FEMINIST FRIDAY – Ronda Rousey Teams Up With Reebok, Youtuber Laci Green Takes On Rom-Coms

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If you liked our first installment of Feminist Friday, where we shared some of our favorite new videos that have some awesome feminist messages in them, you’re in for a treat. There’s so much great content out there that we decided it was time to start another sub-series on our site, and it is the perfect way the end the week!

First up in this edition, Ronda Rousey is bringing her game-face in a new collaboration with Reebok. Similar in vein to Under Armour’s ‘I Will What I Want’ video featuring ballerina Misty Copeland, Dove’s #MyBeautyMySay video, and of course Always’ ‘Like A Girl – Keep Playing’ video, it seems we are on a winning streak when it comes to the way women are portrayed in advertising.

Let’s be honest, it was only a matter of time before arguably one of the country’s most famous athletes today was featured in a girl power campaign of her own. She has teamed up with Reebok for the #PerfectNever campaign, which is all about dismantling the idea that perfection is the route to being great. In fact it is the opposite, as an athlete like her can attest to.

She was beaten by Holly Holmes in November in a fight which took place in Australia, and Ronda admitted afterward in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres it was a low point for her. The message of “perfect” not being a realistic goal, and that being flawed or beaten down in life is actually going to make you a stronger, better person is an important message.

Take a look at the Ronda Rousey #PerfectNever video:

The second Feminist Friday video comes from one of our all-time favorite Youtubers Laci Green. She has become a vocal and popular advocate for feminism and sex/sexuality education on a platform that is reaching millions of young people around the world.

She also does some fun comedy stuff, as you will see in this awesome video where she decides to take on the stereotypical female tropes often found in romantic comedies. Similar to the idea of reversing gender roles to point out the ridiculous objectification and unnecessary sexualization heaped on women in advertising, Laci Green totally shakes up the well-worn narratives in some of your favorite rom-coms.

‘If Famous Movie Romances Were Feminist’ hardly needs any explanation. Be prepared to see scenes from ‘Love Actually’, ‘The Notebook’, ‘Jerry Maguire’ and more, but with a more empowering twist. If you have ever watched a rom-com and thought to yourself “Nooooooo!!! Don’t just fall for that crap again!! Stand up for yourself!” then you will love this.

“Women grow up watching movies that are all about “finding the one” and falling in LOVE! But when you look back at a lot of the movie romances we obsessed over, some of them…don’t really make a lot of sense? Would Meg Ryan really fall in love with the guy who ruined her business? Would Bella really have fallen so deep with Edward? What if these movie romances were a bit more…feminist?” says the description on the video. This short film was made as part of her MTV/Youtube series ‘Braless’, and we have no doubt you will love it:

Our final video this week comes from Australian woman Taryn Brumfitt, who some of you may recognize from her viral social media post about body image. Taryn is an ordinary woman who, like many of us, disliked her body growing up and even into adulthood. She decided to go on a major fitness kick and ended up becoming a body builder. But she soon learned that she was even more disappointed with her body at that stage than before.

So she stopped body building and posted about her journey online. The candid before and after shot received an overwhelming amount of attention from women around the world who identified with her struggle. The image was seen by more than 100 million people worldwide and also garnered plenty of media attention. It was then that Taryn realized she needed to do more digging about this global phenomenon of body loathing.

Thanks to money raised from a successful Kickstarter campaign, over the last couple of years she has traveled the world interviewing various women about they body image journey. Featured in the film are some well-known media personalities including former talk show queen Ricki Lake, Australian digital media mogul Mia Freedman who founded Mamamia.com.au, and British-American talk show host and photographer Amanda de Cadanet.

The trailer begins with the visual quote: “91% of women hate their bodies” as we hear Taryn in a voice over say: “for years society has been telling women to be beautiful, as if that’s the most important thing they can be.”

Watch the trailer below and keep an eye out for the feature length documentary. It recently screened at the Sydney Film Festival and opened in Australian cinemas August 4. It opens in the US in September, and you can find screenings here.

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