sexism

So GQ recently did an article showcasing Fall clothing as a backdrop to male climbers in Joshua Tree National Park:




Well, Outdoor Research didn't like how the women in the story were only portrayed as accessories to the climbers, frolicking in tiny bathing suits and adorning the men as stereotypes.





So they took it upon themselves to answer GQ's article, picture-by-picture using bad*ss women climbers:





Read the original GQ article here, and OutdoorResearch's awesome feminist response article here.

OutdoorResearch, you have one more fan right here.


#EverydaySexism

As soon as this Sprite advertisement was spotted, people started to complain. Why, maybe because instead of saying truths that are #BrutallyRefreshing, as the campaign intended, it really amounted to some cheap jokes that are #BrutallySexist. 

The responses were equal parts "Sprite, you should be ashamed!" and "Did no one in charge of marketing read over this and think that it could be offensive and/or sexist? Really? NO ONE?!?"


via @tommyxcore, 


via @ThisCaitlin, @AmarielleEU, @WellNowUniverse,


via @shaunbrilldream, @CristianaDeLia

Get your popcorn ready; it's time for another round of senseless whining about the Ghostbusters reboot!




There's loads more where that came from if you need some hate to sustain you today.

This teacher is way out of line.

Carey Burgess, a 17-year-old student and class president at a high school in South Carolina, was reprimanded and sent home from school this week for wearing...this?

By her account on Facebook, which has since gone viral, a teacher humiliated her by calling her out in front of other students for having a skirt that was "too short."

Surely the teacher had to have been talking to another student, because Burgess looks like she is going to Sunday school or to visit grandma.

Burgess told The Beaufort Gazette she was glad she has received so much support from everyone.

"Community support has been more than I ever imagined," she said. "I was shocked to find out how many girls at all Beaufort County schools feel oppressed and discriminated against in the classroom."

A new study in Nature Climate Change, snoozingly entitled "Energy consumption in buildings and female thermal demand", has revealed some underhanded reasons why women may get cold in the office environment.

The study by Boris Kingman and Wouter van Marken Lichtenbelt, published Aug. 3, looked at the comparative metabolic rates between men and women and qualified that with the standards related to thermal comfort in the western workplace.

According to New York Magazine:

[M]ost office buildings set their thermostats using a formula based on the metabolic rate of a 40-year-old man. Yet because women are often smaller and have more body fat than men, they also tend to have slower metabolic rates — meaning that the current standards for air-conditioning are way too cold for most women. After studying women doing seated work while wearing light clothing, researchers found that women's average metabolic rate was 20 to 32 percent lower than the rates used to determine standard office temperatures.

The study has since picked up a number of proponents worldwide, discussing personal experience and anecdotal evidence that corroborates the findings.

The study recommended changing office temperature standards to reflect the average metabolic rates of men and women. This would probably involve turning down that air conditioner a little bit.

Men will deal with it and it might just set new expectations of business attire.

Bonus: lowering air conditioning would help conserve energy, saving money and lowering emissions. It's win win!

If you're a man's man, you're probably freaking the f*ck out over the fact that July 15 is 'No Sports Day', at least according to this tantalizing piece of unnecessary gender politics nabbed by Jezebel.

On this of all days, there will be no sports on television.

You're probably hyperventilating already. If you are a dude, that it.

Netflix's PR, from the MLS Group, wanted everyone to know that there was a way to continue reflecting all of the anthropological archetypes that were popularized in 1990s stand up comedy.

Men be warned: girlfriends and wives around the U.S. are going to take "no sports on TV" as an invitation to gain some serious TV power – whether by recommending a favorite rom-com or multiple episodes from a favorite drama series. And, women be empowered! Sports will not be there to save him this time.

It offered suggestions for how you should continue to fulfill those engrained cultural archetypes for one day before everything can return to normal, hyper-gendered, everyday tranquility. The way to achieve that paradise can only be found in Netflix of course. It made sure to provide a separate list of alternatives for both the men and the women.

For the men, Netflix has put together a list of content that will help you and your girlfriend compromise on your entertainment:

It suggested Silver Linings Playbook, saying "Satisfy her need for romance, and you'll get the added opportunity to view Jennifer Lawrence the entire time."

Or prompted you to watch Rudy, saying "Get her to realize that everyone loves a good underdog story so you can watch some football..."

Or, don't worry because "just as an FYI - there's more than 50 of ESPN's 30 for 30 titles on Netflix if you plan to just stream on your phone or laptop while she takes over the living room."

It also gave comforting and scheming suggestions for all you sports-hatin' ladies out there.

For the women, this is your day, ladies. Get him hooked on some of your favorite TV shows or get him to finally watch that romantic comedy you've been dying to share with him. Netflix has put together a list of some of the best content to share with your guy on the one day a year the TV is yours, no excuses.

Though it just gave a list of films like One Tree Hill, Scandal, Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood without seeing the need to justify any of the picks.

Oooooof.

We can land a spacecraft on a comet, but a man's shirt has become the big news story here on Earth.

Physicist Matt Taylor was criticized this week for wearing a shirt with semi-naked women and guns on it during a livestreamed post-landing interview about the Rosetta Mission, deemed sexist and innaporpriate by many people, particularly women in science. And critics on Twitter voiced their complaints with #ShirtStorm and #ShirtGate.

But in a Google Hangout Friday with updates on the mission, a teary-eyed Taylor in a very neutral blue hoodie, apologized for the shirt.

"I made a big mistake, and I offended many people," he said. "And I'm very sorry about this."

Meanwhile on said comet, the Philae lander sent back its first image from the comet Thursday, and it has begun drilling in order to reposition itself into the sunlight. But this maneuver could also make Philae do a cartwheel and possibly put an abrupt end to the mission.

Upon hearing that his flight was being led by a woman, a passenger left this note for pilot Carey Smith Steacy. She posted photos of the note to her Facebook page, along with this response:
To @David in 12E on my flight #463 from Calgary to Victoria today. It was my pleasure flying you safely to your destination. Thank you for the note you discreetly left me on your seat. You made sure to ask the flight attendants before we left if I had enough hours to be the Captain so safety is important to you, too. I respectfully disagree with your opinion that the "cockpit" (we now call it the flight deck as no cocks are required) is no place for a lady. In fact, there are no places that are not for ladies anymore. I have heard many comments from people throughout my 17 year career as a pilot. Most of them positive. Your note is, without a doubt, the funniest. It was a joke, right? RIGHT?? I thought, not. You were more than welcome to deplane when you heard I was a "fair lady." You have that right. Funny, we all, us humans, have the same rights in this great free country of ours. Now, back to my most important role, being a mother.

Toy company, Goldie Blox, creates toys for girls that are outside the normal pretty-in-pink conception of what is appropriate for them. Their latest ad includes an extensive Rube Goldberg machine made out of traditional girls' toys set to a revised version of the Beastie Boys' Girls.

Clever Amazon reviewers are enlising sarcasm as a weapon against Bic's idiotic For Her line of pens. Here's one of the classics:

For years I had dreamed of penning a masterpiece and yet, when it came to that blank piece of paper the harsh offensive masculinity of the pen was just too intimidating. Finally it seems someone has actually considered what it is like to be female in this cruel world and how easily our little minds can be intimidated and denied the opportunity to do our life's work. Five stars.

[thanks, lesley!]