Category Archives: feminism

The Problem With Cute

Posted on August 21, 2013 by | 8 comments

A few years ago I took a fantastic Political Science course at my local community college.

Unfortunately, Señor Chang did not go to my college.

Our professor wanted everyone to love Political Science as much as he did, so he gave us a lot of freedom on what we would write our major class papers on. That’s how I ended up writing a paper called “Advertising, the Gateway Porn: How Hypersexualization Undermines Cross-Gender Relationships.”

Last week I tried to use some of my research from that paper to cover a topic Gordon introduced in a previous post, how advertising can be just as damaging as pornography, but I quickly realized there was far too much information for just one post. That’s why today I’m going to continue with the topic of sexualization in advertising. Continue reading →

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Posted in advertising, feminism, media, sex

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Tropes, Archetypes, and Why Original Creative Writing Is Like A Game of Rock, Paper, Scissors

Posted on August 16, 2013 by | 3 comments

Culture War Reporters, since its inception, has never been a place for fiction of any kind. As a result, when both Gordon and I hang out we often find our discussions centre around stretching our creative muscles, asking questions like: “If you had to come up with a team of mercenaries, with a minimum of five members, what would it look like?”

The issue with all questions like this is that we run into a little something King Solomon said, way back in the day [emphasis added]:

What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
  there is nothing new under the sun.

How do you come up with something original, something that truly hasn’t been done before? Continue reading →

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Posted in feminism, film, literature, media, race, television, writing

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Evan and Gordon and Kat Talk: Beauty

Posted on August 14, 2013 by | 5 comments

EVAN: Today, ladies and gentlemen, comes yet another E&GT that’s causing me seriously think about changing the title of the feature. Kat joins both Gordon and me in a three-person discussion we’ve been meaning to have for a while.

Today’s topic is one of Gordon’s making, so without further ado I am turning it over to him-

GORDON: Beauty is our topic for today.

Or perhaps “attraction” might be a better title. We’re going to be hashing out whether or not there’s an issue with being attracted to contemporary standards of beauty.

Now I bring this up because it’s been pretty well established that our contemporary standards of what’s attractive are, well, pretty unrealistic and often unhealthy. Though the 300 pounds of sheer blubber that would’ve turned heads two hundred years ago admittedly weren’t much better.

Continue reading →

5 Comments

Posted in advertisement, advertising, America, Evan and Gordon Talk, feminism, health, media, race, television

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The Problem With Pink

Posted on August 14, 2013 by | 12 comments

Pink is everywhere, and it’s a problem.

Let me clarify. There is nothing actually wrong with the colour pink. I’m not personally a fan, but I don’t have anything against the colour itself. I have an issue with how it is being used. It’s being used to tell children that certain toys are for girls and certain toys are for boys.

Often it’s as simple as taking the same toy and making one pink and one blue. But more often than not toys are also separated into certain play “scripts.” These scripts teach children that different behavior is appropriate depending on if you are a boy or girl. While little girls are sold kitchen sets, little boys are sold mini tools kits.

Continue reading →

12 Comments

Posted in advertising, feminism, media, sex

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“Rape”: Storytelling Device

Posted on August 9, 2013 by | 9 comments

In 2011 I wrote about rape as a term not to be used casually out of context. In 2012 I wrote about rape as a subject for comedy. In 2013, and in light of a few recent events, I am writing about rape as a storytelling device.

Mark Millar is famous for books such as Superman: Red Son, and Jupiter’s
Legacy, but probably most well-known to the non-comic-book-reading-public as the man responsible for Kick-Ass and its sequels. He is also a writer who has featured rape in a number of his works. I’m not going to go through the process of listing them all, but instead am going to present a quote he gave regarding his opinion on using rape in writing:

The ultimate [act] that would be the taboo, to show how bad some villain is, was to have somebody being raped, you know? I don’t really think it matters. It’s the same as, like, a decapitation. It’s just a horrible act to show that somebody’s a bad guy.

Now I could begin quoting a number of very smart people who responded to Millar’s words, but this isn’t that kind of post. If a list of that sort is what you’re into, I’d like to direct you to this article on the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex. A better compilation of tweets and quotes about this specific subject would be difficult to find. Continue reading →

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Posted in comics, feminism, morality, sex, writing

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Evan and Gordon Kat Talk: Weddings and Marriage

Posted on August 7, 2013 by | 3 comments

KAT: Welcome everyone to this week’s Evan and Gordon Talk. This week I will be stepping in for Gordon as he has tirelessly posted a whack  of articles all in a row and could probably use a bit of a rest. Even the reds need their sleep.

Today Evan and I will be talking about weddings [and marriage].

And no, I would like to clarify for you all that Evan chose this topic. Not me. And don’t gender stereotype. It’s bad for your health. Continue reading →

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Posted in Evan and Gordon Talk, feminism, money, religion, sex

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