my favorite skirt!

This morning Leigh brought home the October issue of skirt! and I had a lovely time perusing it. I was very excited to see Ms. Linda Ketner gracing the mag's fine pages (see? I told you all the hip people in Charleston know and love her.) and I loved the F-word centerfold.

I love skirt!, and not just because I interned there this summer--though I could go on and on about what a great experience that was. The magazine continues to impress me with every issue because it makes feminism digestible. Even more--it makes it fashionable and fabulous. I have yet to see a magazine that caters better to its readership. They are women--the mostly white, upper-middle-class, often Conservative women of Charleston--great women, but women who care about looking good while they're making as much money as the man sitting next to them. They don't want to be looked down upon for being stay-at-home moms. They are feminists, but would probably never admit it until they picked up an issue of skirt! and saw women just like them all over the pages and read essays that actually appealed to them and saw that it is okay to lust after shoes and still think that the existence of the glass ceiling blows.

I'll admit that I'm usually more of a fan of the dirtier, hairy armpits, loud, Bitch magazine feminism that isn't afraid to get in your face about the misogyny of Judd Apatow, but I like skirt!, too. I'm more for the "brava, brava" and "it's a shame" moments that note triumphs and setbacks for women around the world rather than most of the product pages, but I can honestly say I enjoy it. And I enjoyed every second I worked in the all-female office, surrounded by successful ladies who made it their business to be fabulous feminists. And that's pretty damn impressive for a magazine to appeal to the biggest shoe fanatic and the biggest advocate for reproductive rights at the same time. And--even more--it says hey, why not be both? Women are women. And that's a hugely important message to be sending to people who think that there isn't really a need for feminism in the world right now.

In other news, this crazy lady that has been cavorting all over Central America for the past month and a half is coming home next week... and hopefully she left those socks in Guatemala.