NEWSPOP CULTURE

Brett Simon thought that when Chris Brown beat up then-girlfriend Rhianna right before the 2009 Grammys, that the victim was Rhianna herself. You know, the person with all the bruises.

But then he heard: Grammy Executive Producer Ken Ehrlich thinks that the awards show was the victim "of what happened."

"I think people deserve a second chance, you know," Ehrlich said. "If you’ll note, he has not been on the Grammys for the past few years and it may have taken us a while to kind of get over the fact that we were the victim of what happened." When Brett saw that Chris Brown was back performing on the prestigious show last night, while still on probation for the domestic assault, he was upset. When he heard that the Grammys thought they were the real victims, he really had to do something. That's when Brett started a Change.org petition demanding an apology.

Ehrlich's statement suggests that Brown was barred from the awards show not as a consequence of physically harming his girlfriend, another Grammy performer, but because the Grammys were upset with him for -- what? making them scramble to find replacement performers with Rhianna healing and Brown under arrest?

"I started this petition because I realized that something was not right in this country when women beg to be beaten by someone just because he is a good looking Grammy winning performer," Brett explained, commenting on a slew of "Chris Brown can beat me" tweets. "Those tweets along with Grammy producer Ken Ehrlich's comment insinuating that he and the Grammys were the victims of Chris Brown's abusive behavior are proof of a disconnect between society and the reality of domestic violence. The Recording Academy, the Grammys, and Ken Ehrlich need to demonstrate to the public that they understand that domestic violence is not something to be ignored, tolerated, and rewarded."

Every Super Bowl has those one or two ads that everyone is talking about around the watercooler the next day. Remember last year’s Chrysler commercial starring Detroit and Eminem? And that adorable (and notably genderless) kid in the Darth Vader costumewho magically started the family car?It’s no wonder companies spend big ad bucks on the big game. $3.5 million for a 30 second spot buys access to over 110 million viewers, many of whom tune in as much for the ads as for the game. In fact, 66 percent of female viewers say they watch as much or more for the ads, compared to 46 percent of male viewers.

Yet the same polls suggest that men are regularly more satisfied with the ads than women. Why? Because many Super Bowl advertisers turn to sexist, racist, and otherwise offensive stereotypes to market their wares. GoDaddy is a regular offender, showcasing racecar driver Danica Patrick as a sex object rather than a driving champion. And last year Pepsi Max went for a double whammy of racism and sexism with an ad that may or may not have been poking fun at First Lady Michelle Obama. And who could forget Groupon’s ad from last year, making light of the plight of the people of Tibet to promote their services?

Some folks choose to skip watching the bowl altogether rather than rage at the ads. But this year there’s a way to voice your displeasure and make a real change in the way Super Bowl ads are framed. Miss Representation, the movie turned movement to challenge the portrayal of women and girls in the media, is calling for Super Bowl viewers to tweet their displeasure with sexist Super Bowl ads by using the tag #NotBuyingIt. Viewers on this tag will be asking others tweeting about the #SuperBowl who the ad was directed at and what message was sent about gender.

More than 26,000 people have signed Emily Hehir’s petition calling for 2Day FM advertisers to withdraw their support of Kyle Sandilands. Your support has sent them a clear message that it’s unacceptable to financially support a radio host who uses phrases like “fat slag”, “you’re a piece of sh*t” and "I will hunt you down" to attack a journalist.

The media storm and consumer backlash has resulted in up to 60% of advertisers on the Kyle and Jackie O show withdrawing, at a cost to Austereo of $8 million. Despite this, Sandilands and his employers are breathing a sigh of relief -- Sandilands is off air for summer and they’re hoping attention on Sandilands will fade away and allow advertisers to return next year. But Vodafone, Blackmores, and McDonalds have committed to not advertising on any radio show hosted by Kyle Sandilands in 2012 -- can you help other petition signers build pressure on other major advertisers to follow Vodafone and rule out advertising on Sandilands' shows in 2012? There's also a group just started by one Change.org member for people to take regular and ongoing action on this issue -- you can join by signing a pledge here.

After receiving a flood of angry feedback, including emails from over 8,000 Change.org members, Got Milk has decided to suspend their sexist "PMS" ad campaign.

Last week, Got Milk released a new ad series targeting men who evidently suffer greatly when their lady friends have PMS. The solution? Milk.

The pictures show cowering men holding out bottles of milk, with faux apologies over their head’s like “I’m sorry for not reading between the right lines.” The seemingly caveman created campaign came complete with a website just for men, www.everythingidoiswrong.org, that featured an “emergency milk locator” and a “Global PMS Scale.”

Women (and men) across the internet weighed in immediately, condemning the portrayal of both women as hormonal “volatile monsters” and men as unable to deal with relationship conflict as sexist. Ms. Magazine introduced their Change.org petition with a post called “Nothing Like an Ice Cold Glass of Sexism” that noted the campaign uses “the same stereotypes cited by those trying to keep women out of good jobs, and those who say we shouldn’t have a woman president because she’d start a war just because it was her time of the month.”

Sexualizing women in skimpy clothes is a typical clothing advertising ploy, but Zappos.com’s new ad campaign is drawing fire for zooming straight ahead and skipping the skimpy clothes.

The new ad campaign for the online shopping giant portrays models -- all female -- going about their daily activities in the buff. Naked lady hailing a cab, naked jogger, naked model riding a scooter: all wear only shoes and a banner over their private parts that features the campaign’s slogan, "More than shoes!" In each, creepy blurry men oggle the women from the fringes of the photos.

It’s clear what the product is in these ads -- and, as the tag line admits, it’s not the shoes. MissRepresentation.org, the online outgrowth of the Sundance award-winning film of the same name that spotlights media objectification of women, has started a Change.org petition calling on Zappos to discontinue their ad campaign on the basis that it sends a litany of bad messages to men and women alike.

Over 1000 Change.org members have signed a petition launched this weekend by the anti-trafficking organization With More Than Purpose, telling Dilbert creator Scott Adams to publicly apologize for a recent blog post "insinuating that the act of a man raping a woman is a natural instinct."

Adams writes in "Pegs and Holes" (which you can read in full on his website): "Now consider human males. No doubt you have noticed an alarming trend in the news. Powerful men have been behaving badly, e.g. tweeting, raping, cheating, and being offensive to just about everyone in the entire world. ... The part that interests me is that society is organized in such a way that the natural instincts of men are shameful and criminal while the natural instincts of women are mostly legal and acceptable. In other words, men are born as round pegs in a society full of square holes. Whose fault is that? Do you blame the baby who didn’t ask to be born male? Or do you blame the society that brought him into the world, all round-pegged and turgid, and said, 'Here’s your square hole'?"

In response to the campaign, Adams left a comment on the petition accusing the creator of taking his words out of context and offered a fake apology: "I apologize to anyone who -- against all reason -- believed I issued a statement condoning violent crimes against women. But I also think you should be a little bit embarrassed that you would believe such a thing." These unreasonable, ought-to-be embarrassed people include two Change.org members who identify themselves as child rape victims in the comments. Oh, and of course co-Founder and Executive Director of With More Than Purpose, Nikki Junker, herself a sex trafficking survivor.

Last March, Fawzia Afzal-Khan’s memoir Lahore with Love: Growing up with Girlfriends Pakistani Style was released by Syracuse University Press (SUP). Although the book received numerous positive reviews and critical praise from scholars and lay readers alike, its publisher decided to drop it just months after its release over concerns about being sued for libel and defamation of character. (A well-known theater personality in Pakistan sent a letter to SUP threatening legal action over the contents of a chapter in the book.) Instead of standing behind its author and using the strength of the Speech Act, recently enacted by President Obama, which protects authors and journalists from libel lawsuits filed abroad, SUP immediately caved and nullified Afzal-Khan's contract.

Having received support from public intellectuals worldwide -- from Nawal El Saadawi to Henry Louis Gates, Jr. -- Afzal-Khan decided to take on the legal risk herself and her now-self-published memoir is available this month. I spoke with Afzal-Khan about the controversy and the importance of protecting freedom of speech.

Why is it important for people to know that SUP decided to drop Lahore with Love?

It's important because this happened as a result of a frivolous libel threat from a person in Pakistan and the cowardice SUP has shown by caving in right away without bothering to investigate the ridiculous and unproveable claims of libel may reveal the fear of so-called free-speech bastions, such as a university presses, who won't put their neck out when even mildly problematic things happen involving Pakistan. It may also be a form of refusal to mention anything that may be perceived as an expose of Pakistani hypocrisy, whether from people who are doctrinaire in their religious beliefs or the so-called liberal elite. After what happened with the Danish newspaper Politiken, SUP may be afraid the threatening letter is a precursor to a bomb or something! It's all dreadful really.

Ladies and gentleman, we have a victory! Just under two months after I began covering the controversial rape congratulations card for sale online at Etsy, the card (as well as the ones mocking breast cancer and Down Syndrome) has finally been removed. Moreover, Etsy has changed its items policy, ensuring that similar products do not pop up on the site in the future.

This was not an easy victory. Since we first started our coverage of the cards in December, nearly 17,000 Change.org members signed the petition asking for the cards' removal. After all, Etsy own terms of use state that it does not allow items that harass others or that are deemed obscene. When we contacted Etsy about the story and the ensuing outcry, they responded, "Different people may find some content to be offensive, harmful, inaccurate or deceptive." Yet this commitment to diverse voices rang false when Etsy forbade discussion of the issue on its message boards and Facebook wall.

Change.org members, Etsy users, and concerned people everywhere were not deterred. As the petition gained momentum, so did the story. All over the internet, blogs were buzzing about it. CNN's Jane Velez-Mitchell covered the story on her show. Change.org members inspired me with their grassroots boycotts and letter-writing campaigns.

America, you are in luck. Kathie Lee Gifford, co-host of the fourth hour of NBC's TODAY show, is qualified to judge your sex life and give you unsolicited "motherly advice," free of charge. That is, at least, if you're named Snooki and you are a guest on her show.  Then again, one woman's advice is another's slut-shaming, so maybe we aren't in luck after all.

On January 11, Snooki, star of MTV's popular reality show Jersey Shore, made an appearance on the TODAY show to promote her new book. Kathie Lee, having watched (I assume) some of Jersey Shore, felt that this was a great opportunity to shame Snooki for her sex life. Snooki sat and listened politely as Kathie Lee asked her how she's justify her behavior to her imaginary, future babies and said things like "I'd be crazed if you were my daughter." The kicker was that, at the very end of the interrogation— oops, I mean interview — Kathie Lee tells her to "value yourself more. Don't give yourself away to just any jerk, okay?" Kathie Lee just can't wrap her mind around a the concept of a young woman enjoying her sex life and having fun.

At first blush, maybe you don't have a problem with that. Maybe you think Snooki brings it on herself. Maybe you even think that Kathie Lee is right. If so, ask yourself this: would Kathie Lee ever, in a million years and a million extra TODAY show hours, say that to a young man? I don't think so.

Unfortunately, there's more to write about when it comes to the exploitation of little girls. In the commenting section of my previous post on Vogue Paris' photo shoot featuring little girls as sex objects, someone brought up child beauty pageants. I call them perverse circuses, and they can be severely detrimental to girls' well-being, especially as they go woefully under-regulated in this country.

Take Mia, for instance. Mia was featured in the TLC program "Toddlers and Tiaras." At two years old, Mia can be found onstage in a tight-fitting gold bustier with cones where her (non-existent) breasts would be, a la Madonna during her "Like A Virgin" tour. But this is only after she rips off her white robe outfitted with angel wings. Get it? From sweet, little angel to sex-pot? Oh, wait. She's TWO.

Her faux strip routine is cut a bit short when, after she removes the robe to reveal the gold-breasted costume, she forgets what else is supposed to happen. You can't blame the two-year-old girl. After all, she hasn't yet learned how to bump and grind, or pretend to hump the stage the way Madonna did during her on-stage performances. The audience is whooping and screaming as if they're at an actual Madonna concert and everyone seems immune to the fact that this girl is engaging in an approximation of an overtly sexual performance by a grown woman known for her overtly sexual public persona. You can hear Mia's mother in the crowd screaming to her toddler, "Yeah, Mia! Work it!" Work what, exactly?

It's great for Madonna -- it's entirely offensive for toddlers. It's offensive for young girls, period.