Onward feminist progress!

Vanessa Friedman of the New York Times is ecstatic, convinced that the new Pirelli calendar featuring 12 months of feminists is a sign that we are finally creating a New Feminist Man (LSFW, and Not Safe For Your Lunch): The 2016 Pirelli Calendar May Signal a Cultural Shift

Along with Playboy’s decision in October to end nudity in its pages, the Pirelli pivot seems to give real substance to the theory that we are at a flexion point in the public objectification of female sexuality.

Friedman’s fantasy is that since the Pirelli calendar is given to an exclusive group of opinion leaders, this will usher in a new era where women’s achievements are what will make them sexy.

[this is] the first time the attraction of the subjects is in their résumés, not their measurements.

This isn’t just stock feminist delusion, it is also an excellent example of Sailer’s Law of Female Journalism:

The most heartfelt articles by female journalists tend to be demands that social values be overturned in order that, Come the Revolution, the journalist herself will be considered hotter-looking.

This is also about feminist territory marking.  Tire shops are a male space, and changing the calendar is about marking these spaces as female:

And as Ms. Zimmerman said: “Women have a disproportionately loud voice compared to their male counterparts. And for those women it is no longer socially acceptable to walk into a high-end garage that sells Pirelli tires and see a calendar with naked girls on the wall. You’d drive right out again in that Mercedes you came in with.”