On my mind this week

Compliments are a tricky thing, and the role they play in relationships can be even more tricky, especially when you start to look at the different gendered dynamics. In a four-part blog series, the always-insightful Autumn Whitefield-Madrano of the Beheld discusses the main ones.

(Image from the New York Times)

I keep thinking about this article I read a few weeks back about a 16-year-old girl in Mumbai who is running sex education classes for teenage girls in her community. This is exactly the sort of thing that needs to happen more and I’m filled with so much awe and admiration for this girl and others like her who are doing such amazing things. Read read read it. 

 Lizzie Wurtzel is of course one of my idols (which makes me feel like I have the right to call her Lizzie, like we’re friends or something. What? In Prozac Nation and stuff no one ever calls her Elizabeth), but I’m still mulling over what I think of her piece on “1% wives” in the Atlantic. Basically, she’s arguing that we should stop pretending that choosing to be a housewife is feminist just because it’s a woman’s choice – and despite how harsh it is, she actually makes some fairly compelling points. Obviously it’s a pretty controversial point of view, and it’s very much in conflict with the argument I always make – that feminism means whatever you want it to mean. But, whether I agree with it or not … it’s interesting to think about.

Old freaking news, but I’m still pretty captivated by this Candy magazine fashion editorial, featuring of course the incredible Andrej Pejic. Seriously, is anybody cooler than him?

Speaking of Andrej, he’s also supposedly filming some kind of reality show (though despite all the blogs saying the rumours have been confirmed, as far as I can tell they only seem to have been “confirmed” by other fashion blogs, so you know.) I wonder if it will be anything like this short film he did recently (link not totally SWF, BTW).

I love it when fashion is inspired by books, so I like the news that Banana Republic is launching a line inspired by Anna Karenina. I love it a little less that it’s inspired by the film, which in itself I feel a little funny about, but still.

The phrase “I’m not like other girls” is thrown around a lot. Like, more often than makes sense. I’m sure I’ve said it lots of times, and I probably believed it when I was saying it. But that’s sort of the problem – in those moments, I’m believing in this cultural idea of “what girls are like”, and that’s just stupid. This blog post captures it all a lot more insightfully than I can right now.  

Japanese literature always makes me long to go to Japan, and spending the past two days immersed in Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto I went back to re-read my incredibly cool and talented pal Sian Campbell’s guest post on Liticism about some beautiful Japanese books she read.

Dressing to stand out and dressing to fit in and 70s punk. Danielle Meder of Final Fashion has some interesting thoughts about collectivism vs. individualism.

Well, really – when is my big cat-boy NOT on my mind?

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