Dove’s still keepin’ it real, and by real I mean an unrealistic, retouched kind of real.

Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ Pics Could Be Big Phonies?

In a May 12 profile in The New Yorker posted online, Pascal Dangin of New York’s Box Studios is quoted as saying he extensively retouched photos used in the Campaign for Real Beauty, which, if true, could seriously undermine an effort that already has subjected Unilever to considerable consumer and activist backlash in recent months.

The best quote of all?

“I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual ‘real women’ in their undergarments,” wrote Lauren Collins in the New Yorker article. “It turned out that it was a Dangin job. ‘Do you know how much retouching was on that?’ he asked. ‘But it was great to do, a challenge, to keep everyone’s skin and faces showing the mileage but not looking unattractive.’”

This comes after Dove has maintained there was no retouching done to the images. Their response is that Pascal Dangin is a liar.

The Shameless Blog has talked extensively about the controversy behind this campaign, namely the hypocrisy of an “accept yourself as you are” and “beware unrealistic marketing” ad hook produced by the same company that brings us female sex slave imagery. Again, it seems that accepting yourself the way you are still involves a lot of retouching.

“No wonder our perception of beauty is distorted.” Um, yah.

Shameless magazine is a feminist magazine for teenage girls. So we have to ask the question: what is life like for feminist teenage girls?

Well, for one thing, high school is depressing.

(Via Feministing.)

“Absolutely I am!”

This week Torontoist is running a three-part feature on female Firefighters, by Cate Simpson:

…Torontoist has been talking to Toronto Firefighters Julie Petruzzellis and Stacey Hannah about what it’s like to be a woman in a dangerous and demanding occupation—one where they are outnumbered 20-to-1 by men.

The piece is worth a look for John Beebe’s photos alone, but it’s also interesting to hear women in such a male dominated field speak about what drew them to it and why they enjoy it so much.

From the Toronto Star:

Danica Patrick was always sure a woman could win a race. And now the questions about her will surely stop.

Patrick made it to the place she wanted to be for so long – Victory Lane. She became the first female winner in IndyCar history Sunday, capturing the Indy Japan 300 in her 50th career start.

It’s 12:15pm on Tuesday and the text message from my friend DJ in Marty, South Dakota reads “The state has sent 47 troopers and 2 snipers here.”

For what?!

“The Yankton Sioux tribe is protesting a hog farm development that would harm the land and river.”

Are you kidding me? Last time I visited that reservation, the population read something like 3800. Marty alone has only over 400 people, and about 100 protestors were at the construction site where Long View farms is trying to build.

But it’s true. Two friends of mine, Gary Drapeau and Kip Spotted Eagle, were arrested among others for protecting the traditional territory and standing up for the wellness of the peoples on it.

Peacefully.

They were let go immediately but it was quite symbolic of the utter disrespect of the state for tribal sovereignty and jurisdiction. Never mind the health and well being of everyone else who would be greatly impacted by the waste from this hog farm and their polluted claim on Native land.

Does this story sound all too familiar? Only smaller communities like this aren’t making major news headlines, but it is people like Gary and Kip who are taking a major stand against Corporate America to ensure a better livelihood for the land and people that we really NEED to pay attention to.

Fed up of the continous disregard for the Native community? Let Governor Mike Rounds and the state of South Dakota know you support the Yankton Sioux tribe and to tell Long View Farms to cease all construction on their land.

I support my Inhanktowan brothers and stand in solidarity with them.
STOP DESTROYING MOTHER EARTH!

This is just too disgusting for words.

From the Arctic Sounder:

The state House of Representatives voted Sunday to condemn an “abhorrent” reference to Alaska Native women made by a host on a morning radio show in Anchorage, according to Rep. Mary Nelson, D-Bethel.

The slur was made on Wednesday, April 9, shortly before 7 a.m. on the Woody and Wilcox show on KBFX 100.5 The Fox, said Michelle Davis.

Driving to her job in Anchorage that morning, Davis said she laughed as the two men discussed the car accidents around the city, and joked about how you weren’t a real Alaskan unless you’d crashed at a busy intersection.

Later, one of the DJs on the classic rock station tried to make a play off an old Alaska saying, and asked, “Have you made love to the Yukon and peed in a Native woman?” Davis said.

“I was horrified,” said Davis. “I was completely shocked, it took a long time to sink in, then I got to work and I sat down at my desk and cried. It’s such a degrading thing to say. It’s incredibly insulting.”

(more inside…)

If you’re like me, you heard about the case of Noellee Mowatt yesterday and were dismayed that it seemed like there was nothing to do to help.

Good news: Mowatt’s lawyer Lydia Riva believes that the visible support for Mowatt is having a positive effect. To show support for Mowatt and ensure that no criminal charges are laid against her, show up outside of Toronto’s Old City Hall this Friday.

Details:

11 April 2008
10 a.m.
Old City Hall
60 Queen St. W (Northeast side of Queen and Bay) Toronto

Thanks to the Shameless reader who sent us a tip on this awful story.

From the Toronto Star:

19-year-old, who faces no charges, distressed at being behind bars after attempts to subpoena her as witness in domestic assault case failed…Due to deliver next Tuesday, [Noellee Mowatt] has been detained at Vanier Centre for Women since Thursday, when a justice of the peace denied her bail. Mowatt, who faces no criminal charges in this case, won’t be let out until she testifies at her boyfriend’s domestic assault trial on Friday.

…Toronto police said they tried several times to serve the expectant mother with a subpoena to show up in court. When she wasn’t present March 20, a judge issued a material warrant for her arrest…Mowatt, who lived in shelters and a rooming house before her arrest April 1, said that while she had several conversations with detectives, no one ever asked her to pick up a subpoena or tried to drop one off.

More frightening than Mowatt’s case in and of itself is the precedent it sets, and the message it sends to women stuck in abusive situations:

Several groups said yesterday they can’t remember the last time a victim of domestic violence was held in jail on a material warrant…Amanda Dale of the YWCA is baffled that such means, which are usually employed to compel other criminals to testify, would be used on someone so vulnerable.

“It’s counterproductive to the broader goal of getting women to leave violent situations,” [Dale] said…”It will have a chilling effect on anyone coming forward and reporting to the police.”

(more inside…)