The days of making clothes for the people who will buy them is long gone or, perhaps, never existed. Case-in-point: Levi’s has launched an ad campaign not-so-cleverly titled, “All Asses Were Not Created Equal,” with the intention of appealing to women whose bodies do not form a straight line. Fellow blogger Sarah Menkedick covered the new line earlier. I can see why she was excited by the premise of a company that doesn’t shy away from different sizes, but I’m calling the company out for its failed attempt at inclusion.
Feministing.com tackled the misguided coding of the Curve ID brand in a recent post, but there’s more than just the limp-wristed high-five to “curvy” women that is bothersome. There’s this idea that a company doesn’t have to really be inclusive to get the credit — they can fake it and get away with it. And because any nod to women who aren’t thin and blond is rare, it’s accepted, even praised, no matter how half-assed (pun intended) it is.
Take Glamour magazine’s laughable attempt to appeal to its readers who are (probably) near plus-sized or already there. They took all those letters to the editors that gasped and sighed at the thought of a woman with a gut appearing nude in their magazine as a sign that they had done something good, instead of what it was: a sign that they had been doing it wrong and stumbled on a bit of okay, not good.
Levi’s “Asses” campaign is definitely faking it. As Feministing pointed out, all of the women in the ads are white and none are particularly curvy. I’m not convinced that curves are a black or Latina thing, but the unabashed embrace of them certainly is, so any butt salute without a Jennifer Lopez or Beyonce look-alike just feels wrong.
Burmese police announced this week that out of the hundreds of human traffickers they have arrested over the past several years, at least 100 of them were once victims. Sadly, trafficking victims becoming traffickers is not unusual. But what makes a person go from victim to trafficker?
Woe to women, 
The global warming movement is in mourning this week.
Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell (R) is no friend to the LGBT community. He is, however, related to it — and that points to an important truth about our society and our approach to LGBT rights.