Real Hot 100

I've been asked (by Jessica at Feministing) to join in announcing a fundraising party in New York City on August 12 to benefit the Real Hot 100 project.   New York-area feminists and fellow travelers, here are the details:

Saturday, August 12, 2006
9:00 PM to 2:00 AM

KFMK Galleries
515A West 29th Street
New York, NY 10001

Tickets available here.

A couple of comments:

One, I know I must be old when I look at a party that starts at 9 and runs until 2 AM and I think, "Oh God, that's so late."  I always was a morning person, and I've just gotten worse about it.  Next year, how about having a dawn 10K run in Central Park as the fundraiser?  I'd fly to Manhattan for that.  Hugo doesn't generally do late nights well, much to my salsa-dancing Colombian partner's occasional chagrin.

Seriously, though, the Real Hot 100 is an immensely valuable project.   The women nominated and selected are not chosen for their looks (though all are surely lovely); "hotness" here refers to passion for social change, a commitment to justice, and a track record of hard work to make the world a better place.

Young women desperately need role models within their peer group.  In a world where the most famous teen and twenty-something women are emaciated, self-destructive, self-absorbed actresses and singers, having visible "counter-stories" is vital.  A "counter-story" (a term I picked up from my friends at Men Can Stop Rape, who run a similar project), offers young people the opportunity to learn a different approach to gender and sexuality than the one presented by either traditional or pop culture.

Above all, we need to see young women who are matching their language and their lives, living out their commitments fearlessly and effectively.  As a man, particularly one who isn't getting younger, I can exhort and challenge my students and my teens in youth group until the cows come home, but I can't provide a role model for how to be a strong young feminist in contemporary culture.  Pointing to the Real Hot 100 is a valuable tool, one for which I am grateful.

Comments

[Noumena]

This is only tangentially relevant (as so many of my comments are), but I was arguing about Planned Parenthood at a social conservative Catholic blog, and one of them tried to give a link to the REAL Hot list as some kind of evidence that PP wants teenagers to be as shallow and materialist as the pop culture my interlocutors hate.

Surprisingly (or not), he wouldn't admit to not reading the description of the REAL Hot project. I just had to laugh, and sigh.

[Liesl]

Am I the only one who findss irony that Hugo is on the list of hte hottest professors in America and is linking to another list of hotties?

[Hugo]

Liesl, thread drift -- even in the guise of complimenting the author of the orignial post -- will get you banned. Please stop your rather consistent focus on one thing.

Noumena, I wonder how many folks do hear about the "Real Hot 100" and jump to absolutely wrong conclusions?

[Liesl]

Hugo get over yourself. You know you are hot by the way you carry yourself. The people who read this blog but don't see you don't see how arrgant you can be and how cocky you are when you just walk down the hall in your xxxx clothes. You love that so many girls want you and you only pretend you don't. Your humility is all a pre-tense. Conceited xxxxx.

[Hugo]

Liesl, obviously you wanted me to ban you. I have edited your last comment and complied with your wish. Goodbye.