Objectify This

Are women’s magazines bad for women? It might seem like a stupid question. But when, as the New York Times reports, a University of Missouri study “found that looking at women’s magazines for 1-3 minutes had a negative impact on women’s self esteem. So imagine what happens if we’re bombarded by these images every day.” [...]

Are spicy things sexy? Well, it’s hard to say, really. Not here in America Latina, por lo menos. There are separate words for hot (caliente) and spicy (picante) and while caliente has overt sexual overtones, picante generally does not. . . at least in the places where I’ve lived. Then again, Colombia and Costa Rica [...]

Hat tip to Media Matters for Jamison Foser’s spectacular breakdown of media bias in reporting on Obama’s tax plan. As Foser observes in his piece Asymmetrical Class Warfare, most of the influential reporters crying over the end of the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy are also in the wealthiest tax bracket — which will [...]

Geek chic is in. Even the New York Times knows it. While in previous years that would mean that it’s already passé, Obama has ushered in a celebration of the passé – both a revival of the cult of the individual and a trumph of sincerity. I know that it’s odd to label the onset [...]

I’ve been listening to the London-based Simian Mobile Disco, a music production team who call themselves “Electro/ Psychadelic/ Alternative” on their Myspace page. They are composed of two guys named James (foreground, left) and claim to sound like “good, old-fashioned, analogue party music” (as their wacky Brit-ball spelling has it). Specifically, I’ve been listening to [...]

In the past, women who experienced rape or sexual assault were faced with the immediate decision of whether or not to prosecute, even as they still reeled from the trauma of violation, which is often manifested as post-traumatic stress disorder. This was necessary because any action such a woman took following her rape, such as [...]

Back in the day, in 1776, when our Founding Father and future second president John Quincy Adams was helping to draft the constitution, his wife, (Founding Mother?), Abigail Adams, asked him to “Remember the ladies” in that august document. He replied, in a letter, “Depend upon it, We know better than to repeal our Masculine [...]