Sheryl Underwood: Crass, raunchy, confident and hilarious

While doing research about female comedians for an interview I recently did, I discovered the bawdy and hilarious Sheryl Underwood. I wouldn't classify her comedy as feminist, but her confidence and balls-out attitude are definitely inspirational to me. She even serves up some decent relationship advice along with a healthy dose of profanities and laughs.

If you love funny, crass ladies with attitude and smarts I seriously recommend you clear your calendar for 10 minutes and watch this video.

Seriously funny ladies make "Shit Guys Say" videos

By now most people have heard about Shit Girls Say - a couple of dudes who tweet and make videos about about... erm, shit girls say. The videos have gone viral for a reason - they're funny. The creators do a good job of poking fun at women without offending them.

Well, hot on the tails of Shit Girls Say is a whole slew of other Shit People Say videos. I watched a few made by women about the shit guys say, and I laughed my ass off. These ladies are seriously funny - check 'em out.  

Shit Guys Say
Canadian ladies Tori Lord and Chanelle Ramsubick mock dudes pretty accurately in this video. Keep your eyes out for the Edmonton Oilers jersey - a nice little Canadian touch.




Shit Black Guys Say
Comedians Robin Thede and Inda Craig-Galván amused me greatly with their popular sayings of black guys.

I love advertisements with strong, sassy, smart ladies

I just saw this ad for World of Warcraft on TV the other day and I absolutely loved it. First let me say that I do not play World of Warcraft (or any computer/video games, for that matter) but I have definitely noticed their catchy and creative advertisements (have you seen the one with Mr. T?).

Anyway, back to the reason why I like this commercial so much. First, Aubrey Plaza, who's awesomely hilarious in the TV show Parks and Recreation, is equally snarky and funny in this commercial. I love her sassy personality in this ad. She comes accross as a strong, smart woman who don't take no shit from nobody, and I love it.

There's nothing worse than whiny, weak women like Bella from the Twilight series. Kudos to the marketing team at World of Warcraft for portraying smart, powerful women in their advertising, and not trying to "cutesy" up the game or the commercials in order to appeal to women. 

Feminist action figures!

Ok, so this ad is just for fun, but how cool would it be if a toy manufacturer actually made feminist action figures? I would totally buy these Brontë Sisters Power Dolls for the budding young feminist in my life!

George Carlin on Women

I love George Carlin.

Feminist stuff you should do this weekend!

There are a whole bunch of cool things happening this weekend that Calgary feminists should definitely check out!

1. Margaret Cho at the Jubilee - October 1

She's a funny feminist. Some people say those two things can't exist together, but Ms. Cho is proof that they can. Check out her video about the elusive G-Spot.



2. The Penelopiad at the Martha Cohen Theatre - Until October 9

Written by an awesome Canadian feminist, Margaret Atwood, The Penelopiad is Atwood's interpretation of the classic story, The Odyssey. It tells the story of Penelope, the faithful wife of the wandering warrior-king Odysseus, during her 20-year wait for his return home. It’s also directed by a woman - Vanessa Porteous - and features eleven female actresses.


3. Screening of the film ‘December 6’

Local feminist film maker, Cara Mumford, hosts a screening of her film December 6. The film makes use of spoken word poetry, dance and collage to send a message about the Montreal Massacre of 1989.

October 3, 1:00 p.m.
Temple B'nai Tikvah - 900 47th Avenue SW
Free admission

Gloria Steinem on The Colbert Report

Check out this 5 min video of Gloria Steinem on The Colbert Report.



Gloria schools Colbert on the actual goal of the feminist movement (FYI, it's simple ... "equality." As Gloria jokes, "I know it sounds radical, but that was it!"). She also discusses how women are paid 25% less then men, and that men who take on household and child-rearing responsibilities have better marriages, live longer and have better sex. Hell yeah!

Tonight's Show: Funny Ladies in Improv

Tonight we have the pleasure of interviewing two female improv actors that are participating in the upcoming "Women in Improv" show.

Urban Curves and the Improv Guild are presenting this evening of all-female improv, which is directed by Patti Stiles from Melbourne, Austrailia and features actors from the US and Calgary.

Date: Wednesday September 30th, 2009
Time: 7:30 PM
Location: The Engineered Air Theatre (205 – 8th Ave SE)
Tickets: Available online at Calgary Improv Festival

Two tickets to the show will be given away on-air tonight! Tune in from 8:30 to 9:00pm on CJSW 90.9 fm, or stream it online at cjsw.com. If you miss the live show, check out our podcast anytime.

Young Men Give Props to Women

This is a beautiful and touching "Slam Poem" that gave me chills. These young men were National Youth Poetry Slam finalists in 2005 with this piece.

My favourite line? "If you don't believe in abortion, don't get one, you asshole. And don't you ever call my women murderers for wanting control over their bodies. Besides, our current welfare system couldn't feed a family for a weekend."

Props to these talented, intelligent young men.

Wanda Sykes on a "Detachable Pussy"

Well folks, as February comes to an end we say goodbye to Black History Month, but we say hello to March which is Women's History Month!
In honour of both these months, I'd like to share a video by Wanda Sykes. Wanda is by far one of the funniest women in comedy, and this particular piece on the benefits of having a "detachable pussy" is pure brilliance. Check it out!

New "Target Women" Vid! Love it.

Check out the latest Target Women video from the delightful Sarah Haskins. She makes fun of how the media portrays women as diet-obsessed, and how they also make ridiculous claims like "Just cut out soda and you'll shed pounds!"

Watch Target Women: Diets here!

And if you haven't yet discovered the wonderfully funny "Target Women" videos, click here. We highly recommend them for all feminist-thinking folks.

A Man With Some Repulsive Opinions About Why He Can't Get Laid. Comedy? Not Quite.

He says women go to clubs wearing “...next to nothing because they want attention from men”. While he is entitled to making shallow assumptions about the reasons why women dress the way in which they please or why they go out to clubs, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that his opinions are lacking in taste, that they are aggressive and completely fucking ignorant.

For those of you familiar with Naomi Wolf’s The Beauty Myth, you’ll likely recognize that this foolish perception of the way women are expected to dress --and what must, apparently, be determined of us based on the way we dress-- is a clear and precise example of some of the dilemmas examined in the book. Toju (as he is called) expresses that, while he claims to love women, the attitude women tend to dish out produces a number of challenges for him as he attempts to collect phone numbers, grind against strangers without invitation, and do whatever else it is he thinks gives women the attention we’re looking for when out at a bar or at a club. This challenge somehow manages to turn him on.
Just me? Or are we standing firmly on the territory of blatant harassment? Yes, I think freaking so.

If anyone out there is even slightly offended after watching this young man run a muck , I suggest you do whatever is in your power to publicly decry this sort of abusiveness. I’ m shocked that his opinions are even slightly welcome by modern collective journalism websites like the one where this video can be viewed.

Toju, you do NOT love women. You clearly hate them. No, I'll re-phrase: you hate the ones that aren't afraid to look how they want, say what they don't want, and give you the burning slap in the face you're so desperately awaiting with your tongue hanging out like a diseased and starving animal, as you’ve shown us.

The video can be seen here

Maybe you'd like to say something to him? If so, I suggest you send him your message.