No caption required.
In keeping with my last three posts, I am once again jumping on the media bandwagon, hoping to get more hits and comments by writing about a viral news story. You are no doubt especially tired of this one: “the crack-smoking mayor Rob Ford.” Continue reading
The Avicii brand.
Biography: When not writing, which is most of the time, Kick and Glide likes to cook and drink, especially wine and craft beer. Luckily he also likes cross-country skiing, swimming, and organic gardening. According to him the best things in life are family and friends. His favourite TV series is “The Wire.” Kick and Glide thinks that our most pressing global issue is the question of economic growth and its impact on the environment. We must find a balance.
Hello All,
I’ve been watching and musing over Avicii’s video, “Wake Me Up”: http://youtu.be/IcrbM1l_BoI. I like the music and the song and I have gone on to listen to other songs by Aloe Blacc who has a lovely voice, but this particular video left me with a disquieting feeling that won’t go away. Continue reading
Could gender dynamics be more sadly obvious?
Type “Am I Pretty or Ugly?” into any search engine and you will find hundreds of thousands of videos made by pre-teen girls. These youngsters—some of them seem about eight years old—shyly pose before a camera before hesitantly admitting that they have a question to ask. They simply do not know if they are attractive or not. Some kids at school say that they are cute, but others judge them more harshly. What is the truth of the matter? All of the girls in the videos I saw were wearing make-up and had their hair done. None of them was hideous, but all were vulnerable, asking for help in a way that made me want to cry, despairing at a world that could be so cruel to children.
I then tried to consider the videos in a more positive light. Continue reading
Tired of looking at this yet?
This month has witnessed a sustained hullabaloo regarding images of “fit” women. First there was the storm of controversy surrounding the photographs of Lea-Ann Ellison, a CrossFit aficionado shown lifting weights while 8 months pregnant, discussed in my previous post. Then things really got heated when Maria Kang, a 32-year-old fitness instructor, produced a poster of her scantily clad self towering above her three young children while challenging the viewer with the taunt: “What’s Your Excuse?” Attracting millions of hits and thousands of comments, many people felt bullied by this picture of a beautiful, young, and clearly fertile woman with washboard abs. Others admired Kang’s chutzpah, declaring that those who criticized her were likely lazy, fat “haters.” Surpassing the media frenzy inspired by Ellison, Kang received international attention, even appearing on major television talk shows. Despite the sheer quantity of dialogue, for the most part it was limited to asking audiences to take sides either for or against Kang. This lack of thoughtful engagement is par for the course in today’s world of unsophisticated journalism. Yet it was also predetermined by the dominant message encoded in Kang’s self-promotional poster. Her aggressive question “calls out” a particular kind of spectator, namely someone who does not work out and therefore looks nothing like Kang. Continue reading
This image went viral last week, receiving about 20,000 comments, many of them negative.
Photographs of Lea-Ann Ellison, an American CrossFit enthusiast, recently attracted global media attention. A reader sent me a link to the story, asking for commentary, and I am happy to oblige. While I do not want to blather on about pregnancy, especially since I am currently six-months preggo, I think that gestation is not the only issue in these images. Continue reading
Feminist Figure Girl's Blog 