2013 is thiiiiiiiiiiiiiis close to being over which means two things. One: It's almost time
to party. And two: Celebrate the high points of women in pop culture in 2013 because I
think it's best to close out the year on a positive note. Or better yet, 17 positive notes.
The award for best award-show hosting in 2013 most certainly goes to Tina Fey and Amy Poehler
for their bang-up job at the Golden Globes, the very first two women to host it together.
It did so well they're hosting it again in 2014 and wait for it, 2015. Take that Seth
MacFarlane. You have to hand it to Miley Cyrus whether you loved or loathed her VMA performance,
she certainly got a conversation going about appropriate and inappropriate displays of
female sexuality. And speaking of Miley Cyrus we got give a shout out to Lily Allen's video
'Hard Out There' which was in many ways a response to Miley Cyrus. Lily Allen, you also
got a conversation started not all of which were favorable. It's good we're talking about
these things. Number 4 on our list is the stunning star of Scandal Kerry Washington.
This year Washington became the very first African-American woman who was nominated for
outstanding lead actress in a drama at the Emmy awards. She did not win but nevertheless
it was a historic nomination. One video you may have seen and if you haven't you definitely
should is from 'Hello Flo' the tampon advertisement that went viral. Because it was a tampon commercial
that actually talked about periods in a way that periods happen and used words like 'vagina'.
Best quote from this commercial for 'Hello Flo' which is a tampon subscription service?
'It's like Santa for your vagina'. Even though she is not part of mainstream pop culture
we have to celebrate the accomplishments of Malala Yousafzai who is 16 year old Pakistani
girl and education activist who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban and this
year was shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize among other things for the work that she is
doing now traveling the world talking about the need for girl's education. But now lets
take it back to mainstream pop culture with two words: Hunger Games. Isn't it refreshing
to see an action film a) starring a woman and b) where she is saving the guy and c)
she isn't necessarily in love with him. No hard feelings Peeta. And not only was Jennifer
Lawrence a delight to watch as Katniss Everdeen she was just a delight throughout the year
saying awesome things. Speaking to Elle magazine, Jennifer Lawrence said quote, 'I'm never going
to starve myself for a part. I don't want little girls to be like oh, I want to look
like Katniss so I'm going to skip dinner.' Speaking of Jennifer Lawrence, she was one
of the many women in Hollywood including Anne Hathaway, Pamela Anderson, even Beyonce very
briefly who jumped on my favorite hair trend of the year, the pixie cut. Long hair is so
tied up with our constructs of what appropriate femininity looks like, I think it's fantastic
that the A-list of Hollywood and pop culture was just saying you know what? I'm just going
to chop it off. Number 10 goes to Kate Middleton's postpartum baby bump. That is a realistic
image of women after they have a baby. This just in, in 2013 Gwen Ifill and Judy Woodruff
became the first two women in broadcast history to co-anchor a daily news show on PBS news
hour. For number 12 need I really say more than Orange is the New Black? Oh yeah we can
talk more about Orange is the New Black for number 13 Laverne Cox who plays Sophia on
the show, the very first female transgender actor to play a female transgender character.
On the music scene the female vocalist that I've been happiest to hear in my ear buds
this year has been New Zealand wonderkind Lorde. Not only does her music sound good,
what she has to say when she's not singing also sounds good in terms of being a confident
young woman who doesn't just want to sell records by selling her body. [Music]. Royals.
In terms of women and Hollywood we got to talk about Sandra Bullock who not only made
box office records in her female buddy cop 'The Heat' which defied expectations--how
are two women going to star in a police buddy cop together, people won't go see?--Psyche
they will. But also her thrill gravity was so successful at the Box Office when I was
an astronaut for Halloween everyone just thought I was being Sandra Bullock from Gravity. Second
to last on the list we have Saturday Night Live. They were actually not being awesome
and are now trying to be awesome yet again by finding their very first black female cast
member. Last because she's the most amazing and won 2013 is Beyonce. The Super Bowl, cover
of Miss Magazine, called herself a feminist, secret album drop that broke sales records
for records dropping whether secret or not. Don't forget who runs the world. Girls. So
those are the highlights that I rounded up. I want this to be as big of a list as possible
so please fill in any gaps that I left in the comments. Happy New Year. Here's to a
bigger, brighter and womantastic 2014.