Feminist Fashion Bloggers: 2011

"Don't tell me I'm pretty - just accept that I'm smart."

Have you noticed that feminism has become even more visible of late?

Love 'em or hate 'em, there's no denying the Slutwalks have got people talking. Whether you want to sharpen your teeth on Victoria Cohen's contentious article 'Are Slutwalks Losing Their Way?' or mull over Deborah Orr's more considered piece 'Why is Feminism Still So Afraid to Focus on its Flaws?', feminist concerns have really been pushed into the limelight in the last few months. Check out 'Slutwalks: trying not to miss the point' for My Illustrated Life's vociferous take on the issue.

Sick of cliched movie males only going for the pretty girls? See how 'Hairspray' breaks the mould in 'Hairspray and Celebrating Diversity' by The Styling Dutchman.

And speaking of pretty girls, Delightfully Tacky's post 'The Infinite Variety of Individuals' discusses whether being a 'girly girl' undermines you as a woman, or if it's simply another choice.

From girly girls to little girls; author Lisa Bloom explains why telling female children they're pretty encourages them to live in a 'dumbed-down world' in 'How to Talk to Little Girls'.

After another spate of male indiscretions, the spotlight inevitably falls onto the wife or girlfriend. Fashion for Nerds asks why the focus is on the wife's beauty when male celebs are caught with their pants down - read her post 'Fallacies' here.

Kate Middleton is walking a tightrope of recent media attention, argues Claire in her post 'An Unsubtle Knife', dedicated to the new Duchess of Cambridge.

It's not just the media that are critical of women, of course - women are often critical of themselves and others. Dress with Courage's Elissa explores this in 'Winner Takes All - women and competition'.

Jaime Black's The REDress Project

Do you do outfit posts? We know fashion blogging ain't all about the frocks. Rosel from What Are Years? explains her ambivalence towards them in 'My Ethical Dilemma with Fashion Blogging'.

From the external to the internal: Beauty Schooled takes a stand and demands we stop being defined by our weight - do you dare post yours, and share some interesting facts about yourself on 'Why Telling Everyone Your Weight Might Rock'?

And what do the fellas have to say? Ryan from Fashables asks why fashion is so female-centric in his post 'Men Who Like Fashion Are Gay'.

In a non-blogging vein, read Dressing the Campus Red to see how Jaime Black uses the symbolism of the red dress to highlight the plight of aboriginal women.

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This post is for the Feminist Fashion Bloggers' monthly round-up.

See you on 13th July for themed posts on Fashion, Feminism and Social Class...

In a new series here on Feminist Fashion Bloggers, we are compiling posts that weren't produced as part of the FFB themes/topic prompts, but sit along the intersection of fashion, body image and feminism. Some but not all the posts were written by FFB members, and some were put forward by the authors, while some were nominated by others.

The range of the various posts is wide ranging and thought provoking as usual! There's posts about the socially accepted rules of dressing, including dressing to hide one's perceived flaws, dressing sexily, dressing modestly, dressing at costuming events, dressing wile pregnant, the perenial problem with the phrase 'real women', perceptions of fat people and tatoos and Niquabs, and girls' desire for Barbies.

Enjoy!

The Alt Librarian - “You Were So Pretty Before”: Gender and its Implications within Modern American Tattoo Culture (submitted by Millie of Interrobangs Ananymous)

Beauty Schooled - Enough with the fat hate (submitted by Autunm at the Beheld)

The Beheld - My First Barbie (submitted by Mrs Bossa)

Decoding Dress - Figureing out Sexy Part 1 and Part 2 (nominated by Autunm at the Beheld)

Hugo Schwyzer - “Your body is not so powerful it can drive others to distraction”: a letter to a teenage girl about clothing, modesty, and Slutwalk (submitted by the Beheld - and again by me, because I missed that it had already been put forward)

Knitting up the ravelled sleeve of care - Imperfections

Mrs. Bossa Does the Do - Dressing for your shape part 1, part 2 and part 3 (submitted by finder extraordinaire or may great reads Autumn at the Beheld)

Tea and Feathers - All together now: we are all real (submitted by Sadie at Knitting up the ravelled sleeve of care)

One Techies Search for Something Resembling Style - Follow Up: Feminism and the Slave Leia Costume

Oranges and Apples - Dressing Pregnant Bodies

Lids, Sewn Shut - Niquab: Just a piece of cloth (submitted by Millie of Interrobangs Ananymous)