We should be celebrating

Hey Crushers,

I woke up with this fabulous quote today:

quote via bustle

I mean, that's all. 

Are we asking too much? Nope, I'm pretty sure we aren't. 

Are we kicking ass most of the time on a professional and personal level? Hell, yes.

It's actually quite simple: we want equality, we want to be appreciated for what we are and we want to be respected. This isn't a women's problem: this is what everyone, everywhere, desires and deserves. So, yes, I want to live in a culture that does all these things, where I can celebrate myself and everyone around me, regardless of their gender, weight, colour, bra size, {insert everything else that we judge and criticize}.

*Oh, yeah, and good coffee would be great too. 

Your TopCrusher,

Daniela

Caitlyn Jenner's story and why all women must love Jon Stewart

Welcome to being a woman
Credits

You know what ladies? Jon Stewart just gets it! Perfectly. 

As we all know Vanity Fair's photos of Caitlyn Jenner, formerly known as Bruce, hit the media this week and they all had something to say. Although in general everyone seems to be accepting her gender transition, Jon Stewart brilliantly saw something that no one else noticed: media and sexism.

"It's really heartening to see that everyone is willing to not only accept Caitlyn Jenner as a woman, but to waste no time in treating her like a woman."

The way Caitlyn looks was everything they were talking about. Should we take a minute to reflect? I did... And that's it, the moment you become a women, you must be defined by your beauty, your boobs and your ass - and that's really sad.

And then, the worst part comes, comparison, or as Jon says "comparative fuckability": 

"Is she hotter than Kris? Does she have a better body  than Kim?" Wtf people? Hey, where's the message that every woman should focus on herself instead of going crazy comparing her body to the ones they see on the runways? Nowhere.

So, thank you Jon for bringing up the important issues here, it's nice to see someone on TV still has a brain.

You can watch the full video below:

Nailed it, right?

Your TopCrusher,

Daniela

He For She Freedom

Gender equality is not a women's issue, it's a human rights issue. 

The HeForShe initiative was launched by Emma Watson, Goodwill Ambassador for UN Women (and for people like me, eternal Harry Potter wonder), at the United Nations on September 20th. The truth is that there has been a lot of talk about feminism lately. What it is, what it stands for, what's acceptable or not for a feminist to say or do, etc.

I had some difficulty understanding what feminism is about at first, but then, things just got really simple. It means that I want to be equal, it means that I want to be free to express myself, it means that I won't allow to be treated like less because I am a woman. So yes, I am a feminist. 

The most important and innovative point of her speech, is asking men to join women in this cause, because feminist don't hate men, we just don't want to live trapped by destructive stereotypes, and men are victims of those stereotypes too. Here are my favorite parts of her amazing speech:

Freedom
Credits

"My life is a sheer privilege because my parents didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a girl. My mentors didn't assume that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today. They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists that are changing the world today. We need more of those. (...)

If men don’t have to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive. If men don’t have to control, women won’t have to be controlled.

Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong. It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum, instead of two sets of opposing ideals. If we stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by who we are, we can all be freer, and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom.

If you believe in equality, you might be one of those inadvertent feminists that I spoke of earlier, and for this, I applaud you. We are struggling for a uniting word, but the good news is, we have a uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I invite you to step forward, to be seen and to ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?”

If you are a woman, and you believe you deserve to be treated as equal, there is no way you don't love this speech, even if you don't want to be called a feminist.

Your TopCrusher,
Daniela