|
|
The XX Factor: Slate women blog about politics, etc...
July 2008 - Posts
-
I'm prepared to take the heat for my controversial opinion that the appearance of Miley Cyrus' cherubic face on the side of a package of condoms would be a positive development and significantly raise the profile of contraception among teens. It's easy Read More...
-
Nayeli , In regards to LifeStyles offering Miley Cyrus a condom-endorsement deal (talk about a dead-on-arrival proposal), Noreen and Torie made a lot of the points I was going to make, so I won't be redundant. (Except to say I can totally imagine an 8-year-old Read More...
-
Nayeli, I think it's pretty clear what Miley Cyrus is afraid of (though the better question might be, "What are Miley Cyrus' handlers afraid of?"). She might want to escape Disney's clutches, but becoming the underage spokesteen for a condom company seems Read More...
-
Evidence today of the persistent nature of the significance of race in the campaign: The percentage of young people who say they're unwilling to vote for a black candidate is 22 percent, according to one poll, and not dropping. Get it together, 18- to Read More...
-
Nayeli, maybe I'm just a little more cynical than you are, but I don't read the Miley Cyrus condom non-deal as a "huge loss," but rather a huge gain for both the starlet and LifeStyles. Though of course you're right that it would be wonderful if someone Read More...
-
A guest post from Slate' s John Dickerson: "Nobody thinks that Bush and McCain have a real answer to the challenges we face. So what they're going to try to do is make you scared of me," Obama said this week. "You know, he's not patriotic enough, he's Read More...
-
Hot on the heels of last week's contraceptive debate comes a fresh piece of news that is bound to stir the pot among condom fans and haters alike: Condom manufacturer LifeStyles is courting Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana star and one-time Vanity Fair pinup, Read More...
-
Emily , you and Michelle Obama aren't the only ones who love The Brady Bunch . As I read that nugget in Jodi Kantor's New York Times story this morning, I couldn't help thinking about another politician with a Brady connection. Allow me to quote from Read More...
-
The New Yorker has a fascinating piece this week about devadasis, sacred sex workers in India. It's not online, but it's worth checking out. Delhi-based journalist William Dalrymple (author of White Mughals ) focuses on two contemporary devadasis dedicated Read More...
-
Was Carolyn Maloney not adorable on Colbert last night? She has a new book out, Rumors of our Progress Have Been Greatly Exaggerated , about how little the wage gap has narrowed over the years—and what is the glass ceiling made of, Plexiglas? But Maloney Read More...
-
We are both Brady Bunch addicts, I learn from Jodi Kantor's story in the New York Times today . What does this mean? Well, for me it means lots of childhood afternoons spent reveling in the scrapes of a family that was even bigger than mine. Since I'm Read More...
-
The following is a guest post from former competitive swimmer Michelle Brafman, who teaches and writes fiction in Washington: Dara Torres. Dara Torres. God, it would be so easy to hate her. Let's start with the abs that defy nature, maddening proof that Read More...
-
You know it's a bad day when the inspector general for the Department of Justice issues a report with your name in the title. As in" An Investigation of Allegations of Politicized Hiring by Monica Goodling and Other Staff in the Office of the Attorney Read More...
-
Now this is interesting: Obama might pick a Republican woman as his running mate. It's hard to know how seriously to take a trial balloon like this; some of the people rounding out these lists are obviously there for courtesy's sake, or in the hope of Read More...
-
Here's the thing: I just do not see you chasing anybody into the men's room in the middle of the night, Emily B . Or you either, Mickey . And believe me, I mean this as a compliment. So, if you wouldn't want all-night stakeout duty outside the hotel where Read More...
-
Your Friday firestorm watch: After NPR (NPR!) published an audio essay titled "Sex Without Condoms Is The New Engagement Ring" (which prompted a heated debate ) Moe Tkacik of Jezebel responded with a wistful ode to the joys of barebacking . "[H]ere is Read More...
-
Hmmm. What must Yoko Ono, herself a formidable artist and media force, think about her de facto daughter-in-law's performance art in New York magazine this week? Charlotte Kemp Muhl, apparently Sean Lennon’s girlfriend and Sarabeth DeLeury (a "philosopher Read More...
-
Last year, when he was running for president, Rudy Giuliani explained his thinking about the courts. He complained that "civil litigation consumes 2.2 percent of America’s gross domestic product" and argued that "to reduce the impact of the trial lawyer Read More...
-
This week's renewed discussions about women " opting out " of the work force — or being forced out — make me think of Joan Didion's 1967 essay " Goodbye to All That ." It's about her life in 1950s New York as a twentysomething, when the city emblematized Read More...
-
On Thursday, the usual taping of Slate 's Political gabfest turned into a smackdown on the question we've been debating on "XX Factor"—should the National Enquirer have published its John Edwards story. Here's the resulting slugfest , from Slate sters Read More...
-
Melinda , I don't mean to sound calloused and insensitive on top of my stated willingness to invade personal privacy, but, notwithstanding how plucky and determined she is, Elizabeth Edwards has inoperable metastasized cancer. Cancer grows, that's its Read More...
-
I'm with Emily B that you can feel terrible for Elizabeth Edwards and still recognize the John Edwards' love child story is news. It's especially news since Edwards has always made biography his strongest selling point. I see Edwards as a sanctimonious Read More...
-
About a minute into overreacting to Bonnie's completely hypothetical scenario—hello, Elizabeth Edwards is still very much alive!—I see that I may be identifying with her a little too closely, as an oversharing cancer survivor and all. (Plus, my husband Read More...
-
OK, Melinda and Hanna , I wouldn't want to have the job of stalking John Edwards either. But so what? If it's true, the National Enquirer story about him and Rielle Hunter is news, absolutely clearly and by any definition I can think of. And if I'd stumbled Read More...
-
Bad juju ? The National Enquirer lived down to its tabloid expectations and gave the press a sweetheart of a bone to chew in the weeks before the political conventions. Mickey’s MSM should send them a thank-you note. Rachael is right. The Edwards’ personal Read More...
-
Anyway, Hanna , we agree that the Edwards family should be left alone. (And post-Alberto Gonzales, an AG whose biggest problem is a baby ? Sounds good!) My son's question wasn't a hard one as in, "Uh-oh, what to say?' Just sad, as in another person he Read More...
-
Boy, have the tables turned. All that summer chick-lit that features the mother-in-law as the harridan has it backward. Clearly, we are deep in the age of Bridezilla. Inside the Styles of the Times today is a story about brides who want to help the women Read More...
-
No, I don't mean cancer should be kept under wraps. I just meant that for a prospective first lady, Elizabeth Edwards behaved more like a 24-year-old blogger. (Here's the link , which someone just sent me). I meant this admiringly; I deeply respect people Read More...
-
I don't think it's Elizabeth's oversharing that was the problem! (And you don't mean, Hanna, that cancer ought to be kept under wraps, so as to avoid scaring the grown-ups?) Tonight, my 12-year-old who has been a big fan of Elizabeth's husband since '04—and Read More...
-
While we are quoting ourselves today: In December I wrote a profile of Elizabeth Edwards for the New Republic (which for some reason is not showing up online). My main point was that Elizabeth has an overshare problem. In her book, on the campaign trail, Read More...
-
OK, Rachael , so how about the selfish reason most of us wouldn't want to be that particular messenger? Unless I trip over a presidential candidate in the Bois de Boulogne some night - unlikely, as I live in Maryland - I am just not that eager to write Read More...
-
Sorry, Melinda , I have to disagree, though I do share your sympathy for the Edwards family. I was just reading Elizabeth's touching farewell to Tony Snow yesterday. She told the tale of a gentleman who approached her at a parade and gave her good wishes Read More...
-
Emily, I do understand what you and Linda are saying: It's demeaning to dismiss what women say about their lives as lying or mere rationalization. But I'm not suggesting that. I do know that both women and men say that they want to spend more time with Read More...
-
E.J. and Linda , I'm glad you're reprising your debate, because I'm titillated by this new data about women dropping out of the workforce, paired with Heather Boushey's explanation: "When we saw women starting to drop out in the early part of this decade, Read More...
-
And guess what? I still don't want to know. If this story about John Edwards is true—and yes, I still say if —I might have to snatch him bald-headed myself. But you know what would be worse? Chasing a man who is out of politics up and down the back stairs Read More...
-
Oh Linda, are we going to go round on this again? You and I have had this discussion in person and in print. Those Sunday Styles women with children who told you they were "opting out" weren't lying to you; they were fully engaged in the very healthy Read More...
-
A guest post from Linda Hirshman, author of Get to Work : XX Factor is full of talk of how the Times just corrected its 2003 opt-out story about why women quit their jobs (it's the economy, stupid). Short version: Female factory workers' wages decline Read More...
-
Thanks, Meghan , for the pointer to Louis Uchitelle's sharp article in the NYT , noting that women have achieved a new and unwanted equality: equality in unemployment during and after a downturn. At long last we have a front-page correction to the opt-out Read More...
-
CBS anchor Katie Couric, in Israel covering the Obama foreign tour, gave an interview to Haaretz in which she discussed being a TV anchor: "I find myself in the last bastion of male dominance, and realizing what Hillary Clinton might have realized not Read More...
-
The New York Times just posted an interesting story about women dropping out of the work force. It says that many economists now think that the supposed "opt out" movement has less to do with women's alleged desire to leave the work force and more to Read More...
-
In 1979 Samir Kuntar entered Israel on a boat from Lebanon and kidnapped a young father and his 4-year-old daughter. He shot the father, Danny Haran, to death in front of his daughter, Einat, then killed her by smashing her skull against a rock with a Read More...
-
Nayeli , I'm with you in favor of adorable underthings. Definitely worth the money for the personal confidence and the occasional zing in the eyes of one's date. (Someone I dated briefly liked to call me a "smartypanties.") And yet at the same time, like Read More...
-
I once tried to rationalize spending more than $40 on a set of unmentionables to my mother and less-fashion-inclined little sister. "Look, if I don't have quality underwear, what else do I have?" I recall saying. My sister told me I was being ridiculous, Read More...
-
I once walked into a Victoria's Secret when they were running some campaign or another, and a saleswoman waltzed right over to me and purred: "Hi there. Can I help you find some sexy little things?" I was tempted to tell her that what I would like were Read More...
-
The latest development in Victoria Secret's inspiring e-mail solicitation campaign comes in the form of a subject line: "The Bras You Can't Live Without. Period." My sister forwarded it to me with the accompanying note: "After reflecting on this subject Read More...
-
Most of the time, the Constitution doesn't let employers refuse to hire people on the basis of religious conviction. This has the comforting ring of a bedrock American freedom. But lately, it's being manipulated. First by pharmacists who say they refuse Read More...
-
By the time The New Yorker landed in my mail slot today, I'd seen the cover so many times already it was like, "You, finally!'' As if it had stopped off for a couple of drinks on the way over here and lost all track of time. So, allow me to be the last Read More...
-
Emily wonders whether what would once be seen as merely "youthful error" is far more perilous to a girl’s reputation in the Internet age than it was a decade ago when Emily was in her 20s. Lizz Winstead’s video interview with Jezebel's two founders, Tracy Read More...
-
I can't help myself: I have to weigh in on the the New Yorker cover in which the Obamas are drawn as terrorists (one homegrown, one international). Yes, the cover was a veeeery feeble attempt to satire the right-wing response to the Obama's televised Read More...
-
While we're in Jezebel land, who can resist a little rubbernecking? Tracie and Moe of the site recently made a spectacle of themselves onstage in Manhattan at the Thinking and Drinking series put together by Lizz Winstead of The Daily Show , all captured Read More...
-
|
|