Posts by Michelle Schwartz
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In the Blog
Seeing the World in Different Ways…
Last week, Heather Wood Rudulph wrote an article for Huffington Post highlighting five reasons we still need feminism. Number four on that list was as follows: Obsessed, Bride Wars, Bridezillas and everything else that paints women as crazed (in various and sundry ways) to find, keep, and marry a man. To that, I say “Amen, sister.” I am quite sick of living in a world that offers men movies like The Hangover or the oeuvre of … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Race and Star Trek
Since the discussion has been so lively on my previous post about sexism in the new Star Trek movie, I thought I would open up the discussion of race in the new movie and in the series. While I thought Sulu’s dramatic sword fight was awesome (and pretty sexy, too), I was disappointed by Uhura’s reduced role in the new movie. Already saddled with a legacy of being a glorified receptionist, this new Uhura lost even … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Women and Star Trek
I have mixed feelings about the new Star Trek movie. While I quite enjoyed it as an adventurous space romp, my nagging issues with the original series re-emerged in spades. I grew up on the later series, so I’ve always found it difficult to enjoy the terrible special effects and campiness of Kirk’s bridge. I also hated the lack of women, except as girlfriends for Kirk, and the fact that female officers would wear miniskirts and … READ MORE
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In the Blog
RiP: A Remix Manifesto
In January, I blogged about RiP: A Remix Manifesto, a movie aimed at criticizing international copyright law, a system that tramples art and innovation, and makes criminals of small children and old ladies. We live in a world where major corporations are declaring they “own” everything from rain forest plants to human DNA. In February, the Electronic Frontier Foundation began a protest of YouTube’s Fair Use Massacre, in which copyright owners (notably Warner Music Group) … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Amazon Declares Gay = Smut
Amazon, already the scourge of small publishers and independent booksellers, has finally gone too far. No, I am not talking about the Kindle. That thing is just pointless. I am talking about Amazon’s new policy of labeling any and all LGBT printed matter as “Adult.” This policy strips the material of its sales rank, excluding it from bestseller lists and certain search results, and basically destroys its sales. This policy has not just been applied … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Join the Remix Revolution!
I recently had one of my videos muted by YouTube in response to a “Content ID Match.” This two minute movie about a trip my friends and I took to Coney Island used “Cumbia En Do Menor” by Lito Barrientos for a soundtrack. This home movie was created for personal entertainment (Look Ma! I went to the beach!) and not for profit. However, because it “may have content that is owned or licensed by Warner … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Note to Ad Execs: Women Like Beer (in fact, some of them LOVE beer)
The latest advertising abomination (adbomination?) to make the rounds is a campaign for Israel’s Gold Star beer. These ridiculous ads, structured as cartoony flowcharts, trade on the old trope that men are low-maintenance sex hounds who just want to drink beer and get laid, while as women are high-maintenance fashion lunatics who spend five hours obsessing over what shoes they wear before going out for girly cocktails in hopes of meeting a knight in shining … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Why Feminism matters…
Living in the midst of a backlash that has turned “feminism” into “the f-word,” a horrifying dirty slur used to dismiss, rather than help women, I often find myself attempting to explain why exactly feminism is important. These explanations typically fall on the deaf ears of women who have fully bought into the idea that the only thing feminism cares to eliminate is their right to wear frilly pink bras. Those of us who, despite having … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Dudes and Dating Shows
Last night, for the first time in forever, I tuned in to MTV to watch <a href=”The Real World. For the 21st season, they are heading to my hometown of Brooklyn, New York, and I couldn’t resist the urge to watch a bunch of spoiled attention seekers embarrass themselves in the place of my birth. I had nothing to do in the hour before the show started, so I let MTV babble away in the … READ MORE
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In the Blog
New Year’s Resolution: Never To Forget
With the constant media barrage of disasters, injustices, and assorted international atrocities, it can often be hard to focus on just one cause. In a world of 24-hour news tickers and 30 second segments, it seems like there’s never the time or space for follow up. One minute the news will leave me enraged over one particular case, and the next minute it will have moved on to the next reprehensible act, and sadly, so … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Guilty Pleasures: The Oeuvre of Sarah Michelle Gellar
Following in the footsteps of Anna and her musical solution to holiday stress, I offer my own plan for surviving December: The Guilty Pleasure Movie. Everyone has one hidden under the bed or at the back of the entertainment unit. A movie that, despite endless viewings and despite its lack of any apparent value, still rewards the watcher with a mindless sense of serenity. In the interest of full disclosure, I will cop to my … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Stuff your stockings with dykes
Just in time for the holiday season, Alison Bechdel has released The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, a collection of episodes of Bechdel’s weekly comic, “Dykes to Watch Out For.” The comic, a smart, funny soap opera about the lives of a group of women in a college town, has been appearing in alternative newspapers across North America since 1983. I would have asked for it as a Hannukah gift if I hadn’t already … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Katy Perry, UR Not Gay
While doing some research for my post on Amanda Palmer’s scandalous belly, I noticed that she had been nominated for Out Magazine’s annual “Out 100” Awards. While happily watching interviews with Amanda and Tegan & Sara, who should I see but Katy ‘UR So Gay’ Perry standing around in the background. “ What is she doing there?” I thought to myself. What is the woman famous for lyrics that say kissing another woman is “not what … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Newsflash: Music rendered worthless by feminine belly!
The f-word recently featured a post on the battle between musician Amanda Palmer and her record label over the commercial viability of her new single, ‘Leeds United.’ The fight between stodgy music execs and artistic vision is not a new one. However, the subject of this particular disagreement is not just the same old story. Apparently, Amanda Palmer’s new single is not commercial because of her “fat belly,” shots of which the record label wanted removed … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Bones tackles bisexuality
I have been a fan of Fox’s Bones for a few seasons now. What started out as a rather forced procedural has settled into a fun combination of science mystery and screwball comedy, with an awesome cast full of powerful women. Plus, David Boreanaz is just so dreamy… Ahem. Moving on. The show has recently introduced a new romance for resident artist and flower child, Angela Montenegro. The object of her affection? A mysterious woman … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Canadian Club: Back at it again
So I thought (and hoped and prayed) that Canadian Club’s incredibly obnoxious (and homophobic, and racist, and sexist) “Damn Right Your Dad Drank It” ad campaign was dead and gone. The campaign, which had been my sole topic of conversation for what seemed like ages, had vanished from the hoardings, bus stops, and telephone booths all around Toronto, so I foolishly figured it had come to a close, like all ad campaigns do eventually. On odd occasions, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Knock it off, Kanye
Just a few months ago I was feeling really positive about the advances made by queers in North America. Lindsay Lohan was dating a woman, and rather than being made into a to-do of Ellen proportions, the relationship was treated to the same amount of gossipy speculation and paparazzi photos as any other boring Hollywood pairing. Gray’s Anatomy had ended its season with a climactic kiss between two women, and all of lesbian fandom was … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Fairies and princesses and pixies, oh my!
When I was a little kid, I hated the color pink and all associated toys with a passion. It wasn’t that I had such a problem with the aesthetics, so much as I hated what that color stood for. The pink toys, the Barbies and the princesses and the baby dolls just didn’t speak to me. I didn’t want my toy to sit around waiting for Prince Charming. I wanted my toys to explore space … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Before there were blogs
Way back in the day, before the internet came to dominate my life, I was into zines. Even now, after years of blogging, I still miss the time when a page layout was completed using scissors and a glue stick, and when the chick who could beg, borrow or steal the most alone time with a photocopy machine was the most popular girl in the room. I was excited to learn that Barnard University in … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The Case of the Amazing Invisible Homosexual
I have recently been sucked into the vortex that is the So You Think You Can Dance franchise. The newest installment, So You Think You Can Dance Canada premiered a few weeks ago, and it’s mostly been a fun time, although I have the same issues with it that I have had with the American version. Among them, there is the mystery I like to call “The Case of the Amazing Invisible Homosexual.” In SYTYCD, this … READ MORE
