Culture
Political InQueery: Big Talkers
Whatever sense one makes of the midterm elections this year, some people in Congress now claim they have a mandate or at the very least, a bully pulpit from which they can advance their own agendas, no matter their sensibility or lack thereof. As we press into the weekend before our collective,... Read more »
Music Matters: Sex, Guns'N'Roses, Nine Inch Nails, and My Misspent Youth
There always comes a point, when someone asks me to write for them, that I decide it's time to write about sex.
When it comes to a column about music, that's not as difficult as you might think. Sex is everywhere in pop music—rock 'n' roll, hip hop, r&b, they're full of it. From the moment... Read more »
Douchebag Decree: Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
This week the douchetacular group Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, whose name invokes vague ideas about democracy and justice while its agenda promotes hate and intolerance, basically awarded the Douchebag Decree to itself.... Read more »
Sm{art}: Austin Unbound
Wif-pdx (Women in Film-Portland, natch) is part activist organization, part information network, and part event sponsor. This very week, for example, they are joining up with NW Documentaries, another kick-ass grassroots film... Read more »
Bristol Palin and The Situation Bring Us the World's Most Awkward PSA
In one of the weirder zeitgeist-y mashups we’ve seen in a while, Bristol Palin and The Situation have teamed up for a “Pause Before You Play” PSA for Candie’s. While well-intentioned I’m sure, the result is painfully awkward to behold:
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Political InQueery: Covering Women Politicians
According to some political pundits, Barbara Boxer faced the most challenging opponent of her Senate career in Carly Fiorina. Any advantageous position she'd had in previous elections as a female Democrat was at least... Read more »
Mad World: Toy Ads and Learning Gender
I recently watched afternoon cartoons on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network and I was shocked to find a flood of highly gendered toy commercials. These ads not only market toys to children but they also promote and encourage gender-specific values that are very limiting to boys and girls in different... Read more »
Political InQueery: Spelling Bees as Elections
In the Republican primary for Alaska's Senate seat last summer, Joe Miller beat Lisa Murkowski by the razor-thin margin of 2,000 votes, or less than 1 percent of the total ballots cast. This would have signaled the end for the vast majority of losing candidates, but when Murkowski was asked, again... Read more »
Bechdel Test Canon: Fat Girl
Relative to Breillat's other movies, 2001's Fat Girl is fairly tame until its problematic conclusion. Documenting the misadventures of fifteen-year-old Elena (Roxane Mesquida) and her younger sister Anaïs (Reboux) while on a family vacation, the movie highlights the disparity between the... Read more »
Political InQueery: Stupak Amendment on Steroids
While the news media focuses on the debate between the two primary political parties on tax cuts and who should receive them, both in the lame duck Congress session and in the next session, organizations like NARAL are preparing for a different fight over tax dollars and tax penalties—those related... Read more »
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