About Face
Formerly known as the Stop Starvation Imagery Campaign, they're doing
great work to increase awareness of the negative portrayals of women
by mass media.
Smarty Pants
As its name might suggest, Smarty-Pants had a slightly bookish
beginning, but recent additions to this site address the decidedly
non-bookish issues of home birthing and tampons. Editor Emma Gardner
interviews a midwife who is passionate about giving the birthing
process back to the mother (she believes womb envy is to blame for
men's
technological involvement in birth). The essay on the safety of
tampons chronicles the
Internet revolution -- the thousands of women who got fed up of
waiting for the FDA and used the medium to spread warnings about
bleached tampons. Smarty Pants is intelligent and earnest, and --
unlike many online offerings for women -- less one woman's
rant than a collection of thoughtful essays by women who don't have
all that much in common. Except that they're all Smarty-Pants, of
course. (reviewed on 9/3/97 by Emma)
Minx Mag
I found this site accidentally � I was actually wondering if
the British magazine Minx had a Web site (it doesn't, as far
as I know) and ended up at this URL. And then all of a
sudden it was an hour later and I'd just finished reading
Big Sex
at the Commack Motor Inn. Who the hell reads that much
online? Somewhere in there I crossed the fuzzy line that
divides surfing for work from surfing for pleasure. And I
kept going! And then I noticed Minx's mission statement:
"Guilt-free pleasure." So I kept on reading and I didn't
even feel bad. I love this site because it is unashamedly
into products (you know, the products that make you look
and feel nice). But it's not fluffy � issue two is about
the work place: Minx suggests a few hefty stones that
should at least put a crack in the glass ceiling, and shows
you what real women wear to work. (Hint: It's not spike
heels.) (reviewed 9/11/97 by Emma)
Diary of a Garterbelt Feminist
This is an essay in Word's Desire section, by Linda
Rosenfeld � if the title puts you off, at least check it
out for the design. Each page forces you to unscroll a
piece of clothing to reveal an essay where one might
expect a crotch. It's the story of a woman "appropriating
the signifiers of [her] objectification," and ending up
with nothing more than a dirty wink and a few phone
numbers. But it's uplifting, really. Kind of like the
Wonderbra.
Wench
Unabashedly feminist but playful enough to call itself
"Wench," this site strikes a nice balance between Ms
Magazine's ardent activism and the lighthearted "you go
girl"-ness of much of what you will find on the Web for
women. Recent articles have examined the Spice Girls' do
me feminism, why Maxim For Men (and its female editor)
suck, and how come no one ever noticed that Bazooka Joe is
a sexist pig. (reviewed 10/2/97 by Emma)
Bust
Meet the women behind it
then check out the site. Meet the women behind it, then
check out the Web site. Michelle Karp and Debbie Stoller
said they founded Bust because the only publication that
still spoke to them was Sassy, and it was a little
embarrassing to be reading Sassy in their twenties. Bust
bites the Cosmo girl in the ass, but that doesn't mean
Bust doesn't talk about sex. It's just that Bust doesn't
recommend losing weight and wearing lipstick in order to
enjoy sex more. (reviewed by Emma)
EstroNet - Estrogen Powered Web Network
"We create intelligent, witty, sexy content to inspire and
empower women everywhere. Women have taken technology by
storm, and here's just a taste. Mainstream media does not
dictate what is meaningful to us. We do." Grrr, I feel
good. EstroNet's a great one-stop shop for a good number
of sites (including our very own Womensroom!) with
summaries of what's happening at each. Nicely designed too.
Guerrilla Girls
Guerrilla Girls' home on the Web. Think Robin Hood in drag, they're anonymous do-gooders trying to get equal treatment for women artists and be funny at the same time. They swung
through town last year and left a number of thought-provoking questions in their wake, such as "Do women
have to be naked to get into the MET?" in reference to the
fact that while about 90% of the nudes in the museum are
of women, only 10% of the work shown in the contemporary section is by women. Hmmm... Barbie
may try to make us believe we're lousy at math, but even a girl like me sees something's not quite adding up with those numbers.
National Women's History Project
This organization, founded in 1980, initiated National Women's History Month. (They used to celebrate Women's History Week � the week of March 8, International Women's Day. Then in 1987, they petitioned Congress to expand
the national celebration to an entire month.) This site is packed with information about women in history, and includes ideas on how to bring attention to women's history. You might want to take the women's history quiz to find out
how much (or little) you know, before you start accusing anyone else of not paying attention. The Guerrilla Girls once asked, "If February is Black History Month and March
is Women's History Month, what happens the rest of the
year?" The Guerrilla Girls answered their own question with one word: discrimination. The National Women's History Project gives a whole Web site full of answers. This is what women have been doing, from April to February, for hundreds of years: "History looks different when the contributions of women are included."
Ask Camille
The infamous Camille Paglia... At your service. Read her
"online advice for the culturally disgruntled" (story of my
life) and send in a question of your own.
