As a huge horror fan, I delighted in this great article from the Guardian about women and horror movies. It seems like a genre tailored for men, who anecdotally enjoy violence and nudity more than their female counterparts, but women have just as visceral a reaction to the films as men do. The article offers an interesting theory about why people watch horror movies:

According to Dr Glenn Wilson, a psychologist at King’s College London: “Horror films, for men and women, are about learning to cope with emotions that would threaten to overwhelm us if they happened in reality.”

I would even go so far as to say there is a more nuanced point to be made, that horror films, and film in general, help us understand the difficult realities that people face daily. The following horror films have themes that relate to women and women’s issues especially. And, disregarding whatever deeper meaning they may have, all these movies totally kick ass.

5. The Craft: Four teen witches band together to get revenge on the popular kids who made them outcasts. Follows a theme that is very persistent in horror–coming of age. Magic is the means by which these girls become women and address their changing bodies, minds, and perceptions of the world. Read More »

I am going to try to review this CD as impartially as I can, but I doubt that I will be able to hold back my intense fan girl love for it. This is easily in my top five favorite albums of all time, if not my very favorite.

Neko Case is sort of a legend in the alt-country genre for her versatility and “country noir” sensibilities. Fox Confessor Brings the Flood is her best album; confident, moving, and even playful at times in it’s almost punk-like disregard for the conventions of structure. Her soulful voice recalls spirituals and blues but her lyrics are rich and modern in their abstraction.

This is one of those rare albums that I can listen to all the way through. It feels like taking a journey down a long dirt country road, peaceful, tumultuous at times, but starkly beautiful and rich.

More than that, this is the singular album that appeals to me as I transition fully into adulthood and womanhood–I understand everything she sings about, even if I can’t follow every line. She evokes the way I feel about this time in my life with her music as much as she does with her words, sad guitars that recall nostalgia and stark echoes that convey loneliness better, I think, than any lyrics ever could. Read More »

I’m all about the truth - truth in relationships, truth in politics, truth in what a girl is hiding underneath her undergarments. The act of stuffing should be exclusive to Santa Claus and Thanksgiving.

The Wonderbra was designed to make women feel better about their lack of rack by padding around their mini-rounds. How is that any better than me stuffing a sock around m’thing? It’s false advertising for sure; then again I truly feel for women who are only judged on the size of their womanhood.

It’s a Catch-22, this situation.

While I will never be able to crack the code that is the bosom - we must, we must, we must increase/decrease our bust - I do have a word of advice for any woman feeling down on their endowment: f*** it. Men who resemble pot-bellied pigs with receding hairlines have no right taking down to your tiny tits - especially when they have a tiny d*ck. Read More »