Glue and Glitter » feminism

The Story of Cosmetics

Becky Striepe — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 14:55:00 +0000

Do you guys remember The Story of Stuff? Well, Annie Leonard is back, this time teaming up with the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics to produce her new short film. Check it:

I wrote something up about this over at Green Upgrader, including recipes for making your own cosmetics and more information on how you can take action to get these toxins out of our beauty products.

My favorite thing about that video is the couple of times that she mentions that maybe we don’t need all of this stuff to feel pretty in the first place. Cosmetics companies spend billions of dollars on ad campaigns to make us feel like we’re ugly without lipstick, look tired without eyeliner, and will never find a man if we don’t use their greenwashed brand of shampoo. That’s balderdash!

My favorite quote from Audrey Hepburn quote comes to mind:

For Attractive lips, speak words of kindness. For lovely eyes, seek out the good in people. For a slim figure, share your food with the hungry. For Beautiful hair, let a child run their fingers through it once a day. For poise, walk with the knowledge that you never walk alone.

Ladies, we don’t need to slather ourselves in toxins to be pretty. I’m as guilty of falling for this phony standard of beauty as anyone else, and I think just putting that idea out there is so important. What’s beautiful about us comes from our insides. It’s our accomplishments and the way we make the people around us feel.

Hey, so that got a little bit ranty there towards the end. Sorry about that! If you want to learn more about how to keep those toxic chemicals out of our medicine cabinets, you can head over to Green Upgrader for deets!

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…and a Happy (Belated) International Women’s Day to You!

Becky Striepe — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:30:13 +0000

I had no idea there even was an International Women’s Day until my friend Tasha posted about it over at The Voracious Vegan. According to this article in the New York Times, the U.S. didn’t really pay much attention to this holiday until recently, which is probably why I and many of the local ladies I know haven’t heard of it.

A little googling turned up this video from Girls Making Media, a program that helps teen girls learn video production:

Another friend sent me this page that talks about what a big impact even a tiny amount of support can make for a woman in poverty.

So since yesterday was all about honoring women, I thought I’d talk about some women who I really admire:
(. . .)
Click here to read on!

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Crafting and Feminism at the Feminist Women’s Health Center

Becky Striepe — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:00:42 +0000

Thursday, June 18th is Craft and Cone night at the Feminist Women’s Health Center. It’s an ice cream social and craft night that includes a talk on crafting, feminism, and social justice! I’m so excited about this event! It’s been really fun doing research about the topic, and I’ve been finding some pretty rad pictures of how women and crafting has been portrayed through the ages. For example, check out this cover from a 1940 issue of McMall Magazine (via Flickr Commons):

If you’re interested in attending this free event, contact Claire at outreach @ feministcenter.org or call 404-248-5445 to RSVP!

I’m also looking for pictures of subversive crafting. If you guys have anything along those lines, or any cool old-timey pictures of crafting that you’ve got scanned, I’d love if you’d email me! You’d get credit for your image, of course!

There was a little mixup with the dates on some of the fliers, so I also wanted to make sure anyone who’s planning to hit up the event has the right one: Thursday, June 18th 7-8:30pm.

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Glue and Glitter » feminism

The Story of Cosmetics

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…and a Happy (Belated) International Women’s Day to You!

Crafting and Feminism at the Feminist Women’s Health Center

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