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This month, the cover of Rose McGowans forthcoming memoir, titled Brave, was released. The cover features a black-and-white image of the back of McGowans buzzed head, with the letters emblazoned vertically toward her spine. Running parallel to the title, at the edge of the frame, is the pair of clippers that we see McGowan is wielding herself.
Obviously, those clippers are more than just a styling tool. Theyre a pen, writing the words fuck you to the man who victimized herthe now-disgraced Harvey Weinsteinand the men who allowed his abuse to go unchecked.
McGowan, arguably, played as big a role in Weinsteins downfall and the ensuing cultural cascade as anybody. She was one of the first to come forward, long before people would take her seriously. Shes stood her ground, even when its hurt her career. And so her weaponized buzzcut (which has now grown out slightly into a weaponized pixie) nods to the best weapon men have against women: compliance to standards that men have put in place, from the internallike the ideal, cheerful, feminine agreeability for which we are all pressured to striveto the purely external, like smiling on command or having long hair.
A woman like McGowan, outwardly flaunting her rejection of social expectations, can only mean shes capable of god knows what. A woman who lops off her hair has stopped caring what anybody thinks of her.
Baldness among women is fraught, because hair on women is fraught. In pop culture, the sight of a woman who has cut her hair very shorteither by her own volition or somebody elsesoften is used as shorthand for trauma or loss. Furiosa in Mad Max: Fury Road, Eleven in Stranger Things, Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones. Anne Hathaway in Les Mis. Britney Spears, attacking a car with an umbrella. When a woman has been robbed of her femininity by cruelty of circumstance, the world should watch out for its recompense.
And yet for many women, chopping off their hair is freeingan act of noncompliance that centers on themselves and their own needs, not a cry for help or an act of anger.
Insecure creator and star Issa Rae wrote that going short was the most freeing thing shed ever doneshe shaved her head as part of the big chop, part of the process women of color with chemically straightened hair undergo if they choose to transition to natural hair. Vox political reporter Jane Coaston buzzed hers off before going natural as well, and had people similarly give her look a very specific read. I cut it all off when I was 15, and then started buzzing the sides in college and afterwards, she says. Now I get the sides buzzed while the middle is shoulder length. And yes, people did treat me different. I was very overweight at the time and lots of people misgendered me (called me sir). Now it's something that makes me recognizable and I get a lot of compliments, but a lot from people saying how brave I am.
Other women shave their heads because they have to. When Lara, in her thirties and from Pennsylvania, buzzed her thick Zooey Deschanel-like hair off, it was for practical reasons. She was undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. It really freaked out my husband, to see me just unceremoniously take an electric shaver to my own head, she says. I was pragmatic about itmy scalp hurt because my follicles were all dyingthis was the only solution and baldness was inevitable.
Lara would sometimes whip her wig off as a hilarious party trick and eventually embraced her baldness, dying her hair blue as it grows back. But during much of her treatment, she says, she covered her hair and tried to pass for somebody who wasnt sick. I didnt have the emotional energy for strangersand some friendsemotional, often wildly insensitive questions and comments about my bald head Sometimes you dont want the attention at all, you are just trying to get through the day. I performedand still performa lot of emotional labor around other peoples feelings about both baldness and cancer of all kinds.
Still other women who have buzzed their hair say they did it to rebel. One woman, who was raised in a strict religious household, got an undercut despite the fact that her parents forbade her from cutting her hair. Only a few people in her life know.
And, for some queer women, shaving all or part of their hair has nudged the world into seeing them the way they see themselves. I thought it would be a way for me to communicate my queerness to other people without saying anything, says Shelagh Dolan, who shaved part of her hair off in college. I have dated both men and women but most people don't assume that when they meet me because I'm relatively feminine presenting. I sort of wanted a way to send out a bat signal to people like me, I guess.
Laura Royden shaved her head for the first time when she was 18. More people call me sir. I think the biggest thing is that Im read as queer right off the bat by most people, whereas I never am with long hair because I dress fairly femme, she says. Ive only experienced positive response from peopleevery time I buzz my hair, people are like whoa! so bold! youre so brave! which is low-key silly but I guess also nice to hear.
Regardless of the intent behind the cutfrom illness to rebellion to a fresh start for natural hairwomen who have buzzed their heads tell The Daily Beast that the world reacted to them differently once they didnt have hair, treated them like they were tough or badass or even scary. The word dozens of women most used in speaking to me was intimidating.
But the way women felt about their own hair often diverged from this consensus; one word they used to describe how having a shaved head made them feel was confident. Many told me they loved how cute it made them feel, or feminine. They learned to love the shape of their heads. I'm more confident in my own skin, says Xiomara Blanco, an editor. I carry myself with the peaceful knowledge that if I lose my hair, it's not the end of the world. Not even close.
I felt like I moved with more assurance and speed (once) I wasn't constantly worrying about my hair, says Renee, who cut hers off for the big chop. It was hat-proof, weather-proof, bed-head-proof. Hair can be especially fraught for black women, and it was nice to lay that burden down.
I felt more aware of being seen, which made me feel both more confident and self-conscious at the same time, said one woman who shaved hers for the first time on a trip to Thailand. It did make me pay more attention and have more respect for women who choose to live out of the gender box in terms of hairwhether it be head, legs, or armpits. Rule-breakers make the world a little safer for all ofus to express our individuality.
Perhaps the buzz cut isnt as much an aggressive fuck-you as it is an I dont give a fuck, a gesture designed to tell a male-dominated society that none of this is for them, that none of it can be for them. Maybe theres something terrifying, as a man, to suddenly see evidence that somebody you thought you were entitled to no longer cares what you think.
From talking to women who have cut their hair very short, it seems the fear or intimidation that buzzed hair on a woman prompts isnt a reflection of how she feels about herself. Its panic over the fact that that this woman, for one reason or another, is not putting mens needs or desires first. Shes not necessarily holding up a middle finger to the world, although she might beand, if youre Rose McGowan, the world deserves it. But mostly, shes just deciding to care about herself.
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Article Source Here: Buzz Cuts Are the Ultimate Sign of Female Power
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Police in Washington state allege that a drunk, naked man crashed a car on Wednesday while he was having sex at the wheel with a woman whose baby was in the backseat.
The driver missed a curve as he was being straddled by the 3-month-old infant’s naked mother, per multiple reports.
He ended up plowing the vehicle into a tree on Route 7 near La Grande in Pierce County at around 6 p.m. on Wednesday.
The couple were “scrambling” to get dressed as police arrived at the scene, Washington State Trooper Brooke Bova told The Independent.
The baby had been securely strapped into a carseat and was not injured. The woman suffered a broken pelvis and the man sustained a broken wrist.
It’s not clear whether the mother, who was also reportedly drunk, will face any charges. HuffPost has reached out to police for further information.
Authorities have charged the man, however, with suspicion of DUI, vehicular assault and child endangerment. He remains in custody at Pierce County Jail.
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“It fucking depresses me that this comes from experience rather than an outsider perspective,” Greg, 29, tells the Daily Dot.
Greg is talking about a video that’s been making the rounds since the New York Times published an explosive report of multiple women saying that Louis C.K. masturbated in front of them. In the video, from his 2013 HBO standup special, C.K. details the ways in which men are the “number one threat” to women. Like much of his work, it’s peppered with references to compulsive masturbation, giving the material new, disturbing weight in light of the recent accusations.
C.K. is just the latest in a long list of powerful men who have been accused of sexual harassment or assault in the past month. In many ways, these nonstop reports have been a loud wakeup call for the segment of America who wasn’t already woke. Many men knew that women faced harassment, but they didn’t know that every single woman on their Facebook feed had been harassed until #MeToo. The “casting couch” had always been a punchline, but no one understood how devastating abuse of power really was in Hollywood until a new actress started coming forward every 10 minutes to say someone had harassed or assaulted her. With each new accusation lobbed at Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and James Toback, we swiftly and collectively decided these men were despicable. But what about men whose work deeply resonates with us, whose self is their work?
Previous generations of men have responded with ambivalence or total avoidance when it comes to criminal accusations of their artistic heroes like Woody Allen and Roman Polanski. But for women, accusations of sexual assault can’t be so easily shrugged off. They resonate: One in three women will be victims of sexual or physical violence. You can’t look away or avoid an accusation when it hits you in a visceral, personal place. It didn’t take the Times piece for women to condemn C.K.; many have been turned off from the comedian since those first rumors began circulating in 2012.
News: "Louis CK removed all of his clothes and began masturbating"
Men: "IT'S JUST SO HARD TO KNOW WHERE THE LINE IS THESE DAYS"— inv🍊luntary🍊range (@involuntaryorng) November 9, 2017
How millennial men will process the Louis C.K. allegations could be the greatest turning point in our country’s reluctance to face rape culture. He’s far from the only celebrity at the center of the recent media flurry, but his cult-like status among millennial comedy fans and the nature of his work mean, for the first time, many young men are being forced to deal with a fallen hero and decide what it means when a great artist may be not only a shitty person, but also a criminal.
One of the particular aspects of the Louis C.K. allegations is that it’s difficult, if not impossible, to separate the man from his work. In cases like Spacey, men were quick to point out that acting is literally about pretending to be someone different—a flimsy excuse at best. Others argued that we don’t, as a society, avoid products made by major companies if a single person in the company was found guilty of a crime.
“They are all hideous humans who abused their respective positions of power, and should rightly be demonized,” Rupert, 29, tells the Daily Dot. “But should their actions completely nullify the hard work of all those people involved?… These people should be held culpable for their actions, but in no real other areas do we seem to suggest the only action is to boycott everything touched by them. I love Parks and Rec, but should I now not watch it because Louis C.K. was in a few episodes? I guess, ultimately, as a consumer, I feel somewhat powerless to effect change or hold people to account. So, therefore, what is a rational response?”
You can see the internal struggle, the justification. Justification that I too am tempted by, especially when shows like Parks and Rec are brought up. But this line of thinking is also a deflection. Standup is not an ensemble sitcom. Yes, there are people involved in production. But in standup, the comedian is everything. It’s their thoughts, their ideas, and, in the case of Louis C.K., their jokes about disturbingly similar actions to what they’ve been accused of. Standup is supposed to reveal truths and unearth hypocrisies, which makes Louis C.K.’s material feel twisted and brazen.
With C.K., art is the person. You can’t look away.
Two months ago, Louis CK had said his accusers were spreading “rumors.” His fans continued to revere him. Under pressure, he has now confessed and awaits patiently his redemption. There is a script, and men know it by heart.
— EngelsInTheOutfield (@praxicalmagic) November 10, 2017
Of course, some men still can. “I just don’t want to know anything about celebs outside of watching their products,” Adam, 30, tells the Daily Dot. “It ruins it.” It “ruins it” to hear about their IRL relationships. It “ruins it” to hear about criminal charges. It “ruins it” to have to consider women suffering rape and abuse while watching a favorite TV show. All of which is the definition of male privilege.
For others, it’s been an easy choice to condemn C.K. and stop supporting his work. “I wouldn’t say I was surprised—there have been rumors about him for a while now,” James, 30, tells the Daily Dot. “I think I stopped watching him a year or two ago when I heard about them, it wasn’t a conscious decision, but I just stopped finding him funny.”
However, even James is still grappling with what power we have as consumers and if it makes a difference at all. “ are only being punished now because they got caught, not because they did it in the first place… The public is having to act as judge and jury here, which will inevitably lead to some people suffering from false accusations and others who are guilty never being punished because it wasn’t ‘exposed’ by the right journalists or at the right time. Uncovering these crimes is a good thing, but ultimately we’re only dealing with the individuals, not the problem itself. So while I’m happy that people are coming forward, I’m disheartened more every time because it’s clear we’re only scratching the surface. Once public interest wanes, these guys will go back to doing what they’ve been doing.”
Though in some cases, that may be a disturbing truth, this reasoning also reads as a throw-your-hands-in-the-air-type loophole—one that men have been using to keep watching C.K. until now. Titans are toppling because people are finally listening, finally responding. Spacey was dropped from his latest projects. Harvey Weinstein’s latest film made only $742 at opening. C.K.’s catalog of specials has been pulled at HBO and his new film won’t likely see the light of day. We can do something.
We can’t ignore the role that hero worship played in all of this. For a comedy fan, it would be difficult not to adore Louis C.K., who was given a seal of approval by critics and fans alike with his sold-out Madison Square Garden performances and an Emmy-winning TV series. But, as it’s been said before, that level of reverence creates a barrier—a barrier between that person and the world, between that person and decency, that person and consequences for their behavior. It gives them impunity—impunity that can only be countered when the allegations are so large, so abundant, and so convincing that there is an Icarus-inspired fall from grace. If we hadn’t made someone like C.K. a hero in the first place, maybe he would have been held accountable a long time ago.
We need to admit that not only are celebrities people, but that men have long abused power to hurt women and strip them of their agency. When the allegations of C.K. masturbating in front of women first came out, many men scratched their heads and questioned whether that was even a crime. If you were still unclear what rape culture is, here you go: Not even realizing that masturbating at a person without their consent is wrong.
You men would find it gross if a homeless man started jerking off next to you on the subway, but somehow Louis CK doing it is overblown mmmk
— Ira Madison III (@ira) November 9, 2017
Even among those who accept the criminal nature of the activities, there’s a hesitancy to make a judgment. “If they’re guilty, we can totally put them in the stocks and publically throw rotten tomatoes at them,” Alex, 30, tells the Daily Dot. “But until they’re proven guilty, we should show the respect we’d show someone who’s presumed innocent. I’ll wait till they’re arrested and tried, and decide when I find out if they’re guilty.”
Legally, of course, you should be innocent until proven guilty. But, in the words of C.K. himself, “When a person tells you that you hurt them, you don’t get to decide that you didn’t.”
It’s nauseating to think about the number of women who could have been saved from trauma and abuse if we were a little more skeptical of our heroes and a lot less skeptical of survivors. What could have been different if we had listened to women.
It seems, at least, this generation of men is considering that.
“We can’t bury our heads in the sand anymore and say, ‘Oh but they’re great artists,’” Greg says. “There has to be a clear line. Steve Jobs was renowned as a horrible person to work for. But you can argue a megalomaniac perfectionist is good for business. This shit is different.”
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"We wanted to install a device that would immediately reduce the amount of trash going into the Baltimore harbor," explains Adam Lindquist, director of the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore's Healthy Harbor Initiative.
The solution came from local sailor and inventor John Kellett who, after years of noticing trash floating in the Jones Falls River, had installed a pilot "trash wheel" in the harbor in 2008. The Waterfront Partnership commissioned a permanent version that sits at the mouth of the river, scooping up discarded plastic on a solar-powered conveyor belt and depositing it into a series of dumpsters.
The group dubbed the faceless machine "Mr. Trash Wheel."
The original Mr. Trash Wheel. Photo by Sarr Cat/Wikimedia Commons.
Since then, it has pulled over a million pounds of trash out of the water, inspiring a historical marker, a beer, an e-book, a painting, and dozens of Halloween costumes. Neat as he was, Mr. Trash Wheel's success and popularity were in no way preordained.
How did a group of business owners, environmentalists, and activists turn a giant, floating dumpster into an unofficial mascot of Baltimore?
They brought him to life.
Mr. Trash Wheel is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram (not Snapchat; he hasn't figured it out yet). The first thing you notice when you start following him are his large, playful, googly eyes — eyes that were not attached to the real-life Mr. Trash Wheel (at least at first). The second thing you notice is how delightfully off-kilter and specifically human he is. Like a comic relief character from a good Pixar film.
With a few adjustments the Tempasometer was able to accommodate three trash wheels. Lady Jayne busied herself with the calculations to ensure we would reach our exact destination. Within an hour we were ready to journey to our new home.
— Mr. Trash Wheel (@MrTrashWheel) November 16, 2017
His voice was originally created by Justin Allen of Baltimore ad agency What Works Studios in 2014. In the summer of 2015, the handle passed to Robyn Stegman, who's been operating it — and refining Mr. Trash Wheel's personality — ever since.
"I started [as] the voice of Mr. Trash Wheel the week before we found the snake," says Stegman, who heads the trash wheel project for the mission-driven agency ChangingMedia.
The snake she's referring to is an escaped ball python that crawled up Mr. Trash Wheel's conveyor belt and wrapped itself around a control box about two years ago. Stegman described the ensuing media storm as a "trial by fire."
DID ANYONE LOSE A SNAKE http://pic.twitter.com/ZgEV2mOmQN
— Mr. Trash Wheel (@MrTrashWheel) August 5, 2015
"It really helped me very early on build my voice and get that Mr. Trash Wheel voice in my head," she says.
The first thing she decided was that the 15-foot long, garbage-eating steampunk river cleaner would have a cheesily well-developed sense of humor.
"As soon as I started making snake puns, you had 20 other followers that were making hilarious other snake jokes," she explains. "So it became really great that way."
Stegman continues to infuse Mr. Trash Wheel with her own "nerdom and geekdom," which has endeared him to fans around the city. He loves "Star Wars." He makes "Lord of the Rings" fan art. He writes "Choose Your Own Adventure" novels and has spent hours answering questions on Reddit. Occasionally, he participates in local events.
The Pandora Ice Rink at Baltimore's Inner Harbor is open now! Now I just need to find someone strong enough to pull off this lift: https://t.co/W5oJberq20 http://pic.twitter.com/E1fj6VjKVw
— Mr. Trash Wheel (@MrTrashWheel) November 20, 2017
"[Robyn] just has a crazy, funny mind," Lindquist says.
The plan wasn't always to create a trash wheel with such a vivacious personality. The idea to turn Mr. Trash Wheel into a bonafide citywide star came after a video of the device that went viral a few months after its installation in May 2014.
Soon Mr. Trash Wheel had his own Twitter account and those distinctive googly eyes, thanks to a quick photo editing job.
After the snake incident, the trash wheel's popularity soared, leading fans to demand that the real-life Mr. Trash Wheel take on some of the personality of the online version. A petition to mount actual googly eyes on the device was launched. The eyes were added later that year.
Mr. Trash Wheel plus eyes. Photo by Dicklyon/Wikimedia Commons.
"It really looks like a muppet of some sort, you know?" Lindquist says.
That included Kellett, who worried the device's "90% great" social feed could divert attention from the rigorous work of cleaning up the waterway.
"The googly eyes don’t help people take it seriously," he told National Geographic in February. "People sometimes think it’s a sculpture."
Stegman says the character's lightheartedness is part of a trade off to deliver a pro-conservation message to as broad an audience as possible.
Triple bonus points for picking up trash in a trash wheel costume!!! #TrashFreeTuesday http://pic.twitter.com/9eslo8GfaX
— Mr. Trash Wheel (@MrTrashWheel) October 31, 2017
"We've had conversations about how it doesn't appeal to really a lot of true environmental advocates," she explains. "But we want to focus more on getting everyone involved. Because it really is something that requires a large groundswell of individuals in order to really start pushing legislation or starting to push consumer shifts to address this issue."
Partially in response to the criticism, the group decided when the city installed a second trash wheel, it would create a more cerebral character to the trash wheel universe and introduced the city to Professor Trash Wheel. Unlike her colleague across the harbor, Professor Trash Wheel is a scientist. Stegman describes her voice as a mix between "Beyoncé and Eleanor Roosevelt," with a little bit of Ada Lovelace tossed in.
I find trash delicious but I was designed that way. This is not good news for the ocean ecosystem: https://t.co/P4eeqZN5JY
— ProfessorTrashWheel (@ProfTrashWheel) November 20, 2017
"Her Twitter following is so much more ocean scientists and ocean advocates because we’re posting much more about the science behind ocean plastics and ocean trash," Stegman explains.
They were even the subject of a musical tribute earlier this year.
"It’s one of the catchier songs about solid waste disposal that’s out there," says Jonathan Jensen, bassist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the composer and lyricist behind "Mr. Trash Wheel." The upbeat, Dixieland thumper has become a kind of unofficial anthem for the harbor restoration project after its debut at a launch event for a trash wheel-themed microbrew, Mr. Trash Wheel's Lost Python Ale.
Mr. Trash Wheel got his very own song! It was written by Jonathan Jensen (on piano) and performed by Tongue in Cheek at last weekend's beer launch at Peabody Heights Brewery, LLC.
We are currently seeking a donation of studio time so that everyone can hear this epic masterpiece.
Posted by Healthy Harbor on Sunday, April 30, 2017
Jensen, who hadn't seen the trash wheel when he dreamed up the song, was immediately taken with the character via social media. He believes the rabid fan response is a tribute to the "creativity and quirkiness" of the local community and art scene.
"[Mr. Trash Wheel's] got his own Facebook page, and the posts are in the first person, so you feel like this is a character of some kind," Jensen says. "It's just fun."
Stegman believes the key to the trash wheels' popularity is their authentic, human enthusiasm, which is difficult to fake. "I think that one thing that fans really appreciate about Mr. Trash Wheel is that we’re not afraid to go super weird with them and meet them at the spaces they already are," she says.
And the enthusiasm seems to be spilling over into real life. Last month, the group launched Trash-Free Tuesday, encouraging fans to pick up trash and litter on Tuesday and tag their photos and enticing them with a series of Mr. Trash Wheel prize packages.
On Nov. 18, over 100 fans reported to a warehouse to sift through the refuse collected by the trash wheels to "audit" the contents.
How could you throw away @JohnCena's face!!! You monsters! #PTWTrashSort http://pic.twitter.com/iTD4T12HWR
— Mr. Trash Wheel (@MrTrashWheel) November 18, 2017
"We posted it once on social media, and we were sold out within three days," Lindquist says. "And we were worried about whether we would actually have fans that would come wake up early on a Saturday morning and dig through literal trash. But it’s amazing to see how fans respond to that."
Meanwhile, the trash wheels' fan club has gone global. "We just heard from a teacher in Ecuador that’s using Mr. Trash Wheel to teach about ocean trash in her classroom," Stegman says.
In the meantime, the group has big plans for the project. A new trash wheel, Captain Trash Wheel, is set to debut in South Baltimore's Masonville Cove in 2018. In the meantime, the fans, ever vigilant, have organized a petition to "promote" Mr. Trash Wheel to a more senior rank.
"It's been such a crazy, wild ride," Stegman says.
All thanks to a solar-powered garbage-eating raft with a personality as big as the Chesapeake Bay.
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