Feminism in the mass media, and thank you BBC!
Hooray! Subi has found enough of a voice to make her video. Go check it out, there’s a bit around the 4min mark that made me punch the air.
If you haven’t watched us on the BBC yet, watch it now!
For non-UK viewers, if you use a proxy service like TunnelBear or ExPatShield that should make the official link watchable, or you can find less legitimate sources if you Google around…
This Dame:
Tumblr: uswhoresdontneedyou.tumblr.com
LAST CHANCE!!! You have until 9pm today to watch our TV appearance on BBC iPlayer.
Non-UK followers if you use a proxy service like tunnelbear or expatshield that should make the official link watchable. Alternatively if you Google around you’ll probably find other places you can watch us too *cough*
Fun fact! I’m locked in my deathtrap house after my keys have gone walkabouts. So, after peeling through the rubbish bin and turning over my entire home to no luck, I thought I’d turn my attention to some of the common accusations/misconceptions that have cropped up on our Twitter and Tumblr feeds since Those Pesky Dames were on the television.
After all, nothing draws out people’s knee jerk prejudices like 140 characters or anonymity and I’m here to hulk smash them a bit.
Accusation #1: ‘I notice that they all have perfect eyebrows’/’Why are they still wearing make up if they are so feminist?’
Ah, the snide remark that echoes loudly whenever a feminist picks up a cupcake recipe book or wears heels. If you deviate from the bra-burning harpie stereotype (which is a myth in itself, by the way) then you must be a hypocrite.
The assumption here is that if we identify as feminist and reject one aspect of femininity then we have to reject them all, otherwise we’re just full of shit, right? Everyone knows that the first step of the feminist induction ceremony is an outright ban on anything considered traditionally feminine. If you’re a feminist then you’ve made your choice and you’re not allowed pretty, shiny girl toys.
Here’s the thing: We’re not playing an all or nothing game here. My body hair is just another choice I make about my appearance. Sometimes I will feel femme, sometimes I’ll get mistaken for Justin Bieber. Sometimes I’ll want to be smothered in make up, others I like to go bare. Red changes to blonde, clothes styles change, body ideals change.
Our external appearances, ultimately, reflect very little about our political outlook, our gender or our sexuality. Yes, chances are you’ll use your body or consumption choices as a poster board for your personality and ideas but really, there’s nothing to stop a woman who doesn’t identify as feminist from growing their natural hair if it’s going to help her overcome hang ups about her body. Growing body hair is considered to be a radical, feminist act but, actually, most of the Dames did it for very personal body confidence reasons, not as a fuck you to the patriarchy. We’re allowed to pick and choose what we do with our bodies and that does not undermine our political message.
#2 ‘Why are they wearing tights if they are so proud?’/’Notice how they hesitated about going swimming, they can’t be that confident’
We never claimed to be the most confident people in the world. Everyone gets insecurities every now and then and our hang ups about going swimming were about things other than our body hair. I’m not a very proficient swimmer and have had bad experiences in pools.
Besides, I hate to burst your bubble but this is TV we’re talking about, we had agreed to go swimming two days before that scene was shot. As for the tights thing, well, it was February. I know my legs can get hairy sometimes but they aren’t sufficient insulation against wind, rain, snow and homes with broken heating.
#3 ‘Hair is unhygienic’/’it’s smelly’
Maybe in the 19th century when people bathed yearly and got body lice and even then it didn’t have much to do with the hair. Your natural body hair will not make you smellier or lessen your standards of hygiene. If you’re that nervous, use deodorant or perfume.
#4 ‘Do they even have boyfriends?’/’Don’t their boyfriends mind?’
1) Don’t assume that I’m straight. 2) Having a boyfriend is not a way of confirming social status or worth, my opinion is still valid when I’m single. 3) Some of us have boyfriends, they don’t mind. 4) Even if they did mind, who gives a shit? It’s my body and I will not, cannot let someone else’s opinion trump my own. I have been there and it’s hell.
#5 ‘I’m a bad feminist’
No, you’re really not. Body hair isn’t automatically a feminist issue. Expectations of beauty and the worth that people disproportionately put on the looks of women is. You’d only be a bad feminist if you were shaming other women for the way they look.
#6 ‘You seem like the coolest bunch of girls- I’d love to be part of your gang’
Be part of our gang! It’s not hard, just comment or make a video or generally be dame-y and awesome!
♥ ~Holly-Rae
Added note from Becca: Holly wrote this a couple of days ago, way before my video going over the same criticisms/questions, but didn’t have time to get it up. I promised I’d post it up for her yesterday but then didn’t manage too ‘cause I’m a bit of an disorganised muppet (sorry Holly!) Just so we’re all clear on that. xxxxx
LOUD NOISES!! Today’s your LAST CHANCE to watch our TV appearance on BBC iPlayer.
Reminder for non-UK followers if you use a proxy service like tunnelbear or expatshield that should make the official link watchable. Alternatively if you Google around you’ll probably find other places you can watch us too *cough*
Oops, in all the excitement over us hitting 1,000 subscribers I forgot to post this week’s TOPIC ANNOUNCEMENT! So let’s do that now…
THIS WEEK: We’ll be talking Feminism in the Media/ZOMG WE WERE ON TELLY!! This will give us a chance to debrief on the whole experience and maybe give you a bit more background to our part in the show.
NEXT WEEK: We’ve pencilled in Reclaiming Words, which could include “feminism is not a dirty word”, “vagina is not a dirty word”, and a probably a few more salty terms too…
THE WEEK AFTER: We’ll be looking at Women in Sport to celebrate the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
And that’s your lot!
A note for our shiny new followers; every week (normally on a Sunday!) we put up a post like this telling you what we’ll be talking about this week, and for the two weeks after. Although our planned topics do sometimes change this gives you a bit of a heads up and provides inspiration to some of our aspiring guest vloggers.
So if you’d like to submit a guest video on any of these topics (or any other topic) please let us know.
We’ve also had quite a few topic suggestions this week, so if there’s anything you’d really like us to talk about let us know that too. - Becca x
[First image is a TV screengrab taken from BBC iPlayer. It shows five women sitting on a sofa with arms up mid-surprise while a sixth woman shows raises her arms to display her armpits.
Second image shows two young white women holding a pair of protest signs in reference to the Michigan House of Representatives banning speakers who used the word “vagina” on the house floor. The first reads “I CUNT believe she said VAGINA!!” and the second reads “TWAT was she thinking?!”. If anyone can give me the original source I’d appreciate it, I found it here on Feministing.
Third image shows a black and white line up of six women of different shapes, sizes and weights wearing swimwear. Underneath each woman is their name, their Olympic sport, their height and their weight. Image originally from Sports Illustrated for Women, taken here from sumptuous.com - why don’t you look like a fitness model?]
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaannnd breathe. Wow. Just. Wow. So the last 24 hours have been a bit interesting. O_O
First of all we should probably say a big hello to all the 200+ new people (and climbing) HELLO! Welcome to Those Pesky Dames! ♥
If you haven’t already make sure you check out our YouTube channel as that’s where it’s all at. We’ve even got a kind of “Intro to Those Pesky Dames” playlist with our first videos and some of our favourites.
However we should also say a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us up to this point. Everyone who watched our videos and subscribed, and commented, and shared and engaged with the topics. There’s no way we’d have gotten onto BBC Three without you! ♥
For anyone who’s missed the programme you can catch up here for the next seven days, and if you’re outside the UK we’ve had suggestions that expatshield and www.tunnelbear.com should make that link viewable.
Thank you all SO much for all of your incredibly kind messages of support and love. Between us we’ll do our best to respond to you all over the next few days.
Lots of Pesky love, The Dames xxxxxxx
Today’s TOPIC ANNOUCEMENT is brought to you by the letter A and the number 3 as in AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH WE’RE GOING TO BE ON TV IN THREE DAYS!!!1!1
Our episode (this Wednesday, 9pm, BBC3) is titled “Can Looks Change Your Life?” and is all about the importance we place on appearance and whether vanity is necessarily a negative concept. So fittingly…
THIS WEEK: we’re talking about body positivity, and how we can learn to love our bodies and love the way we look in spite of the many societal messages to the contrary. Then…
NEXT WEEK: We’ll be talking about portrayals feminism in the media, which gives us an excuse to talk about our TV appearance some more. And finally…
THE WEEK AFTER: We’ll be reclaiming words, or possibly arguing why we shouldn’t. Only time will tell.
So, UK folks make sure you tune in this Wednesday at 9pm to BBC3 to catch our Grand Televisual Début, and we’ll post some info about how non-UK folks can watch later in the week.
And for all you radio lovers make sure you’re listening to Women’s Hour on BBC Radio 4 10am tomorrow morning as Cherry Healey will be on talking about the show and might give us a mention.
That’s it for this week, as ever if you’re interested in doing a guest video on any of the topics listed (or any other topic) let us know! - Becca x
[First image is an illustration showing a line up of thirteen women all of different shapes, sizes and ethnicities. A caption above the line up reads “beauty” and a caption below reads “in every shape and size”. Image was drawn by vonnie-seiyuki-chan on DeviantArt.
Second image is a TV screengrab taken from BBC iPlayer. It shows five women sitting on a sofa with arms up mid-surprise while a sixth woman shows raises her arms to display her armpits.
Third image shows two young white women holding a pair of protest signs in reference to the Michigan House of Representatives banning speakers who used the word “vagina” on the house floor. The first reads “I CUNT believe she said VAGINA!!” and the second reads “TWAT was she thinking?!”. If anyone can give me the original source I’d appreciate it, I found it here on Feministing.
