Huff Post Shames Women That Are Not 118 LBS- "fat", "out of control"

Fantastic, I love reading headlines that shame women that aren't "skinny".

In a feature profile of Jackie Warner, the Jillian Michaels wannabe that hosts Bravo's Thintervention, the 42 year old admits to being "overweight in college". She called her self, "Miserable and out of control" , becuase she had ballooned to 169 pounds.

169 pounds. That's it. I have no idea how tall Warner is or what her current or former BMI or body fat percentage is, however no matter what, one hundred and sixty nine pounds is not a bad thing. In fact, it is pretty close to the average weight of women in the US.

I don't think mainstream media outlets should be shaming the average women in this country and using words to describe a person that is not 118 pounds like , "miserable", "lazy", and "out of control". When written and talked about in that light, it makes every woman that isn't super skinny, naturally or otherwise, seem less than worthy of attention and it dehumanizes them.

The show on Bravo is sure to be an hour of total bullshit. I mean, the title is dangerously close to a pro-ana term "thinsperation"- images those suffering from an eating disorder look at in order to motivate themselves not to eat- and frankly I'm not so sure how this show is going to be much different than that. No doubt there will be borderline abusive trainers shown guilting and manipulating (willing) contestants into losing weight.

I hate these weight loss shows and I hate how they portray women. I understand Warner is doing press for the show and promoting it to her heart's content, but she does not need to stigmatize and shame women that don't look like her.

LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email

LA Laker Arrested for Domestic Violence, Pleads Innocence on Twitter

Ugh. I feel like all I  blog about  are athletes that have been arrested for, or are involved in,  some form of domestic violence. I'm getting tired of reading these disturbing accounts, really I am.

Sacramento Bee reports:

Los Angeles Lakers player Matt Barnes was arrested and booked into Sacramento County Main Jail on Wednesday night on a felony domestic violence charge.

Sacramento County Sheriff's spokesman Sgt. Tim Curran said deputies responded to an incomplete 911 call from the 8100 block of Sunset Avenue at about 4:15 p.m., where they encountered Barnes and a woman "who lived with him and with whom he had a dating relationship."

After speaking to Barnes and the woman, deputies determined that the two had been in a physical confrontation and Barnes had prevented the woman from talking to 911 operators. Curran said dispatchers heard the sound of a struggle in the background on the brief open line until it was disconnected.

Barnes' response via Twitter:

The charges against Barnes are serious. It appears from the reports that each party had injuries , but Barnes was determined to be the aggressor. He also allegedly prohibited the woman in his home , whom I assume is his girlfriend Gloria, a cast member on VH1 show Basketball Wives, from using the phone to call 911.

The CBS Sports blog, "NBA Facts and Rumors", posted an update this morning on the Barnes situation, making the following comment regarding the charge against Barnes of interfering with the 911 call, "Barnes was also booked with maliciously obstructing the use of a telephone line, which to be honest, I was unaware was an actual crime. " Really, if a person is being attacked or in a violent dispute, obstructing them from calling for help is cruel-and most certainly a crime. Furthermore, it is something victims of domestic violence encounter all the time. Victims are often physically prevented from calling for help or manipulated and/or coerced into remaining silent about their abuse. It is a classic part of domestic violence.

I'll update this post with more from Barnes if he continues to post about the incident on twitter.



Update 1 9.9.2010 8:50 AM

Barnes: "I was the victim but still got arrested.. (via text) U know any domestic violence situation 9 outa 10 times the man gets arrested. That's the case here I was the victim but still got arrested. No matter what I say people are gonna think what they want.."




Update 2 9.9.2010 9:06 AM



Update 9.9.2010 6:06 PM

Matt Barnes' fiance Gloria released a statement stating the charges of violence against her and her family are false.

-LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email

As School Starts, A Reminder About Violence Against Women and Girls

9/7/2010 9:04 Update: Rape on
Campus Vastly Underreported - HuffingtonPost


From HuffingtonPost: Back to School, Back to Rape.

An informative read about the prevalence of violence against women and young girls.

Quick hits from the article:

1 in 4 college women are a victim of rape .

One in three teens report dating violence.

Women aged 16-24 are more susceptible to violence than at any other age.

Over half of those polled blamed Rihanna for being attacked by Chris Brown.

Author's Suggestions on what parents can do:

1. Have a conversation with your sons and daughters.

2. Get teen dating violence in your school's curriculum.

3. Write a letter to the administration at your child's college.


LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email

Photo Exhibit Displays Violence Against African Women

UNIFEM and YOPS collaborated to present a gallery of photographs and displays to reveal many different forms of violence against women all over Africa- particularly in nations torn apart by war and poverty. From AllAfrica.com :

[The exhibit] comprised of pictures that aim to raise awareness on the ruthless reality faced by women in armed conflict situations, emphasizing the serious repercussions these women then face in their communities. The display conveyed the message that peace is only possible by ending violence against women and girls. The 30 images composed the five sections of the exhibition, starting with an overview of armed conflict, followed by the various forms of gender based violence and the reasons why women and girls are particularly vulnerable in conflict and post conflict situations. The exhibition also displayed the strategies that have been developed to tackle this issue.

LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email

Carmelo's Alleged Twitter Violence and One Worthless Ho

How Twitter Reveals the way Victims of Violence  Are Stratified Based on Class, Race and Profession

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People love Twitter because it is easy, fast, and great for networking. When things on twitter go good, things are really good. Conversely, when things go bad on Twitter, they go really bad. For all the reasons the mini-blogging , super popular, social networking sight attracts thousands of new users every month and remains one of the most popular sites on the world wide web, the same can cause tempers to flare and conflicts to come to pass in front of millions of users. Often, conflicts are overblown by an instant online mass of supporters (or dissenters) of whatever the cause of the day happens to be.

Yesterday, the outrage came after an NBA player took to twitter to combat a super-groupie wanna be. The results were not pretty after said NBA player's twitter account began posting messages broadcasting to his twitter followers (he has thousands) that he would pay anyone $5000 (some reports say he offered $20,000) to physically assault (slap) the super-groupie wanna be.



The posts were deleted but not before several media outlets screen-captured the messages. Several hours later, said NBA player's account posted a message contending his account had been hacked and thanking twitter for helping him straighten that out.

Whether his account was hacked is irrelevant- at least according to super-groupie wanna be. Today, super-groupie wanna be purportedly filed a police report against the NBA player. It is unknown whether or not she actually did or did not file a police report.

See, super-groupie wanna be is Kat Stacks - a woman popular on the internet for her absurd YouTube rants, real and fake YouTube fights, multiple purported sexual encounters with famous, predominantly African American men, and last but not least, for pretending to be pregnant by a famous man at least once every 3 months. I swear, I see her rants come through my Google reader almost every week and each video is more absurd than the last. From my perspective, the woman has zero credibility.

She has no credibility not because she may sell sex as her means of employment. She willfully misleads public viewers about the nature of her relationships with several high-profile people in order to exploit those men and viewers for her own, financial, gain. When viewing her videos, I can't help but feel a bit sad. You may think what I say is stigmatizing to minority women , but there truly is something tragic about Kat Stacks. I can't help but think she would be much better off if she would stop trying to re-write Confessions of a Video Vixen.

Nevertheless, her manner of internet comportment , the way she makes her money, and her tragic and degrading videos on YouTube aside, she most certainly should not be subject to a public hit on her physical person. No woman deserves such treatment, no matter what.

The account of Carmelo Anthony and the twitter account of his wife , Lala Vasquez, asked for a hit on Stacks' life, then poked fun at the situation, as if showing shots of money and repeatedly asking for someone to take a picture of harming Stacks , was hilarious.

Even though there was a much later message stating the account of Anthony's was hacked, the excuse rings hollow, based on the fact that it is just too far fetched to be plausible. I can't believe a computer hacker a) has thousands of dollars , in cash no less, sitting around for anonymous twitter pics; and b) due to Lala's responses to Anthony's twitter posts, was her account hacked too? Yes, the "someone hacked my twitter account" is an NBA player's "my dog ate my homework " excuse- I just don't buy it.


So a rich man allegedly orders a hit on a woman who makes her money in a way many people look down upon. She also happens to be a minority woman who is reaffirming stereotypes that remain about minority women. But her profession, her Twitter drama and twitter shit-talking to his wife, do not validate Anthony's alleged response. With dangerously violent images all over every corner of our media that fetishisizes violence against women, it is unfortunate that a popular and well-known athlete furthers that message by glamorizing and poking fun at violence against women when he allegedly took a hit out on Stacks.


Responses to Anthony's alleged posts have been typical: Stacks' deserved it; Stacks' is a ho, she deserves abuse; Anthony didn't post that, it was a hacker; and my personal favorite, Anthony should have just ignored Stacks' Twitter badgering. Each one of these responses absolves Anthony of the alleged hit on Stacks and places the blame squarely on her shoulders. This is so fucking typical.

Anthony should have ignored the twitter badgering of Stacks and is solely responsible for his reprehensible response to her. As in real life aggressive situations, walking away is the best way to diffuse a heated situation. Anthony should have blocked her when the situation became heated.

In a much larger context, there is something to be said about the way our modern communications enable these types of online and virtual threats and attitudes about women and violence against women- particularly against minority women.  It is well known that online stalking is extremely hard to prosecute and online threats and violence have grown in recent years- affecting both men and women. Twitter's user friendly, follower friendly layout, enables people to interact quickly with one another, as well as contact and see in real time into a small window of a famous person's life. This has been great for many people, both fans and famous persons alike. But it can go so horribly wrong in an instant as Anthony and Stacks' conflict clearly shows.



LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email

Crime Against Women on the Rise in Kansas

A recent increase of gruesome crimes against young women are leading many in the Kansas legislature to pass new laws to address the rise in violence against women. Some are asking for more legal protection, as the increase in violence continues.

Wichita Eagle (Trigger Warning) :

Crime statistics show that young women in Kansas are far more likely than men to be murdered by a member of the opposite sex...But Kathy Williams, director of the Wichita Area Sexual Assault Center, said the new laws and all the precautions in the world can't ensure complete safety."Perpetrators always look for opportunities," she said.
With certain crimes, she said, women are more vulnerable than men. "Women are much more likely to be victims of intimate-partner violence; that is just how our society is."

LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email

The Nation: Who's To Blame For Sarah Palin

On The Notion Blog :

Anna Holmes and Rebecca Traister think so. As they argued in their New York Times Op-Ed yesterday, “If Sarah Palin and her acolytes successfully redefine what it means to be a groundbreaking political woman, it will be because progressives let it happen.” By not doing enough to nurture their own women leaders, Holmes and Traister say, it was Dems who cleared the way for Palin and her raging pack of grizzlies to maul our politics. Progressives “have done nothing to stop an anti-choice, pro-abstinence, socialist-bashing Tea Party enthusiast from becoming the 21st century symbol of American women in politics.”

Interesting and slightly infuriating read.

LaPrincipessa | Twitter | Email