Discussion
  • Read More
    Snake PersonTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:40pm

    I really don’t see much room for commentary on women’s success here, though, accidental or otherwise. It’s more about how social media and presenting an idealized image of our lives has become so all-consuming.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      sailboatprojector Snake Person
      12/13/15 2:49pm

      Agreed. Tracy’s post would have been better titled “Great Women in History Who Were Forced to Run Shit Behind The Scenes.” Leave the video angle out the post entirely.

      Let’s hear more about Zelda Fitzgerald and Lee Miller.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      missqueenbitchSnake Person
      12/13/15 3:03pm

      Yeah I think what could have been improved is to show how we expect women to show off their boyfriend and husband in ways men aren’t expected to so maybe showing couples taking cute photos together, posting to social media and then arguing afterward would have been valuable in some way. I still enjoyed and still thought it was funny but I’d like to have some additional commentary on why a certain level of social performance is expected for women.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    LuckyDaikonTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:41pm

    At my ex boyfriend’s MFA show, a woman neither of us had met before came up to me and started talking about how I would have to quit my job and start managing his art full time. Even though he’s the one who took the ‘business of art’ class. No idea what my asperations were, what my job was, no background at all.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      JustSmileandNodLuckyDaikon
      12/13/15 2:47pm

      That’s because your true aspirations are supposed to support your partner’s, duhhhhhhhhh.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      better red than deadLuckyDaikon
      12/13/15 5:31pm

      Aside from the absurdity re: gender, it’s adorable that someone thought a recent MFA needs a full-time manager.

      More like the recent MFA needs someone to help fill out welfare applications and letters to student loan companies asking for extensions.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    BawitabahTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:44pm

    This is a bit of a stretch - Instagram is shallow and bringing up Nabokov seems a little much - but I see your point.

    Everyone should go look up Ruth Bader Ginsberg’s relationship with her now-late husband Marty (a little more equivalent to the examples you skidded into). The sweetest thing you’ll ever read.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      deerlady83Bawitabah
      12/13/15 2:47pm

      He was so supportive and proud of her.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      WhippingPostdeerlady83
      12/13/15 2:50pm

      These relationships never get good press, and when they do it is snide and still gender conforming regardless of the slant. This should be celebrated!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    VioletteWTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:58pm

    It’s more of a commentary on the narcissism of many who post on Instagram. Very few great artists use(d) themselves as the sole subject of their work. Instagram promotes exhibitionism at the expense of intimacy: how many special moments are now paused so that someone can get a pic to post of it? Sorry, the thesis of the post above is off.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      shelwoodVioletteW
      12/13/15 3:11pm

      Have you never read a novel? Seen that self-portrait of (fill-in-the-blank, but start with Van Gogh)? Nearly every artist uses him or herself as their subject to some degree, some more than others.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      whassashelwood
      12/13/15 3:31pm

      sole subject of their work

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    TailypoTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:53pm

    But... but these women aren’t creating art, they are consuming things. Are you really comparing writing Pale Fire to ordering a coffee?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Captain Raymond SexvibesTailypo
      12/13/15 3:12pm

      Photography is an art form, though. Granted a lot of pictures on Instagram aren’t taken very artfully, but also a lot of them are. When I try to get a good picture for IG I think of it as a creative thing, finding the best composition, balance of light and shadow, etc.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      nightvaleCaptain Raymond Sexvibes
      12/14/15 1:12am

      I photograph a lot of the food I cook. Everything from the correct plating to capturing the right light (food photography is HARD) is an expression of my “art”. It’s not much and I’m not saving the world, but I do find creative release in it.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Andrew DaisukeTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:39pm

    Couldn’t Etsy or Pinterest husband be sort of similar too?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      PanchoVilleneuve STAndrew Daisuke
      12/13/15 3:43pm

      I’d rather see “child of a Pinterest mom”.

      “I wanted an Iron Man birthday party but instead I got a Great Gatsby themed one. We all had to wear tuxedos and everything was in jars for some reason.”

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      SurgePanchoVilleneuve ST
      12/13/15 3:52pm

      Would read.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    goddessoftransitoryTracy Moore
    12/13/15 11:38pm

    There’s also a section on how to complain “the right amount.” Can you imagine anyone ever telling a man to do that?

    I wish. Sometimes it seems like all my (darling) husband does is complain.

    We’re going grocery shopping tomorrow. I’ve got my dishes all picked out and my part of the list written. He’s got ONE thing picked out. Is he looking through his recipes or the store insert for ideas? Hah. He’s fucking watching streaming videos of idiots gaming and calling each other asshole and faggot. Tomorrow he will STILL not have anything selected and whinily, snappily reject anything I suggest. I would give anything for the Complaint Amount Timer to go off so I could say “Time’s up, lamby legs; now fucking pick something and get on with it.”

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Caaaatl_ThatKillsPeoplegoddessoftransitory
      12/14/15 12:07am

      or, you know, crazy idea, you can communicate with your husband and tell him to stop being a whiney bitch (not necessarily in those words).

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      goddessoftransitoryCaaaatl_ThatKillsPeople
      12/14/15 12:23am

      It totally does not sink in. Just, skates right off.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    DinosaurHeadTracy Moore
    12/13/15 2:40pm

    “Can you imagine anyone ever telling a man to do that?”

    If their partner had a career that took them out on the road?

    Sure.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      TakahashiDinosaurHead
      12/13/15 8:40pm

      Except that doesn’t happen though.

      Believe me, I’d love it if, right after I got home from a trip, my husband shut his trap when he starts talking for the zillionth time about how much works sucks. But I don’t feel like I can do that, especially because I feel the urge to be a Good Wife. I know if I don’t, I’ll be that Lifetime movie villian bitch (played by Anne Margaret) whose husband starts banging the secretary and I kill them both.

      My job can suck enough as it is, especially when I’m travelling. I don’t need to hear about his, especially when he won’t do shit about it.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      DinosaurHeadTakahashi
      12/13/15 8:59pm

      Sounds like you guys need counseling.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Manon Lescaut is good to goTracy Moore
    12/13/15 3:48pm

    “...the humor hinges on the fact that it’s novel—men don’t usually play the silent support role.”

    “But it gets laughs for a reason—because it’s still super lame to see men standing around doing nothing but making a woman look good.”

    I disagree. The humor hinges on exposing the usually unseen drudgery behind the ‘Instagram lifestyle’, on contrasting the spontaneous and magical illusion with the mundane reality that is necessary to create it. We’re supposed to be laughing at the women who are so invested in it, (and the one guy also really into it), not the men rolling their eyes.

    There is a note of sexism that could be explored, but it’s not based around the novelty of men being in the supportive role. Rather, it’s why we are so dismissive of Instagram success in the first place. We say it’s just superficial, unimportant, a hobby taken too far, simple consumerism, etc. But is it actually yet another case of society collectively lowering our opinion of something because it’s ‘women’s work’? I see similar attitudes with Pinterest and to some degree Etsy. Why, exactly, are we so eager to mock these women who have achieved undeniable success on those platforms through their talent, time, and effort? Yes, some of it is the product itself: success on Instagram or Pinterest is not saving the world, but neither are so many other pursuits, jobs even, that we give much more respect. It’s not unlike the historic dismissal of traditionally female crafts and tasks as lesser than similar (or even identical: see fashion and cooking) pursuits when they were done by men.

    No, it’s not the only reason we mock ‘Instagram girls’- there’s nothing wrong with rolling your eyes at the 200th picture of artisan coffee or an ice cream cone held up against a white wall- but it’s certainly possible that we’re just a little more willing and eager to do so because we’ve unwittingly categorized it as a silly women’s pursuit.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      IWASDARTHVADER's death star canteenManon Lescaut is good to go
      12/14/15 1:33am

      I want to give this all of the stars

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    GELLA - LLAPTracy Moore
    12/13/15 3:00pm

    This video is stupid

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Socks Are My Favorite ClothesGELLA - LLAP
      12/13/15 3:02pm

      I love you.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      skanteaGELLA - LLAP
      12/13/15 6:14pm

      More precisely, it isn’t funny.

      Reply
      <