speak out, and move freely
Betcha on land, they understand
Bet they don’t reprimand their daughters!
Bright young women, always swimmin’
Ready to stand
Clearly these notions don’t come from Daddy
Who would rather Ariel find a nice merman
Settle down
And make merbabies
She is an explorer and hungry for knowledge
I’m ready to know what the people know
She can grasp metaphorical concepts beyond her own experience
What’s a fire, and why does it, what’s the word?
BURN?!
She has a shining shimmering treasure trove,
A complete collection of human paraphernalia
Organized by type
But beyond things, Ariel wants more
Our mermaid heroine has feminist notions of a utopian place/time
Where educated women have freedom
To do as they please, speak out, and move freely
Betcha on land, they understand
Bet they don’t reprimand their daughters!
Bright young women, always swimmin’
Ready to stand
Clearly these notions don’t come from Daddy
Who would rather Ariel find a nice merman
Settle down
And make merbabies
sophisticated hand-writing
Ariel signs the scroll in developed cursive handwriting
Suggesting an education beyond kindergarten level
Unlike her father Triton, who only engages with other species through domination,
(His page is a seahorse, his music director is a crab)
Or banishment,
(Ursula. Can’t have educated powerful women floating around the kingdom. Might give young girls ideas.),
Ariel can relate with other species without power struggle.
Her best friend is a fish
Her teacher is a seagull.
We know Ariel has overcome her childhood conditioning of
Other = evil
And if we go beyond the miracle of cross-species communication
(In the magical world of Disney merpeople can communicate with all forms of aquatic life, and with humans;
Everybody conveniently speaks English)
Suggesting an education beyond kindergarten level
Unlike her father Triton, who only engages with other species through domination,
(His page is a seahorse, his music director is a crab)
Or banishment,
(Ursula. Can’t have educated powerful women floating around the kingdom. Might give young girls ideas.),
Ariel can relate with other species without power struggle.
Her best friend is a fish
Her teacher is a seagull.
We know Ariel has overcome her childhood conditioning of
Other = evil
And if we go beyond the miracle of cross-species communication
(In the magical world of Disney merpeople can communicate with all forms of aquatic life, and with humans;
Everybody conveniently speaks English)
now's your moment to use other skills
Why does Ariel not use her many other skills, beyond her body, to communicate?
In all her collection of bottles and human knick knacks
Does she not possess a message in a bottle?
Why doesn’t she write in the sand?
Use seashells to spell out a message?
Use her ability to talk to animals to ask the fireflies to spell it out?
Hi Eric! Remember me? I rescued you!
I’m totes in love with you!
Wanna hang out?
In all her collection of bottles and human knick knacks
Does she not possess a message in a bottle?
Why doesn’t she write in the sand?
Use seashells to spell out a message?
Use her ability to talk to animals to ask the fireflies to spell it out?
Hi Eric! Remember me? I rescued you!
I’m totes in love with you!
Wanna hang out?
disnified role models
Beyond the recent reduction of genuine kick-ass feminist role models
To big-eyes, sparkly dresses, and insane privilege
Give me characters who use their wit
And education
To go out into the world
And use their voice
In whatever way they can
To progress and flourish
And inspire those around them to do the same
Now that is something worth singing about.
The end.
To big-eyes, sparkly dresses, and insane privilege
Give me characters who use their wit
And education
To go out into the world
And use their voice
In whatever way they can
To progress and flourish
And inspire those around them to do the same
Now that is something worth singing about.
The end.
- Published on
Australian champion, Cathy Freeman
Growing up in Australia
Sport was ubiquitous
Sport on television, in the news, in the papers, school sport, weekend sport
Women's teams weren't prominent
Or even there at all
Men in sport was just
Sport
But we had plenty of prominent women
Athletes like Cathy Freeman
Johanna Griggs
Liz Ellis
Louise Sauvage
Nova Peris
Susie Maroney
Susie O’Neal
Zali Steggall
Were in the public eye
As positive role models of their sport
And nation
The Sydney 2000 Olympics torch relay
Blazed into the stadium and
Celebrated a century of women’s participation in the Olympics
Dawn Fraser, Susie Maroney, Betty Cuthbert, Raelene Boyle, Shirley Strickland and
Cathy Freeman
Between them, the winners of 15 gold medals,
Household names admired and loved.
To have women literally carrying the torch
As the pinnacle of the relay
Said to sixteen year old me
Women in sport are important
Women in sport matter
But I have come to realise
That while I would like this to be true
At the present moment in time
Women in sport, for the most part,
Are second class citizens
Still viewed as inferior
Not worth funding, promotion, or care
It wasn’t until 2012
That every participating country
Had at least one female athlete present
At the Olympic Games
That was last year. Not last century.
And even then,
The Australian women’s basketball team,
Winners of three silver medals over three Olympic Games,
Flew Economy Class to London
While their male counterparts,
Winners of zero medals over three Olympic Games,
Flew Business.
They weren't alone. The same treatment was accorded to the
Japanese women's soccer team.
Women around the world still require permission to participate
As athletes
The Super Bowl, World Cup, Grand Prix, Tour de France
All bar women from participating in the main sporting event
As competitors
Today, in the 21st century
Women’s sports are rarely written about
And when they are
The players are referred to as
"The Girls"
The coverage shows women uncovered
Because “sporty women”
Can still be “sexy women”
Look at your television
Look at your newspaper
How many women’s sports teams
Are represented?
The statistics are abysmal
ESPN has launched a dedicated women's channel
And held a summit
A UK group have launched a new magazine
The UN wrote a report
Grassroots movements are popping up all over the place
Despite fierce resistance
The fact that we need to “raise the profile” of women in sport
In 2013
Underlines the problem
I would love to see a day
When dedicated women's channels
And magazines
Are no longer required
When "sport" is not synonymous with “male” and
Instead means people, of any gender
Being active and competitive
At all levels
From backyard games to professional televised world events
Women and girls play sport
Let’s celebrate their success
In equal measure to the way we celebrate the men's
Let women participate at the top level
In any sport of their choosing
And as participants or spectators
Let us rejoice in the human ability
To move and play and compete
Across the world
The end.
Sport was ubiquitous
Sport on television, in the news, in the papers, school sport, weekend sport
Women's teams weren't prominent
Or even there at all
Men in sport was just
Sport
But we had plenty of prominent women
Athletes like Cathy Freeman
Johanna Griggs
Liz Ellis
Louise Sauvage
Nova Peris
Susie Maroney
Susie O’Neal
Zali Steggall
Were in the public eye
As positive role models of their sport
And nation
The Sydney 2000 Olympics torch relay
Blazed into the stadium and
Celebrated a century of women’s participation in the Olympics
Dawn Fraser, Susie Maroney, Betty Cuthbert, Raelene Boyle, Shirley Strickland and
Cathy Freeman
Between them, the winners of 15 gold medals,
Household names admired and loved.
To have women literally carrying the torch
As the pinnacle of the relay
Said to sixteen year old me
Women in sport are important
Women in sport matter
But I have come to realise
That while I would like this to be true
At the present moment in time
Women in sport, for the most part,
Are second class citizens
Still viewed as inferior
Not worth funding, promotion, or care
It wasn’t until 2012
That every participating country
Had at least one female athlete present
At the Olympic Games
That was last year. Not last century.
And even then,
The Australian women’s basketball team,
Winners of three silver medals over three Olympic Games,
Flew Economy Class to London
While their male counterparts,
Winners of zero medals over three Olympic Games,
Flew Business.
They weren't alone. The same treatment was accorded to the
Japanese women's soccer team.
Women around the world still require permission to participate
As athletes
The Super Bowl, World Cup, Grand Prix, Tour de France
All bar women from participating in the main sporting event
As competitors
Today, in the 21st century
Women’s sports are rarely written about
And when they are
The players are referred to as
"The Girls"
The coverage shows women uncovered
Because “sporty women”
Can still be “sexy women”
Look at your television
Look at your newspaper
How many women’s sports teams
Are represented?
The statistics are abysmal
ESPN has launched a dedicated women's channel
And held a summit
A UK group have launched a new magazine
The UN wrote a report
Grassroots movements are popping up all over the place
Despite fierce resistance
The fact that we need to “raise the profile” of women in sport
In 2013
Underlines the problem
I would love to see a day
When dedicated women's channels
And magazines
Are no longer required
When "sport" is not synonymous with “male” and
Instead means people, of any gender
Being active and competitive
At all levels
From backyard games to professional televised world events
Women and girls play sport
Let’s celebrate their success
In equal measure to the way we celebrate the men's
Let women participate at the top level
In any sport of their choosing
And as participants or spectators
Let us rejoice in the human ability
To move and play and compete
Across the world
The end.