Girls with Condoms…Tacky?

Condoms today are a sign of sexual consciousness, a big neon sign saying no lovin’ unless you put on the love glove, and hopefully, no STD’s, no HIV, no unplanned pregnancies.

On the other hand, it’s also a big fat no to the lingering question to young adults: Are you a virgin? It can also coyly hint that you like doing it. And you like doing it a lot – depending on the size of the Costco pack you have in your nightstand.

This is the side will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas took in an interview with Elle Magazine. Discussing his humble and conservative perspective his “philosopher” mother placed him under, he says that growing up, he and his family never discussed anything sexual in nature. He didn’t begin to sexually explore until the age of 19. Sexually mature now, he realized seeing condoms in her home could be a deal-breaker for him.

Is Waxing Anti-Feminist?

First, I must preface this post by stating (okay fine, confessing), that I am addicted to hair removal. I pretty much do it all — I shave, I Nair, I thread, I wax and most recently, I laser — so questioning the feminist dilemmas behind hair removal is a big deal for me. And kind of a bad idea, because in the end I will have to choose between being hairy or a hypocrite. But here it goes anyways.

The New Boy In Town

Marc by Marc Jacobs

We all know that life is oh so unfair, especially when it comes to our appearance and physiques. There are humans that eat more in one sitting than a pre-hibernation mother bear and still fit snugly into their skinny jeans. There are people like me, who look at food and gain weight. And, we all try our best despite the multiple unexplainable failures. This morning, I tried on at least 15 different outfits and still looked considerably less attractive than the disheveled faux-hippie looking sleepy eyed on the subway.

That’s unfair. But 19-year-old Andrej Pejic is a whole other story. Tall, svelte, perfect bone structure: what makes this model different from other ladies on the runway? Well, she is, in fact, a he: the half Serbian- half Croatian recently donned a wedding dress for Jean Paul Gautier and strutted the Vivienne Westwood catwalk. He’s been sought for editorials in Vogue and is now the new face of Marc by Marc Jacobs —all in womenswear. This boy is now the prettiest girl in town. And I’m laughing myself to tears as I throw my hands in the air, kick back into my chair, and reach for an ice cream tub of self-pity.

What does Andrej teach us? Nothing we haven’t already known (see first sentence) and the additional knowledge that life’s mischief la-dee-da’s over gender barriers. But we’ve known this too. I’ve long tried to ignore the fact that my brother has nicer legs than I do, but I surrender —he’ll be receiving every single pair of my toe-wrenching, high-heeled efforts for longer legs.

We can hate Andrej, or we can love to hate Andrej. The importance in this story is that a boy who used to work at McDonald’s (really, that’s where he was discovered) is becoming an international super star and gender bending while he’s at it. It means that there are different possibilities opening up for different people. And while I do retreat to a certain level of defeatism, there’s a part of me that likes being disproportionate, short, and imperfect. I like complaining and being awkward, it makes me feel human. After all, what would Andrej’s sensationalism and beautiful people in general mean without the beauty of normal people?

Besides, not even the incredible “femiman” icon can’t have it all. He recently said that if offered a contract with lingerie line, Victoria Secret, he would consider a sex change with a nice, perky set of breast implants. “You’d have to, wouldn’t you?” mused Pelic. “I couldn’t imagine doing it any other way.”

Well, you give and you take.

-youmi park

An Interview with Dr. Beverly Whipple: The Mother of the G-Spot

Source: NJ.com

In 1950, a German-born gynecologist named Dr. Ernst Gräfenberg published a study entitled “The Role of the Urethra in the Female Orgasm.” According to Gräfenberg, there is an especially sensitive area in women located in the anterior wall of the vagina, where the urethra runs along the vaginal wall. His study proved that, when stimulated, this vaginal tissue becomes engorged with blood, and orgasm is achieved, sometimes resulting in ejaculation.

Little did he know, Dr. Gräfenberg had discovered the G-spot.

But in the wake of the 1948 Kinsey Reports, Americans were fascinated with the clitoris—the new “fashionable” way to reach orgasm, and Dr. Gräfenberg’s work went largely ignored. It wasn’t until the early 1970’s that his study became popular when New Jersey-native Dr. Beverly Whipple rediscovered his work. This time around, the information ushered in its very own sexual revolution. But Dr. Whipple’s work was about more than just sex– it was about sexual satisfaction. Specifically, female satisfaction.

Is the “Boobquake” Worthy of a Stir?

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ABC News is reporting that thousands of American women are channeling a Senior Iranian cleric’s statement last week about the relationship between boobs and earth quakes, as a challenge, and “testing” its validity by whipping out their push-up brows and hiking up their hemlines today.

She was not referring to male visual or behavioral response, but rather to the recent pattern of natural disasters. Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi said, “Many women who do not dress modestly … lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.”

Jennifer McCreight, 22, set off today’s events by responding to Sedighi’s comment with the declaration of it’s “Time for a Boobquake” and on April 26 she will display as much cleavage as her v-neck will allow.  By the end of last week, more than 100,000 women proclaimed they would join in via their Facebook and Twitter pages and celebrate “womanhood.”

Is the “organized” revealing of breasts liberating or does it an example of stepping over a cultural boundary?

More on the Menace

In the latest issue of The Revealer, NYU religious studies professor Angela Zito adds her voice to the debate on Maureen Dowd’s article, “Worlds Without Women,” which I touched upon last week. In my post, “Maureen the Menace Strikes Again,” I briefly critiqued Dowd’s conflation of the oppression of women by the Roman Catholic Church with the sexual abuse of children committed by many of its priests. But in her article, “Imagine This! Or Can a Church Hierarchy Become a Catholic Community?” Zito picks apart another of Maureen’s misunderstandings: maternity.

A double life: student/dominatrix

Lemondrop.com recently published this article about author Melissa Febos who used to be a professional dominatrix.  Febos’ recent memoir entitled Whip Smart is about living a double life as both a college student and a ProDom for a Midtown dungeon.  Currently reporting a story on the NYC fetish scene, I’m pretty intrigued by their “10 Things You Don’t Know About My Life As A Dominatrix.” I love that she used to do her homework between sessions at the dungeon.  I can relate, as I’ve definitely finished a paper right before getting dolled up in all black and killer stilettos for a fetish party. See if you can relate to any of her confessions, and let us know what you think about massaging, spanking, and whipping for a living.

-Toni Cruthirds

How do I know if I am a Feminist?

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I have met many young women who embrace the idea of having: the same rights as men, the same wage as men, and believe that rapists should be punished more severely.  However, if you ask these women if they are feminists, many of them reply “no.”

Maureen the Menace Strikes Again

In her latest folly, Maureen Dowd severely misrepresents the issue of child molestation in the Roman Catholic Church. Her article, “Worlds Without Women,” criticizes the ascetic celibacy of the all-male priesthood. She even suggests that by being more inclusive of women, the Church could have avoided these tragic abuses. But ascetic celibacy is not the cause of child molestation, and Dowd is wrong to take up this issue in the name of women’s liberation. For her, these abused children are just an image to be manipulated–a means to her end:

The Sexist World of Pot-Culture

The stereotypical image when you combine women and weed

“Pot-culture”, as NORML puts it, is pretty much a boy’s club. Rifle through your mind for a strong female protagonist in a stoner film. The best we get is Anna Faris in Smiley Face, and she certainly didn’t present a positive image of female tokers. The images of naked women with huge breasts covered in piles of strategically placed Marijuana are common-place in any head shop or 420 friendly web forum. The marketing departments of these businesses have it in their minds that the only demographic worth marketing to is that of males, 18-whatever.