Category: Female Inspiration
The Landscape of Iceland
Iceland is a magical place! Not only do Icelanders believe in little people, the black lava rocks and lack of trees make it feel like you are visiting land similar to the moon. The area around the Blue Lagoon pictured below was especially beautiful.
No wonder Iceland has given birth to unique and talented musicians such as Bjork, Sigur ros, Mum and now recently Of Monsters And Men… A land like this must provide tons of creative inspiration! Reykjavik is also gorgeous and reminds me of an oversized fisher’s town. At night, Icelander’s enjoy drinking as cafe’s and burger joints by day, turn into bars and nightclubs.
Images Speak: Strength in Time of Weakness
Good friends provide strength during difficult times, and this homage to a true friend is stunning! The artist, Catherine Tourangeau describes the portrait as ”a woman who brought light to a very dark time, and lent me her strength when I was weak.” The expressive yet peaceful ”Strength” is painted with acrylics on canvas.
Check out the submitted pieces of art by visiting our page Images Speak.
Immortal Woman: Henrietta Lacks & HeLa Cells
When I was reading “6 People You’ve Never Heard Of Who Probably Saved Your Life” I was especially struck by the story of Henrietta Lacks, a poor tobacco farmer and mother of five, whose cells (called HeLa cells) have been reproduced over the last 60 years to help research cancer, AIDS, radiation, gene mapping, and countless other things.
Not only that, but her cells helped save the lives of millions of children during a polio epidemic in 1952. Cracked.com notes, “Name a disease and Henrietta’s remarkable, unsung role in human history was to help find some way to cure it.”
I would have to say, Henrieta Lacks is a pretty kick-ass Woman!
Read more on Henrietta Lacks and HeLa cells on Wikipedia!
Check Out Our New Page “Images Speak”
We have added a new page titled “Images Speak: What is a Woman” which features art from you!!
Artist Rebecca L. Boyer was the first to submit an original piece titled “Monica,” made with pastels on colored paper. Find out more about Rebecca’s art, and discover how to exhibit your work, by visiting Images Speak: What is a Woman.
13-Year Old Girl on Slut Shaming
This 13 year old is awesome!!
“Slut shaming contributes to rape culture and rape-supportive culture. Rape culture is a culture in which sexual violence against women is commonplace and in which prevalent attitudes tolerate this violence. Slut shaming contributes to this by saying that it is ok to rape sluts. Because by having too much sex or wearing tight and revealing clothing they are somehow asking for it. Rape is caused by rapists, misogyny, and structural violence and institutional tolerance – not by clothing or makeup or how she walks or talks, and not by her drinking or not being careful enough.”
Read more on the Huffington Post and Daily Mail
Newly Released UK 1911 Census: Suffragettes Report Strange Ailments
The newly released UK Census from 1911 relating to illnesses and infirmities has provided us with an interesting look at how people then viewed their health. The responses, which are often amusing, were provided by the head of the household who usually had little medical knowledge. Some of the more strange health issues included “old age”, being “voteless”, “bald” and being “short of cash”.
My favorite part of the report is that Suffragettes often listed being voteless or disenfranchised as an illness. For example, four women reported that their ailments included being “voteless, and therefore classed with idiots and children”.
Read more about the report here.
Young Girl Questions Pink Toys & Gender Socialization
While shopping for toys with her dad, a young girl gets angry about the extreme gender-specific characteristics of the toys around her. She exclaims that, “the companies that make these things trick the girls into buying pink stuff” and then complains, “Why do girls have to buy princesses? Some girls like superheroes!” Very cute video!
Disagreements Among Feminists
Disagreements in scientific or technological fields often push scientists toward discovering new findings. Progress tends to be made through discussions and battles. Then consider feminism: some criticize that there is no coherent message, belief or goal for the feminist movement. But, remember that one single message is much easier to squash than a debate. Then you often have women accusing each other of being anti-feminist (including LG with our page Feminist Fail), though we lack to see the positive side of disagreements.
Disagreements and discussion actually inherently contain more power than a single message and often signify more widespread support. Let us discuss and disagree and fight for our views so that we can all make progress.
3 Women Activists Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
On Friday October 7th, the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three women promoting peace, democracy and gender equality in Africa and the Middle East. The recipients were the first woman President (of Liberia) in modern Africa, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, as well as peace activist Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkol Karman who is a activist for democracy in Yemen.
Over the last 110 years, most Nobel Peace Prize recipients have been men. There has only been one prior female Peace Prize recipient, Wangari Maathai of Kenya, in 2004. The New York Times reports that Friday’s decision “seemed designed to give impetus to the fight for women’s rights around the world.” and that makes us pretty happy!
“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” said the head of the Nobel committee who later added that the prize is, “a very important signal to women all over the world.”
This is a big victory for women and we are very proud. Read more at the New York Times.
A Woman for President
Zero percent of US President’s have been women. There have been 44 Presidents since George Washington took the oath of office in 1789, and absolutely none of them were female! And yes, I know that you are likely aware of this fact, but how often do you actually stop to think about how crazy that actually is? You may not have been aware that a Victoria Woodhull campaigned for Presidency in 1872!! Even though women did not have the right to vote, there were no laws forbidding a woman to run for office, so that is exactly what Victoria did! She helped set women’s suffrage into motion and eventually became the first woman to own a brokerage firm on Wall Street. I think it is high time we elect a woman and gain integration at all levels of society. We first need to cycle through the Sarah Palins and Michelle Bachmanns before we can have a serious contender. Let’s see what happens in 2016. Elizabeth Warren, are you free in 5 years?
Happy 100th Birthday Lucille Ball
Today is Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989). Lucille was an extremely successful comedienne, actress, model and television executive, and was one of the most influential American stars during her lifetime. In fact, Ball was the first woman to run a major television studio Desilu, which produced several successful television series. The major sitcoms she starred in were: I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here’s Lucy and Life With Lucy. Lucille received a total of 13 Emmy Award nominations, and won four of them. She also received several other awards including the Women in Film Crystal Award in 1977 and Lifetime Achievement Award in 1986.
Read more on Wikipedia
She accomplished all this during a time that women were much more restricted in their career and life choices. Lucille didn’t have any other female executives to look up to – she simply made it happen! Lucille Ball was brilliant and hilarious. I remember watching I Love Lucy reruns on Nick-at-Nite in the 90′s. Man, they used to play them back-to-back too. I was in my early teens back then and never realized how difficult it was for women when she was at the height of her career.
It is because of women like Lucille Ball that we are able to enjoy more respect and equality in the workplace (though we still have much more to go), and this is why here at Loose Garments we wish Lucille a very warm and loving Happy 100th Birthday!
Amazing Woman ~ Gabby Giffords ~ is Back
Monday afternoon US Representative Gabby Giffords, who got shot in the head only 7 months ago, returned to the house floor to cast her debt-ceiling vote! House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called Giffords “the personification of courage,” and continued that, “her presence here in the chamber as well as her service throughout her entire service in Congress, brings honor to this chamber.”
We couldn’t agree more! At a time when female participation in politics is extremely low (17%) Gabby exemplifies feminine courage and strength. We are impressed and touched.
Read more at CNN
USA on to 2011 FIFA Women’s Word Cup Finals ~ not since ’99!
The USA women’s soccer team beat France 3-1 earlier today and is moving up to finals. The women’s soccer team has not made it to finals since 1999, and will play against Japan in the final World Cup match. Japan reached finals today after their victory over Sweden.
Read more here.
FIFA World Cup 2011: Semi-Finals for Women’s Soccer
The US soccer team beat Brazil 5 to 3 on Sunday with last-minute penalty-kicks. The game in Dresden Germany was tense, as the US team played with one woman down (red card), but the American women’s team kept going and won!
And not just women were excited about this victory on Sunday. On Monday night Rachel Maddow commented on this wonderful video showing the excitement of devoted male fans, noting that she was happy to see a women’s team being taken so seriously by all types of sports fans. Next, the US team will go up against France ~ today.
Go USA women!!
