Friday, August 15, 2008

If I Didn't Already Despise American Apparel

I found this gem of an article on the Feministing community about the founder of American Apparel.

Apparently he has multiple sexual harassment lawsuits because he likes to go to meetings in his underwear and take his wang out in the office.

Unfortunately, that article sounds like it's making excuses for him and almost glorifying his actions. I'm not. He's a disgusting human being and if I ever bought their stuff I would stop now.

I mean, I already don't buy their shirts because they run so damn small I can barely cram myself into an XXL (I wear an L or XL in other brands). This just gives me another reason.

But not too long ago I was desperate for a job and a nearby AA store had a hiring sign, so I figured what the hell, it's work, and went in to apply. Instead of an actual application they gave me a slip of paper with an email address and instructions to send in my resume and 3 pictures of myself so they could "see my sense of style." I was tempted to send the exact same resume in twice, once with pictures of the real me and again with a different name and pictures of a very skinny person and see which they called back. But I couldn't figure out the logistics of doing that without someone figuring it out. I thought asking for photos before being hired was illegal. At the very least it's unethical.

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Thursday, August 14, 2008

Glad To See I'm Not The Only One Who Noticed

The discrepancies in male vs. female Olympic uniforms.

Someone posted about it here. Their examples are all Australia's athletes, but apparently this is an international problem. Which makes sense because I'd assume the uniforms would be universal.

Also, creepy. The opening ceremony couldn't have just been awesome, we had to ruin it with that? Ugh.

By the by, the Indian women's beach volleyball team has declined to wear bikinis for cultural reasons. I think all the teams should decline to wear them for "I'm not buying into this patriarchal bullshit" reasons.

I do kind of love this line from a French volleyball player:

"Maybe once they see us, they will be inspired in the future to wear bikinis," she added.


They'll be inspired to throw away their thousands-of-years-old culture because they saw you in a two-piece? I don't know who she is, how she plays or what she looks like, but I don't think anyone can be so important/great at volleyball/gorgeous as to "inspire" the Indian team to do something so blatantly against their heritage. Merde.

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Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Seemingly Random Catchall Sports Post

First off, yeah, bitches.

Second, I've decided that beach volleyball is incredibly sexist. Why exactly do the women have to wear bikinis, considering the men wear loose workout-style shorts and tank tops? Oh right, because women are primarily on this earth for the gratification of those watching them. You can't hand me any crap about the bikinis being more comfortable. If that were the case, men would be playing in banana hammocks. Yet they don't.

Also, the announcers are very focused on the family lives of female athletes. I really don't care that the two volleyball players both got married and may soon start families. It really has no bearing on the game.

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Saturday, August 9, 2008

Why Do Entertainers Keep Dying?

Bernie Mac died this morning of pneumonia.

He was only 50.

Is it just me or have a lot of public figures been dying relatively young this year?

I mean, Heath Ledger is a pretty obvious one. Also, Tim Russert was only 58.

I know George Carlin was 74, but I still didn't think of him as old.

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I Think They Were Building the Bird's Nest When I Was In China...

But I don't remember for sure.

Anyhoo, that opening ceremony was pretty much the coolest thing I've seen in a long time.

Two points:

-The little boy that walked out with Yao Ming that had saved some of his classmates during the earthquake was adorable. And his story came very close to making me cry.

-I kept yelling at the TV every time they showed George and Laura. Especially when they showed the two of them applauding the Iraqi athletes. I started yelling "you do NOT get to clap for them!" over and over. I really wanted a collective bird-flipping at them from the Iraqi team. But apparently they have more class and decorum than I do.

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