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Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
What Does Madonna's 50th Birthday Really Mean?

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checkyaself
09/23/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
So wait a young Bardot is bad but a young Mean Fox is good? WOW.
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whynotshesaid
09/23/09

@checkyaself: I don't understand. Did Megan Fox make racist comments or something?
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gertrudethegrand
09/23/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
it's a bit like the idolization of coco chanel when in fact, she rubbed elbows with nazis...
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prismatism
09/23/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
Is plastic surgery un-feminist? Is not getting plastic surgery a feminist act?

I don't want anything done to myself now, and don't think I'd mind a few wrinkles in the future, but if, in my 70's, I wanted some work done & had the money to do it, I would.

It isn't what you do. It's why you do it. And the reasons why anyone does anything are a personal thing. Brigitte Bardot not having plastic surgery does not make her a feminist, and Sophia Loren having plastic surgery does not mean she is not.
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roxythekiller
09/23/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
This is an interesting article. I like Bardot for her bluntness, even if I rarely agree with anything she says. Her heart is in the right place when it comes to animal rights, yet her political incorrectness makes her difficult to embrace as a mainstream icon.

However, she is only saying what many people quietly think about Islam. It's sad, it's racist, it's depressing... it's also a problem that affects all of us on a daily basis, and many of us are too "polite" to point out. If her comments can inspire conversation on issues people don't want to talk about, then power to her.
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Trulymadlyme
09/23/09

@roxythekiller: However, she is only saying what many people quietly think about Islam.

That point could be made about what people are saying about Jews, Blacks, Hispanics, and Gays. I'd like to think the overwhelming majority of society are not a morass of hateful fucks, though.
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topsy
09/23/09

@roxythekiller: Like I said, there will always be apologists for racists, but Ms. Bardot's comments are a wee bit more than merely 'politically incorrect'. And just because there are people who share her abhorrent views is no reason to give her a pass.
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napalmnacey is an angry feminist
09/22/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
They can wank over Bardot. I'll be over here, celebrating Jane Fonda.
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katie.scarlett.o'hara
09/22/09

@napalmnacey is an angry feminist: She's so awesome. I love her autobiography.
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KATE!
09/22/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
i guess the only type of female empowerment that is really worth celebration is the sexual kind.

im really glad we threw off centuries of oppression and submission so that we could have the freedom to give men boners! or better yet, so we could have to freedom to allow men to control our images so that they could give themselves boners.

now if only feminist historians would stop focusing on those ugly old bitches like margaret sanger and focus on women like brigitte who REALLY worked for the cause. the gaurdian really knows where its at.
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DexterHaven promoted this comment Edited by KATE! at 09/22/09 9:52 PM KATE! was starred KATE! was unstarred

Agumen
09/22/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
I have no problem with people being praised for their bodies as long as other people are being praised for their minds. So I have no problem with the piece on Bardot, I just wish it was balanced with more awesome doctors, scientists, authors etc. we should know about.

As for just taking what you want from an person, just taking an image? Just look at Che Guevara. Most of America has no idea who he was or what he did, but they have his image on posters and t-shirts all over the place.

Humans are visual. We largely don't care what people we don't know are like, we just like to look at them. When it comes to people we do know, we don't care what they look like and do care about their personality.

Sorry, I rambled.

Also, the muslim thing in France and England IS a problem. Not that Muslims have immigated; that's their right if they do so legally; but that there has been poor integration into culture and society on one side and fear and racism on the other. Neither side is covering themselves in glory, and I'd love to see something worked out. I love immigration, but if it's too much too soon it can cause social problems.
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KATE!
09/22/09

@Agumen: i think the issue here is not that she was hot and everyone wanted a piece, but that she is being lauded as a feminist icon without ever having really done anything....too feministy.
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Trulymadlyme promoted this comment Edited by KATE! at 09/22/09 10:06 PM KATE! was starred KATE! was unstarred

Trulymadlyme
09/22/09

@Agumen: There is explicit, open and notorious racism, lack of opportunity, and isolation of immigrants in Europe in a way that very, very, very few Americans will ever understand. Bardot fueled it with her hateful speech. I don't give the fuck she looked like but I do think the fact that she would just be another racist, anti-immigrant French woman but for her looks speaks volumes as to why the world is an insanely fucked up place. This isn't about Bardot. It's about us.
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Edited by Trulymadlyme at 09/22/09 10:08 PM Trulymadlyme was starred Trulymadlyme was unstarred

Trulymadlyme
09/22/09

@KATE!: Because we equate "beauty" with merit. The pretty princess or angel. The ugly witch or monster. And I'm not going to touch what sort of cultural and racial prejudices going into categorizing these two extremes.

She would be irrelevant but for what one might call her "beauty." That is what is fucked up.
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HereComesMyBaby
09/23/09

@Agumen: I see this shirt around everywhere in Israel--it's a t-shirt of Che Guevara's face, and underneath it it says "who IS that?". Favorite shirt ever.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
09/23/09

@HereComesMyBaby: where can i get one from? i want, so bad!
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KATE!
09/23/09

@HereComesMyBaby: the true irony of both the original shirt and this clever new counter-counter-cultural meta-response is that che spent his entire life fighting this sort of cultural and capital imperialism and now his image has become nothing more than a bourgeois consumer commodity.

its kind of funny (in that sad kind of way) how it worked out: capitalism stole the iconography of one of the left's most mythic figures and subverted it to that point that it is so completely devoid of context that he's a running cultural joke. i have a real soft spot in my heart of that mythic che of the left, but i wouldn't go near that guerrillero heroico imagery on pain of death.
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saraclear
09/23/09

@Trulymadlyme: Here here. I stupidly spend far too much time worrying about living up to a visual ideal instead of looking at those with moral ideals and wondering if I live up to those - and she aint got the kind I like by the sounds of it, anyway. Funny though, when you get people who are quite sound on that front, like Chris Martin or, female-wise, Angelina (despite what gets written about more - ie Brad and the kids), they get labelled a do-gooder..
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HereComesMyBaby
09/23/09

@Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith: Hmm, I don't actually know. I think it's an independent little shirt place that makes them. You should just make your own unless you want one in Hebrew. Hah.
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HereComesMyBaby
09/23/09

@KATE!: Well that's a depressing way of looking at it.

I personally don't mind the appropriation of historical figures for laughs if the laughs are intelligent/interesting/self-aware. But I also don't buy funny shirts/shirts with "messages." I only make my own.
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KATE!
09/23/09

@HereComesMyBaby: i actually really like when historical or political figures are used in popular culture but, as you said, only if they are intelligent/interesting/etc. because it can keep them relevent and in the current discourse. but sadly none of those words can be applied to the che shirts that you can buy at hot topic.
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Vivien Smith-Smythe-Smith
09/24/09

@HereComesMyBaby: But I love Hebrew! Mad keen! (and my best ever che-find was a lanyard emblazoned with his face, from some random dimestore a couple of years back.)
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Sputnik_Sweetheart
09/22/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
Very well said. It drives me nuts when women (cough, Jessica Simpson, cough, Paris Hiton, cough) talk about what an inspiration Bardot is for them, but have no idea who she is outside of her sex kitten persona.
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Highsmith
09/22/09

In reply to Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)
Not a fan. To me she always was & will be a spectacularly untalented bimbo.
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aureliajones
09/22/09

@Highsmith: jealous, tisk tisk.
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Highsmith
09/22/09

@aureliajones: Oh yeah. RIGHT. That MUST be the ONLY reason. Bishe, please!
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Trilby O'Ferrall
09/22/09

@Highsmith: Last night I was bored, so I picked a movie from On Demand, "Viva Maria" starring Brigitte Bardot and Jeanne Moreau(sp?). It was HORRIBLE, and Bardot was absolute crap. Gloriously beautiful and charismatic, but a laughably bad actor. I only made it through about 30 minutes before I turned it off. One of the worst movies I have ever seen and that is not an exageration. It is, however, the only movie I have seen her act in. So you have one person here who might agree with you. If that movie is a true example of her acting skills, she was indeed untalented.
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aureliajones
09/23/09

@Highsmith: It is the only reason to say something so spectacularly nasty about someone you don't know at all. So you disagree with her. Get over yourself.
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Edited by aureliajones at 09/23/09 2:35 AM aureliajones was starred aureliajones was unstarred

Highsmith
09/23/09

@aureliajones: Really? You think if someone thinks another woman to be untalented & not particularly bright, then it would have to be because of "jealousy"? Jealousy of what? I don't get your reasoning? I do think Bardot was a pretty awful actress & the statements I've read of her over the years have made me convinced she's not very intelligent. I'm not holding being a fabricated sex symbol against her but neither am I impressed. Ok, I'll grant you that: her pouting & posing was impressive. Happy?
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aureliajones
09/23/09

@Highsmith: So angry! You wouldn't know how bright she is. We get dozen word sound bites from her. If she were not so beautiful, she would not be deemed a "bimbo". Such vitriol stems from your utter annoyance with her popularity. And yes, I'm happy enough not to bash a woman I don't know, especially using such a misogynistic term as "bimbo". You give her that she's pretty but dumb, which is a common way to cut down conventionally pretty women. Good job!
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Edited by aureliajones at 09/23/09 12:25 PM aureliajones was starred aureliajones was unstarred

krismry
06/25/09

In reply to Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
How irritating, everyone and her brother gets an Emmy, they hand them out like candy, and even I knew two people that got them, they are that common. The Emmy people definitely should make up a special category Emmy and give it to Farrah's family at their next awards.
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philoclea
06/25/09

In reply to Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
This made me sadder than I expected. I'm not a particular fan of hers or anything, but it's sad to see a life lost to that stupid, stupid disease.

On a different note: Did anyone find the Times obit unconscionably condescending? It seemed to me just inappropriate for an obituary.
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hej hej
06/25/09

In reply to Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
A lovely tribute to, by all accounts, a lovely lady.
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ToUnfoldThem
06/25/09

In reply to Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
This is so incredibly sad. I have a cousin who just passed away from cancer on Sunday morning, and we were best friends. My prayers and thoughts go out to her family because the pain from the loss can be so devastating. But she isn't suffering anymore. RIP Farrah.
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ElleL
06/25/09

@ToUnfoldThem: I am so sorry for your loss.
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Aesop's Foibles. YES.
06/25/09

In reply to Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
Peaceful rest to you, Beauty.
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sassyredhead
06/25/09

In reply to Farrah Fawcett, 1947-2009
I think her best work was "Small Sacrafices." She was amazing.

And her poster in the 70's was on my best-friend's brother's bedroom wall. She was just like sunshine.
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Brigitte Bardot 'Represents The Power Of Woman' (And Reactionary Craziness!)

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