Movie Review: Easy A
Posted on: January 2, 2011
- In: Pop Culture
- 1 Comment
So my really exciting New Year’s Eve involved watching Easy A with a friend. The movie was definitely entertaining and witty. And surprisingly, I thought it did have some feminist undertones mixed in. Warning: some spoilers.
The basic storyline of Easy A follows Olive, an invisible high school student, through her imaginary sexual exploits. It all started when she lied to her friend about having sex with a guy that she had made up. This rumor spread throughout the school and everyone was calling her a slut. So in this, her closeted gay friend Brandon came up with the idea that they could fake have sex so that the other guys at school would stop picking on him. That plan worked, but then all of the outcast guys wanted Olive’s help to make them cool by fake having sex with them. All of the guys became cool but Olive became an outcast and labeled as a whore. She started dressing, as she described, like a slut, because everyone already thought she was one. But ultimately she realizes that what she has been doing is wrong and works to correct it. In the end, we find out that the guy that she has a crush on really does like her and they end up happily ever after. Don’t worry, some other stuff happens in there too 🙂
While there were some definite sexist and stereotypical things that happened in the movie (it is a high school, pop movie after all), I did appreciate that there were some feminist ideas that were spread throughout the movie. The most prominent one was questioning why Olive became labeled as a “slut” and “whore” after one sexual encounter (and the subsequent ones) and all of the guys were seen as cool. For example, Brandon and Olive fake have sex at a party so that everyone can witness it. When they come out of the room, everyone is congratulating Brandon but they end up making fun of Olive. I appreciated that the movie really highlighted this double standard.
The movie overall had a lot of great one-liners. One of my favorites was (when Olive was in a bookstore): “Where is the Bible?” “Oh, that’s in bestsellers, next to Twilight.” I also really liked Olive’s parents. They were quirky and funny while being really supportive of their daughter.
I would recommend this movie if you like this genre of movie. It definitely is one of those high school, light comedies. But it does have some funny/witty parts as well as some undertones of feminism. I wouldn’t call the movie overall feminist, but there were some of the undertones throughout.
It’s amazing that I keep reading Rick Riordan books for multiple reasons. 1) They are children’s books. 2) They are all the same!
I do end up reading a lot of young adult books because they are easy reads and most of the time entertaining. I do like how Rick Riordan incorporates mythology into his story lines and I often find them informative. I read his entire Percy Jackson series and then he had The Red Pyramid (which was about Egyptian mythology. There was only one book in that series before he went back to Green/Roman mythology with The Lost Hero.
The Lost Hero is kind of a continuation of the Percy Jackson series. It’s about a new group of demi-gods that come to Camp Half-Blood, face a new prophecy that threatens the safety of the gods and the world. Jason, along with his friends Leo and Piper, have to set off to save Hera who has been kidnapped and Piper’s movie star father who has also been kidnapped. They don’t know who their enemy is but they keep being told that it is the most dangerous enemy ever. The only problem is: Jason has no memory, strange tattoos, and refers to all of the gods by their Roman names instead of their Greek names. Oh, and Percy Jackson is missing so Annabeth has to go look for him (not that that really has much to do with the storyline, but they like to randomly remind the audience of it throughout the book).
In The Lost Hero, much like the Percy Jackson books, there are three demigods that are off to save the world. Jason is the son of Zeus/Jupiter, Piper is the daughter of Aphrodite, and Leo is the son of Hephaestus. Jason is the leader of the pack, even though he doesn’t have his memory, and often surprises himself with what he is capable of. Leo can harness fire and build almost anything. And Piper can convince people to do things that they don’t want to with charmspeak.
One thing that I liked about the Percy Jackson books was that Annabeth was actually a hero in her own right. Yes, she followed Percy around, but she was often the brains of the operation and could hold her own in battle. But in The Lost Hero, Piper is often in need of being rescued and her “power” is that of talking people into things. How stereotypical is that? The girl is the one that has the power of talking men into doing things.
All throughout the book, all of the characters are saying how important Piper is to the journey. And yes, she does play an important role in the end. But it bothered me that for most of the book, she needed rescuing or she was swooning over Jason.
In the Percy Jackson books, Annabeth was her own character. But in The Lost Hero, Piper was usually only talked about in her relation to men, whether it be Jason or her movie star father.
The book was entertaining for what is was. It’s a quick read and has some good information about Greek and Roman mythology. It’s rather predictable, but I usually expect children’s books to be.
The treatment of sexual assault by universities makes me sick. In 2006, Eastern Michigan University (EMU) refused to tell the family of a young woman who was raped and murdered by another student what actually happened to her. They lead the family to believe that their daughter died of natural causes until they had finished their investigation 10 week later. And now Notre Dame refuses to prosecute one of their football players who was accused of sexually assaulting a student at their sister school, St. Mary’s College, who later killed herself because her charges weren’t taken seriously. And I’ve heard numerous stories when the University finds the accused student responsible, the sanctions are weak and do nothing to prevent future assaults. I can’t remember the last time that I heard about a university handling a sexual assault case well.
Sexual assault falls under Title IX requirements of universities to prevent sex discrimination. Universities are supposed to make “effective” efforts when a sexual assault report is made. But, this often doesn’t happen.
It often seems like universities are more concerned about the needs of the accused than taking sexual assault charges seriously. Universities don’t want to deny the accused student their right to an education. But if they are a rapist, they have no place on campus.
Unfortunately, universities do not see it that way. Rape culture and rape myths are deeply ingrained into university procedures. Because underage drinking happens a lot on college campuses, if a woman has been drinking they are not seen as the “perfect” victim and universities do not want to punish the accused student unless they committed sexual assault against the “perfect” victim where there is no doubt that the student KNEW that they were committing sexual assault. But rapists are so manipulative of the system that they can often convince a court/university that they had no idea that the woman was not consensual even if they did. And usually they did. It’s pretty easy to tell if someone isn’t consensual.
Because young women know that their colleges do not take sexual assault charges seriously, less women are likely to report their assault or seek help from campus organizations. While reporting is definitely not a necessary step in recovery, some women who would have reported the assault are discouraged by the practices that they see on campus. And because some students do not understand that seeking help from awareness and prevention organizations on campus does not require an official report, they are hesitant to even seek help.
If you are a college student, I encourage you to look at your college’s sexual assault policy to see how your college handles sexual assault charges. Also, take a look at SAFER’s Campus Accountability Project and Winter Break Challenge. Challenge your college’s officials to take charges of sexual assault seriously.
This past Tuesday, Virginia Representative Tom Perriello introduced the Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act (Campus SaVE Act). This act will majorly revamp the Campus Sexual Assault Victim’s Bill of Rights and is a much needed update to federal policy. The Campus SaVE Act will be a step closer to more comprehensive guidelines for universities when responding to sexual violence.
The Campus SaVE Act will:
- Expands the list of offenses that must be covered in a campus sexual assault policy to include “sex offenses and other intimate partner violence, including stalking, dating violence, sexual violence, and domestic violence offenses.”
- Mandates primary prevention programming that includes defining consent and bystander intervention training (!!!) and awareness education that includes instructions for how to report offenses that occur on OR off campus
- States that victims will be provided with full explanations of their options for health, mental health, and legal resources both on and off campus, as well as their right to involve local police or campus security AND how they can obtain a restraining order/order of protection/no contact order.
- Requires that all disciplinary proceedings must be “conducted by officials trained to understand the issues of sex offenses and other intimate partner violence.”
While there are still a lot of steps that could be taken by the federal government and by individual universities, the Campus SaVE Act is an exciting piece of legislation that will be a step in the right direction. I’m particularly excited about the mandated bystander intervention. Bystander intervention training will definitely help stop sexual violence on college campuses, especially if students receive this training during their first semester of their freshman year.
I am particularly excited about this piece of legislation. During my internship at a sexual assault awareness center, I have been working a lot with the University’s sexual assault policy. Doing this work has definitely opened my eyes to the work that still needs to be done.
You should check out the full text of the bill and become educated about the issue. Then you can contact your representative about the importance of this bill.
*Most of this information is taken from the SAFER Campus Blog.
Link Roundup: Rape Culture
Posted on: December 13, 2010
Trigger warning.
There have been some great posts lately about sexual assault and rape culture. Here are some ones that I thought were particularly interesting/well-written.
Ms. Blog: Silence and Sexual Assault on College Campuses
I am compelled to speak up because sexual assault breeds in a Petri dish of silence. Certainly the potential danger in coming forward is critical for rape and sexual assault survivors. Yet even vocal bystanders risk violating a tacit cultural agreement to keep such problems hushed up.
Equality 101: Incorporating Discussions of Violence
One of the things that I’ve been thinking about is that we need to have conversations about violence with our students and not just lecture about statistics and the plight of “those” women. Those women can be us, our students, mothers, sisters, daughters and the boys and men around us. We need to have conversations about this reality, but also empower women and girls, so that the conversation is not merely about the victim.
The SAPAC Voice: CouchSurfing ignores violence against women
In fact, CouchSurfing seems to continuously ignore the various complaints from many women on their own message boards, and only give out the standard response, that members need to look into their potential hosts more closely. The only way it seems to get CouchSurfing’s attention is through proof of legal action, where the responsibility is completely on the survivor to lodge a complaint and seek the authorities.
Gender Across Borders: Dear Jezebel
Just over two weeks ago, Jezebel published an article entitled American Guy in Paris Freed From The Idea Of “Consent”. In said article, an American named Edward Pasteck described a recent trip to Paris and certain revelations that struck him while embarking on his relationship endeavours. As the title of his piece might suggest, curious Edward discovered that, in Paris, it was okay to rape women!
Shakesville: Ugh.
Steve Harvey is back with more of his wisdom about men and women and relationships. (If you’re not familiar with this guy’s shtick, here is Renee’s “Steve Harvey” archive.) And, like all the rest of his gender essentialist, heterocentrist, deeply misogynist claptrap, this “men and women can’t be friends” garbage is about as fresh as pterodactyl droppings. It’s also one of the key narratives of the rape culture.
Trigger warning.
Earlier this semester, the sexual assault organization that I am an intern at was holding volunteer training at the university that I attend. The volunteer was being held in the law school (it’s not a part of the law school, we were just holding it there for the space). While setting up, one of the other interns started talking to a law student who had come out of a classroom and inquired about what was going on. Then this law student asked, “isn’t rape more of an undergrad problem?”
He tried to explain this as undergrad go to parties and get too drunk, which then of course leads to sexual assault and of course this never happens in law school.
But no, sexual assault is not something that only happens in college and only to undergrads. It has nothing to do with how much someone drinks or if they go to parties. Sexual assault can happen to anyone. That’s not meant to scare you, but just to get you to think about what the rape myths are and why they are actually myths.
And the scary part was that this was a future lawyer who was saying this. These people are supposed to be defending the laws and seeking justice. How is anything going to change in our culture if the lawyers are the ones that that promote these rape myths.*
So when you hear people talking like this law student or promoting rape myths, stand up to them. Question their beliefs. Provide them with the real information.
*I’m not talking about all lawyers. Just talking generally about what needs to be done in society.
Ok, well, I think everyone should be feminists. But this is more to comment on my surprise at the use of sexist language and practices within the social work school that I attend.
Most of my interactions occur with other students and I am often surprised at how often I hear sexist, victim-blaming, slut shaming, etc. language. I thought going into social work I would encounter people who were social justice minded and working to fight oppression. For the most part, that is what I have encountered. But there are the occasional times when I hear homophobic language (usually “that’s gay”) or rape jokes.
It just amazes me that people who are social justice minded when it comes to race or class or other social identities cannot recognize sexism and homophobia.
We do talk a lot about LGBT issues in my classes because they present as a “vulnerable population.” Gender is talked about occasionally by some professors, but not all. A lot of people recognize that LGBT people are still discriminated against, but don’t recognize that there is still discrimination against women.
So what can we do? What can I do as a social work student? We can speak up when we hear oppressive language and sexist comments. We can bring up the social justice issues surrounding women in classes. We can fight to end sexism in the greater community.
Link Roundup: Assange Rape Case
Posted on: December 9, 2010
Here are some links to great articles about the sexual assault charges against WikiLinks founder Julian Assange in Sweden.
Feministe: Some thoughts on “sex by surprise”
Well, no, I’m not sure it’s that straightforward. The actual details of what happened are hard to come by, and are largely filtered through tabloid sources that are quick to offer crucial facts like the hair color of the women (blonde) and the clothes they wore (pink, tight), but it sounds like the sex was consensual on the condition that a condom was used.
Salon: The rush to smear Assange’s rape accuser
Public evidence, as the Times noted, is scarce. So, it’s heartening to see that in the absence of same, my fellow liberal bloggers are so eager to abandon any pretense of healthy skepticism and rush to discredit an alleged rape victim based on some tabloid articles and a feverish post by someone who is perhaps not the most trustworthy source. Well done, friends! What a fantastic show of research, critical thinking and, as always, respect for women.
Alas, a blog: Rape Myths and Julian Assange
Most women who have been raped had little public evidence of their experience. By repeating these rape myths in defence of Julian Assanger people are attacking not just the women involved, but other women who have been raped and had their experiences dismissed. They are also contributing to a culture where rape is denied, minimised, and distorted.
Tiger Beatdown: How We Describe Women Who Reports Sexual Assaults Now
You guys, why are these women engaging in the (risky, socially consequential, unlikely-to-succeed) act of charging a socially prominent man with lots of supporters of sexual assault? They’re spies, right? Or they’re feminists who go around tricking men into having sex with them so they can make rape accusations? Whatever the case may be, it sounds like this is totally just about broken condoms, of all things! HOW BIZARRE!
Salon: Broadsheet: U.S. rape laws, explained
The country has the highest reporting rate in the European Union. (Perhaps because “Swedish women, backed by a strong consciousness of women’s rights and a history of a very public discussion of the scourge of sexual violence, may be more willing than most to look to the law for help,” writes the Times’ Katrin Bennhold.) Swedish law also recognizes “withdrawal of consent” as rape, which is what is alleged in the Assange case, and details three types of rape: “severe,” “regular” and “less severe.”
Reading about Sweden’s tough stance on sexual assault, I couldn’t help but wonder how the U.S. measures up. I gave Diane Moyer, legal director of the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, a call to find out.
I normally don’t participate in the Facebook trends, such as changing your status to your bra color to raise awareness about breast cancer research. I don’t see the connection or the point to it. But this newest trend really bothers me.
It has become popular to change your profile picture to a picture of your favorite cartoon from childhood in order to end child abuse. Why? What does this do? Yes, child abuse is horrible and it’s a big problem. But changing your profile picture is going to do absolutely nothing about it. I feel like a lot of people who do this just want to be cool and just want to be able to say, “yeah, I care about child abuse, look, I changed my profile picture.”
If you really care about ending child abuse, or any kind of abuse for that matter, there are more proactive things that you could do that could actually have an effect on someone’s life and work towards ending child abuse. Report any abuse that you see. Even if you think, “oh, it’s just a one time thing” or “it’s not my place to get involved.” This child’s life could be in danger and if you see the abuse and do nothing, you are letting it happen. Get involved at a local shelter. Many domestic violence shelters also offer children’s programming. You can volunteer with these programs and help children escape from the cycle of violence and begin to heal.
There are so many things that you could do that could actually work towards ending child abuse. Changing your profile picture on Facebook is going to do absolutely nothing. So I will not participate in this Facebook trend.
Grad School Adventures
Posted on: December 7, 2010
PhD Comics
I know that I have been absent from the blogging world for a while now, but I feel like I have a good reason for it. I have started grad school and am pursuing my Master’s degree in Social Work. It has been a great semester with lots of trials and victories. As I am nearing the end of my first semester of grad school, I thought it was appropriate to reflect on my journey so far.
I know that I don’t do well with change, so moving to a new city and starting grad school that would launch me in my future career was scary for me. But once I got to know people here and start school, I easily fell into my new life here and came to embrace all of the opportunities that I have had available to me.
I started my internship at the sexual assault awareness center on at the university that I attend and fell in love with the work that I do there. I am focusing on macro social work, so most of my work at my internship so far has been dealing with policies and research. But I love this kind of stuff, so it was great for me. And all of the people that work there, professional staff, interns, and student volunteers, are great feminists and advocates and I really enjoy spending time there. I am even thinking of adding an interpersonal practice minor so that next semester I can interact with survivors directly.
My classes this semester have all been foundation courses, so they haven’t always been terribly exciting, but I do feel like I am learning a lot. And next semester I am starting to take more advanced classes.
So, some things that I have learned about myself this semester:
- I really want to work in the field of sexual assault and domestic violence. This is the type of work that really calls to me and through my coursework and my internship, I have realized that I could spend the rest of my life doing this kind of work – with lots of self-care, of course.
- I’m a football fan. I have never really been that into sports. But coming to a university that is known for its football (I’m not going to say where I’m attending, but some people might be able to guess), even if we aren’t doing that well this year, and going to games has made me invested in my team. I don’t know if I would watch football if it wasn’t a game that involved my team, so I guess I shouldn’t really say that I’m a football fan, but rather a fan of my team.
- Being around people with similar social justice mindsets again has really solidified my feminist beliefs. There are some instances where I’m surprised how sexist or racist or prejudice someone in social work can be, but overall, I have found people who share my views on the world and are as passionate about them as I am.
- I really can handle living on my own. This is the first time in my life that I have been on my own. During college, I lived in a dorm all four years and then I moved back home with my parents for a year before I started grad school. One of the big things that I was worried about what being able to handle this. I knew I could, but, as I said, I don’t like change. But I have been able to handle living in my own apartment with a roommate, paying the bills on time (which reminds me…), and navigating a new city by myself.
So, now that I am nearing the end of my first semester, I think that I have a better handle on the work and schedule that grad schools requires and I am going to try to start blogging again. I have really missed blogging and being a part of the online feminist community, so I am going to try re-entering while also giving adequate time to all of the other things going on in my life.
So hello again!
Fighting with the Sky 