A new lingerie line, “Inspired” by Playful Promises, recently launched a campaign featuring Violet Chachki. Chachki’s appointment is historical because the model is also a famous drag performer.

Truly inspirational lingerie

Inspired’s “inspiration” originated from Bettie Page, a ’50s fashion icon and groundbreaking pin-up model in her own right.

“Bettie Page is a fitting style icon for the line,” says Shadeen Francis, therapist, speaker, and educator.

Francis adds that Page pushed societal standards for seduction and sexual expression through her work as a model. “The ’50s and ’60s were marked by modesty and purity,” she says. “Despite modeling far beyond the boundaries of what was considered appropriate, she became a star celebrated for her beauty and sex appeal.”

“Bettie Page has been a big inspiration for my drag character for a long time, so it’s kind of full circle for me,” adds Chachki. “I reference her a lot in my work so it was kind of the perfect pairing for me and a dream job.”

For the campaign, the RuPaul’s Drag Race winner wears a diverse selection of vintage, pin-up-like pieces. So, pieces, such as bustier bras, high-waisted underwear, corsets, and garter belts, are in the line, reports Harpers Bazaar.

Historical and important

Although it’s monumental that Chachki is heading a campaign that a cis woman traditionally would lead, Chachki’s appointment also is important for onlookers.

“Representation is important to self-esteem and identity development,” says Francis. But if you never see yourself represented in the world, you miss one of the key ways people learn to feel accepted and capable.

And Francis adds that welcoming more people into mainstream media and giving them access to beauty empowers communities of people to see themselves as beautiful in their own right. “Drag queens, trans people, and gender non-conforming people are all beautiful. [They] deserve to live in a society that reflects that.”

VIZIN, top 40 Billboard artist, adds that “mainstream” is a fickle word. It will redefine itself as society continues to evolve and rethink beauty ideals.

“Violet is a gorgeous woman who redefines what it means to be a beauty,” VIZIN adds. “Celebrate life, love yourself unapologetically, and let the beauty inside of you match how you present yourself to the world on the outside. Be bold, be beautiful, be you.”

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Privilege can be one of the most difficult, complicated subjects to talk about these days. I’ll be the first to admit that learning about my own privileged status has been a process for me. It’s an ongoing one.

Here’s an un-fun confession: I’ve been the person in the room who needs to check their privilege but has no idea what that means (and so looks like a jerk). I’ve gotten into heated conversations that didn’t end well. Now, embarrassingly enough, I know that I was on the wrong end of many of those conversations.

Before I began to understand my own privileged status, I had a series of difficult conversations with many close friends. What I noticed during these conversations was that there were two approaches: One type of person talks about privilege in a way that is aggressive and accusatory. Essentially, they say, “You have privilege.” The other type of person does something really interesting and simple: They don’t use the word privilege at all.

For me, this was the type of person who was able to reach me and ultimately teach me to accept and acknowledge my own privileged status. While this way takes more time and can be frustrating, I recommend it. It worked with me, and I’ve seen it work with other people.

Here’s how to teach someone about privilege in three simple steps, from someone who had to be taught about hers.

Step One: Don’t use the word privilege.

You’ve been educated about your privileged status, and that in itself is a form of privilege. Understand this when you approach a conversation with someone who hasn’t had access to the same education.

On the face of it, privilege can sound like something very different to someone who doesn’t know the higher, academic definition of the word. This is especially true for poor whites (see this story for a good example). I was a teenager when I heard the word used politically for the first time. And as an average white suburbanite, being told I was privileged sounded absurd to me. To me, being privileged meant owning a yacht or living in a mansion or getting to leave the country for a vacation. How could I be privileged when I couldn’t afford a college education, a car, or basic freedoms?

I also struggled to understand my status because I had already faced my own lack of privilege numerous times. For example, the day I trained a new hire at my first job, my boss put him “in charge” of me. She also paid him more. I’d worked there for two years. Privileged? Me? No way.

You’ll see this reaction a lot with people who don’t understand the word in the political sense: They only see their lack of privilege. Calling them out on something they don’t think they have will never work.

Step Two: Acknowledge their struggles and ways they may lack privilege.

When you’re in a bad financial situation, you lack financial privilege. When you’re a certain race, religion, gender, or sexuality, you lack privilege as well. Privilege takes on many forms, and we all have varying levels of it based on these complicated, overlapping, and interacting factors. A perfect privilege calculator would take these – and countless other factors – into account. As mere humans, we have to consider all of these complications when trying to explain the concept to someone. We have to acknowledge that someone may understand they’re privileged in one way, but still not understand another dimension of their status.

Instead of attacking someone on the privilege they have but don’t understand, acknowledge areas where they may not have it. The friend who was able to reach me did this. He acknowledged where I had it rough: my gender and my lack of financial stability. Only after doing that could he allow me to see where others struggled even worse than I did.

What my friend did – and what you can do – is connect to this person by expressing empathy. When you acknowledge their suffering, even if it’s less than yours from a standpoint of privilege, the chances of them acknowledging yours increases. As it turns out, empathy can be taught. The chance of someone acknowledging the suffering of others in general increases, just because you’ve taken the step to empathize with them.

Step Three: Take their lack of privilege, and show them what the next level looks like.

Much of understanding privilege comes down to understanding that you and your pain aren’t the center of the universe. Yes, you suffer, but suffering is on a far larger scale. As a teenage girl, all I saw was how unprivileged I was. What bridged the gap for me were real-life stories and people that put it into perspective.

There was the guy who had fought homelessness and survived a violence-ridden neighborhood to go to Harvard. There was my friend, growing up as a minority and gay in a small, close-minded, southern town. The fact that he had patience with me blows my mind today. I’m so thankful.

Sometimes people don’t understand their privileged status because they don’t see what true lack of privilege means. I believe that most people who argue about privilege – and their lack of it – simply don’t know any better. Three steps and a handful of conversations later, that could change.

Related on EcoSalon

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This concept isn’t new or controversial. But some men still get—nervous… itchy—when women succeed and break the so-called glass ceiling.

The New York Times recently published an opinion piece explaining why it’s obscene when organizations, people, and, yes, even democratic strategists who support Hillary Clinton—the woman who could become America’s first female president—don’t support female success.

It’s all about trickle down

The NYT column aptly points out that when American states granted women the right to vote, politicians tried to gain women’s approval in interesting ways.

For example, politicians began to promise more money to public health issues and children’s health.

The writer points out that many children who benefited from these policies were boys, and many of those boys are men today. When women received equal voting rights, men, technically, benefited, too.

And when women began becoming police officers, crimes, such as rape and domestic violence, got more attention.

Preventing crime, such as rape and domestic violence, directly helps women, but also men tangentially, too. When a man gets arrested for harming a woman, other men see that action as unacceptable.

And any young male who lives in a home of, or knows a woman who’s subjected to these crimes, gains insight into how traumatic assault is.

Women succeed in the office

One study found the optimal mix of women and men in a business setting is 55 percent female, 45 percent male. Why? Women balance some male tendencies to take unnecessary risk.

This thought process also is applied to institutions of higher learning.

When women were granted access to college, their world opened. Stay-at-home mom and wife—both wonderful jobs when chose by a woman—were no longer a woman’s only option when she turned 18 years old.

Women could go to school and become professors, doctors, lawyers… anything.

And women who have earned degrees and become experts have changed the lives of both men and women.

It’s all better

So, we’ll close this piece with the thoughtful words The Times published:

“To to those men who worry about being hurt by the shards from one more shattered glass ceiling, I’d say: Not only is this inevitable, not only is it a matter of fairness, but the evidence is also overwhelming that when women gain power and a seat at the table, we men benefit as well. So let’s relax and join the celebration.”

Damn right.

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We hope, pray, and protest for a clean energy future, but is it really possible? And how can we ensure that it’s clean energy for all, and not just the wealthy few?

When’s the last time you made dinner by candle light or used a kerosene lamp to help your kids with their homework? Probably never, unless a freak storm knocked your power out. While flipping a switch is something we take for granted, more than one billion people lack access to reliable electricity, according to the International Energy Agency and the World Bank.

Although the U.S. consumes a disproportional amount of energy, slowly but surely more of it is coming from renewable sources. The same can’t be said for other nations, where population growth vastly outstrips grid capacity. In China, India, and many African nations, coal-fired power plants are popping up faster than developed countries are closing them down. Although it’s been said that renewable energy could power the world, energy inequality stands in the way of true global freedom from fossil fuels.

The United Nations’ “Sustainable Energy for All” campaign combines the efforts of international organizations in hopes of encouraging developing nations to adopt cleaner, more efficient technology from the start. To meet the ambitious goal of giving every human access to electricity by 2030, the UN has set out 3 objectives. Read more about them below, then scroll through the striking infographic to see how far we still have to go.

Universal Access 

With so much abundant electricity, it’s hard for us to realize all of the ways it impacts and enhances our lives. In countries where light and power comes from open fires or kerosene generators, however, the difference is palpable. “Electricity enables children to study after dark. It enables water to be pumped for crops, and foods and medicines to be refrigerated,” states the UN website. “Modern fuels for cooking and heating relieve women from the time-consuming drudgery and danger of traveling long distances to gather wood.” According to the campaign, private sector investment is key to opening up access in remote and underserved areas.

Energy Efficiency

In areas that have access to electricity, a key to a clean energy future is ensuring that none of it goes to waste. When each watt does more, it frees up valuable resources for those who have typically gone without. “Investing in efficiency is critical to meeting future energy demand and mitigating climate change,” states the UN. “It reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves productivity. By reducing energy demand, efficiency also makes renewable energy more affordable – shrinking the size of the solar panel needed to power a lamp, for example. Moving to sustainable energy and using it efficiently makes sense in a resource constrained global economy.”

Renewable Energy

All the energy conservation in the world won’t help us if fossil fuels remain our main source of producing electricity. In order to truly attain a cleaner, more equitable world for all, developing nations must have the same access to renewable energy technologies as those in the developed world. “Increasing the share of energy from renewable sources can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and local pollution; insulate countries from fuel price volatility; and improve those countries’ balance of payments,” states the UN. “Achieving the Secretary-General’s objective of doubling that percentage by 2030 requires support from all sectors of society, including individuals.”

Image: nrdcpix

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ColumnLet’s talk about rape.

No angry letters to the Ed this month (What am I doing wrong?). But I’d like to address news editor Andrea Newell’s recent piece on the social stigma of rape.

I think often about the things I hope to see happen in my life.

I’d like for therapy to be more widely accepted and used (and paid for by employers and communities, because it’s in our best interest); I’d like for men to be seen as beautiful, not beasts (because they are); I’d like for children to be more properly educated and fed and attended to so as to turn out more emotionally and physically stout adults. I’d like for us to spend money on ourselves and our future instead of on hurting ourselves and sabotaging our future. I’d like a more civil, optimistic, less cynical social welfare system.

And I would like for us to end rape as the everyday thing that it is.

If I were walking down a dark street to my car, and were approached by a man and mugged for my money, I’d be shocked, hurt and scared. It would hurt. I would be upset. I would immediately call my closest to provide comfort in the hospital (if I were really beat up badly), or I would recover at home with my girlfriends over a silly movie and a bottle of wine (if I were mostly just shaken). In any case, I’d feel a proud vindication, a certain defiant justice in knowing it was not my fault, that I’d encountered a sociopath or maybe a desperate guy strung out on drugs, and after some time and plenty of explanations to the bank and my credit cards and assurances to my corner barista that my cheekbone was blue from a lunatic, not a boyfriend, I’d go on with my life. I might be a bit more cautious about where I parked; or I might just buy a bigger can of pepper spray. I would probably tweet about it.

And yet.

If I were attacked in this classic alley-at-midnight scenario society so loves to conjure up when we think about rape, unless I were very exceptional, it might not be the same. In that dark street, the shame would begin. I cannot say for certain; but both anecdotal reference and statistical reporting by some of our best available organizations consistently find that most women never say. And that’s the problem. Would I tell every detail to my friends, my colleagues, my parents, a partner? The internet? Would I tell anyone anything at all? Unlike a mugger hot on my wallet, would a rapist bent on overpowering cause me to internalize my pain rather than share and eventually just shrug it off?

And if, like most women, I were assaulted in a situation less violent but no less painful (and to hell with those in power for their medieval would-be definitions of rape, including comparing it to little more than a flat tire on the road to successful womanhood), I might be even less inclined ever to tell a soul. Was I drinking? Was I flirting? Was it late? Was I wearing something sexy? Am I sexy; am I a woman? These shameless questions are put to our shamed victims, sending the clear message that for a woman, being a sexual being – that is, being a human being at all – is the same thing as wanting sex. Wanting it.

Why should any woman bother to tell at all? The perpetrator will simply go on with his life; while a woman would have no benefit to gain from sharing the ordeal, and almost certainly face judgment of some kind. (If the GOP has its way, this might include investigation from the IRS.)

And so: as much as one-fourth of the female portion of an entire generation internalizes its pain, produces the next generation, and goes on in sickness or in health. And the men and women both judge them for their pain if they are brave enough to tell. In this, we women are still defined by little more than our private parts. Men are still defined by their inherent inferiority. That is, they cannot possibly control themselves. And what of their pain? So, let’s watch it and joke about it instead.

You’d think we could all hold each other in just slightly less contempt.

The facts ought to overwhelm us, and yet Hollywood comedy darling Seth Rogan makes mainstream movie jokes about date rape, unapologetically at that, which we all but overlook. We live in a society where by some measures, as many as one-fourth of women are victims of sexual assault. 25% growth for a company is phenomenal. 25% in a raise? You must be good. 25% gain on your investment is almost unheard of. 25% unemployment is the Great Depression. In other words: 25% is a lot. We should be able to agree that 25% of anyone being hurt is 25% too many. (Note: there has been criticism of the original academic study’s finding, primarily from conservative media, though few would dispute that the modest numbers reported by law enforcement are inaccurate.)

I remember when I first stumbled upon this famous “1 in 4” statistic as a 16-year-old editor at my high school newspaper.

Tom, my editor-in-chief, stormed in from the copy editing room. “25%?!” he yelled, as if I hadn’t yet figured out this new altavista.com research thing. I whipped out the NOW fact sheet and held it to his face. Flicking over the page, he grew quiet. He walked back to the copy room without a word. We published the article, which included an account from a sophomore girl who’d been recently raped by an older male student and decided not to report it because, in her words, what was the point?

That was a long time ago. Not much has changed.

Rather than be examined by a concerned populace and addressed by an appalled government, rape instead enjoys status as an adrenalitic click driver even for the most popular online publications (some of which are little more than cheap T&A gussied up with a few real reporters and celebrity bloggers). And we do nothing. In our voyeuristic appetite, we accept. In fact, we even quite enjoy it as porn.

Rape: these are a few of our favorite things.

What broken down fabric of relationships has unraveled to bring us to such a state? I don’t think it’s the people I know; is it the people you know? Because it’s someone, and I can’t begin to fathom who, but I know we must begin to address why.

The stigma of rape hurts everyone. It hurts women but it also hurts men. We as humans are meant to support and love each other. We need each other. We are all, in our varying preferences and orientations, designed for each other. We wonder in dismay at addiction and abuse, at divorce, at corporate and political corruption, at popular culture’s superficiality, at our own inability to connect in satisfying ways. We judge, and in quiet we hurt. Momentary salvage: we leave ourselves and numb out.

If we want to begin to address our ills, we might start with our most intimate violations of trust, the one that affects a very significant portion of our population – including the next generation. And because we cannot change these patterns overnight, perhaps the best thing we can do to begin to dismantle the overwhelmingly ugly specter of rape from our society is to remove the stigma from the victims.

I remember a conversation with a would-be suitor in college. Over pasta marinara we got into a heated argument about choice. I just couldn’t believe he was pro-life. I asked him if he thought even victims of rape and incest should be forced to bear an attacker’s child. He said simply that he wasn’t sure but that he thought if a woman were raped or the victim of incest, we should embrace her and not judge, because it wasn’t her fault, and that we should welcome any possible eventual child as a gift: a healing balm as the product of an unfair attack. I was furious. My eyes welled with reproach and I abruptly ended the lunch (he was mortified).

I wondered how any man, especially a young, progressive one at a good university, could think in such a way. Yet his statement was so naively hopeful, his voice so full with acceptance, I will never forget the conversation. Of course, the reality is that most women who are victims of rape or incest don’t have the benefit of loving partners or supportive communities to care for them and a child, a product of assault, as an alternative to abortion. And further, women should be able to stand as women; that is, we shouldn’t need a community’s “protection” or “support” when victimized in order to validate our own experience. We should be able to decide for ourselves how best to live.

But in retrospect, his sentiment was innocent, his sincerity so apparent. Here was a man who would stand by a woman with not a trace of judgment were she to be a victim of sexual assault. He plainly said so. And he clearly meant it. And we need more people like that.

This is the latest installment in your editor’s column, The Insider’s Guide to Life, exploring topics such as media, culture, sex, politics, and anything else. Cheers and spellcheck!

Image: bitterjug

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On November 17th, the Paycheck Fairness Act went to the Senate for vote. The bill would have provided “improvement and modifications” to the Equal Pay Act of 1963. President Obama called it a common sense bill. Nonetheless, it failed to pass due to an overwhelming surge of Republican opposition. Democrats voted 56:1 in favor, while Republicans went 1:40 against it.

So what have women lost as a result of this vote? As Jezebel reports, the Act would have “required employers to provide a business justification for paying men and women differently for the same work and make it easier for employees to obtain salary data and ask about salaries without retaliation.” A lack of transparency is a key reason why many women remain underpaid. Currently, a woman makes 77 cents to each dollar a man earns.

What do Senate Republicans and one Democrat have against a woman knowing what her co-worker earns? Some argued that the Act would kill jobs, and that a woman’s lower pay is a result of her choices in balancing family life with work.

Others argued that it would have opened up the work place for unnecessary lawsuits. But as the Washington Post points out, the Act would have simply “clarified vague language in the Equal Pay Act of 1963 and applied well-established legal standards that are in place for other types of pay discrimination.”

To mourn the death of the Paycheck Fairness Act, check out our homage to some of the more ridiculous laws regarding women on the books. Hopefully, some will soon be repealed. Let’s just not send them to Congress to do so.

1. In Maryland, a woman cannot go through her husband’s pockets while he is sleeping. Not even if she really wants a piece of gum.

2. In Vermont, a woman must obtain written permission from her husband if she wishes to wear false teeth. Because women really lead with their teeth in wanton, uncontrolled sexuality.

3. In Tucson, Arizona, women are not allowed to wear pants. No word on the stance on booty shorts or thongs.

4. In Carrizozo, New Mexico, it is illegal for a woman to appear unshaven in public. Rejoice, razor industry, rejoice!

5. In Dyersburg, Tennessee, it is illegal for a woman to call a man on a date. I don’t want to live in a world where equal-opportunity drunk dialing isn’t free to all.

6. In Carmel, New York, women may not wear high heels within the city limits. They are obviously just protecting their citizens, as this move effectively disqualifies the city from ever letting a “Sex and the City” sequel to be shot in their town. Good move, Carmel!

7. In Michigan, a woman isn’t allowed to cut her hair without her husband’s permission. But what if her husband cuts it for her?

Image: ralpe

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For all the “girl power” rhetoric of the past half-century, women still earn just 77 cents for every dollar earned by men and make up just a tiny fraction of the professionals working in scientific and technological fields. But according to an analysis by the Center for American Progress, if the United States is going to emerge from the recession into a new clean energy economy, it must be with our help.

Despite the fact that women have higher levels of college enrollment, earn 1.2 million more graduate and undergraduate degrees every year than men and make up nearly 50 percent of the workforce, we’re still grossly unrepresented in the three high-paying sectors that will be integral to the clean energy economy: green collar jobs, engineering and entrepreneurship.

But it’s not because we don’t want to be – the reality is that the glass ceiling is still intact, with all kinds of factors making it difficult for women to be successful in these areas. The Center for American Progress, a liberal public policy research and advocacy organization, notes that women of all income levels don’t have equal access to training, employment, start-up capital and financing to get a foot in the doors of these industries. Women-owned businesses are also far less likely to gain lucrative federal contracting opportunities.

Demand is set to dramatically increase for skilled workers in the construction, manufacturing, and agricultural sectors as the federal government pushes for progress in alternative fuels, bio-energy and other industries, and highly trained scientists are needed to continue the advancement of green technology.

Luckily, programs that train women for these jobs are starting to pop up around the nation, like the Vermont Works for Women project and Women Going Green in Atlanta, Georgia – but addressing the barriers that women still face will need to be a major priority. The only way for the United States to compete with highly motivated nations like China is to make sure that the female workforce plays a vital role in helping the green economy flourish.

Image:greenforall.org

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