Quickies
Quickies: Star Wars, Sexist Dress Codes, and Bad Celebrity Advice
- “Star Wars” lets Princess Leia age realistically: Is this an alternate Hollywood universe? – “The most breathtaking moment in the new trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer doesn’t involve explosions or lightsabers or ominous references to the Dark Side. It’s an eyeblink-long shot of Princess Leia herself, Carrie Fisher, in the embrace of Harrison Ford’s Han Solo. It’s a moment of a weary-looking woman with graying hair and lines on her face. Holy science fiction, Hollywood — somewhere, in a galaxy far, far away, a grown woman has been given permission to look like a grown woman.”
- The Sexism of School Dress Codes – “Dress codes—given the power they entrust school authorities to regulate student identity—can, according to students, ultimately establish discriminatory standards as the norm. The prevalence and convergence of today’s protests suggest that schools not only need to update their policies—they also have to recognize and address the latent biases that go into creating them.”
- Label Drops Whirr Over Transphobic Tweets – Not only did they get dropped from their label, but they also got rekt by the lead singer of G.L.O.S.S. From Rebecca.
- The Odds That a Panel Would ‘Randomly’ Be All Men Are Astronomical – “After doing the math, as Martin has, the argument that speakers are chosen without bias simply doesn’t hold up. In fact, when using the formula to analyze the speakers’ list for a mathematics conference—which featured just one woman and 19 men—he found that it would be five times as likely that women would be overrepresented on the speakers’ list than underrepresented.” From Jamie.
- Gwyneth Paltrow’s Dangerous Advice – “This is not the first time Paltrow has offered unwise medical advice. In January, she advocated for the benefits of an herbal vaginal steam. The treatment, as you might imagine, has no proven medical benefit. While that advice could at best leave you with an expensive spa bill and at worst, with a yeast infection or a burn, taking her advice on the flu has potentially fatal consequences.”