#FemNews Weekly Roundup Vol. 16

For all those badasses trying to catch up on the headlines, here are a few highlights from the past week. As always, join in the conversation using #TheFemWord and follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. #FemNews

1. The revolution will not be beautified. In South Korea, where plastic surgery is a typical graduation present, badass women are rejecting the country’s incredibly high, patriarchal expectations of female beauty with the “escape the corset” movement. Like corsets, makeup is now being seen as a constraint on women’s natural forms, and many South Korean women are cutting off their hair and destroying their expensive makeup collections in protest.

To help demonstrate the problem, Youtuber Lina Bae created a video juxtaposing her makeup routine with horrible, negative comments. It has been viewed over 5 million times. (Use closed captioning for English translations of the comments.)

2. On Sunday, October 28, Duchess of Sussex and feminist bae Meghan Markle delivered a speech honoring the badass suffragists of New Zealand. Meghan took the opportunity to thank the courageous women of New Zealand, who were the first in the world to win their campaign for the right to vote 125 years ago and paved the road for further suffrage movements. Now as a member of the Royal Family, the former actress and activist continues to embrace and speak about her feminism and women’s rights.

3. The academic glass ceiling is tough to crack, but 500 Women Scientists is working to make the sciences more inclusive. The organization’s site features a “Request a Woman Scientist” tool, which allows journalists, researchers, and others to connect with badass female scientists across many fields of study. Over 20,000 badass women in STEM from more than 100 countries have pledged their support to create a more inclusive scientific community that fosters diversity, empowers and advocates for marginalized communities, and offers training and mentorship to future leaders across the globe.

4. All hail the patron saint of female comics: Padma Lakshmi! After fallen comedian Louis C.K. attempted to stage a comeback in August, Padma was infuriated and decided to put together a comedy show to showcase badass funny women and queer comics pushing the boundaries. Two incredible nights of comedy helped to raise nearly $20,000 for the Movement Voter Project. On the comics who participated, Padma said she is “profoundly thankful to every comic because unless they were out of town or already booked that night, everybody said yes, and they didn’t have to, and they did.”

“It’s so hard as a woman, as an actor, as a director, as a comedian, as a writer, to even get noticed. And then to have the courage and bravery to speak the truth, and be slapped down and punished for it in such a cruel way, really spoke to me.” - Padma Lakshmi (via Vulture)

5. In sub-saharan Africa, the barriers for receiving a quality education sometimes are impossibly high, especially for girls. Vodafone Foundation’s Instant Schools program is giving children the chance to succeed by providing a free digital learning platform full of online resources in local languages for students and educators. According to their mission statement, “technology has the power to democrati[z]e education,” and Vodafone aims to reach 5 million learners by the year 2025. The platform already is helping badass young women realize their dreams of attending university!

Finally… badass Americans who can vote, we’re only a few days out from the 2018 midterm elections on November 6! How are you voting? When are you voting? Are you going with a friend? Are you checking in with your badass besties to make sure they voted? Whatever your plan, have one -- and #GOVOTE. Your voice matters but can only be heard if you cast that ballot!

Header photo via Unsplash