Don't Believe The Hype

Long time no post.... (More on the Girls Guide to Getting REAL tour... and Brad Pitt

First things first!

Wanted to let everyone know that I'm teaming up with Courtney Macavinta again for another round of Girls Guide to Getting REAL tour dates!

We'll be in San Diego and Los Angeles in March, and New England in April....and there's still time to book us!  So if you're in one of those areas and are interested in having us come to your school, college/university, youth group, library etc... email me here!

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and next, just a little something I found really interesting, in a sad kinda way:

Apparently even the sexiest man alive gets airbrushed/photoshopped/electronically made over these days when appearing in print.

Not that I hang with Brad regularly, but that ad (some new Japanese jeans ad) on the left makes him look a whole lot thinner then he normally appears in paparazzi photos etc.

Which is just dumb.  Cause is there anyone who sits around thinking "Brad would be a lot cuter if his waist were just a tad thinner..."

Hillary Clinton... and the "b' word

It is TOTALLY not ok that someone used the word Bitch to refer to Hillary Clinton. (News report HERE)

And it is beyond shocking to me that that someone was a woman.

For those of you not following this story:  A well-dressed McCain supporter posed this question to him at a recent rally:

"How are we going to beat the bitch?"

I mean, are you KIDDING me?

Let's put presidential politics aside for a moment.... Can you actually believe that someone would do that on camera? 

Can you actually believe that McCain wasn't like "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE.  I'll have none of this dirty politicking on my campaign!"

When every random, dishonest, lying, cheating, gambling, ex-alcoholic male Texan--or other people--run for office, do derogatory words for male anatomy come in to play?  No, they don't.  So it's shocking to me that Hillary should have to endure that.

Not to mention that I'm still not clear on why she is such a polarizing figure when her husband is regarded as a beloved southern teddy bear.  Yet HE'S the one who was in office, HE'S the one with the lack of judgment BIG TIME etc....

Victoria's Secret Models win bogus award

If you've been reading this blog for a while... you know that I hate random marketing ploys.

I also hate the gratuitous glorification of models, celebs etc....

So you can imagine how I'm feeling about the "Award of Excellence" that has been bestowed on the Victoria's Secret "Angels."

PuhLEASE.  An honorary star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame?  Not that that is some great thing... but if I were a film legend and had worked hard to earn that, I'd be pissed that some people were getting the same honor primarily because of how they look.

And "excellence"?!  In what?  In bikini wearing?  BFD.

PS.  The utter self-importance and smugness on the faces of some of the models in the photo also really rubs me the wrong way.  Um, hello... are you about to cure cancer?  Did you help someone through a major life crisis today?  Well, then.....

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Sorry for the vitriol... but it's my first day posting after book tour (YAY!  It went really well!) and I just had to vent a little bit.....

Miss England asked to gain weight before the Miss Universe pageant.... veddy interesting.

News reports abound today about Miss England being told she should gain some weight before the big contest... which surprised her since she's not, apparently, "rail thin."

Organizers are trying to set a standard for contestants so that the pageant doesn't end up promoting the look that led to the whole skinny model debate.

Nice.

But said organizers apparently refused to comment to the Associated Press on their stance.

Weird.

Overall, I think this is probably a good thing..but I don't really like to commentary that immediately surfaced, ie  "what if she gains weight in all the wrong places?".  I mean, curves are curves, no?  Um no.  Apparently, there are good curves and bad curves.... some curves we're not supposed to want.  Like in the stomach and thighs:

"I'm trying to work out at the same time," she said. "It'll hopefully maybe level things out a bit. But, I mean, if I do start putting weight on, say, my stomach or somewhere on my thighs where I don't really want to put it on ... I'll obviously scrap the idea and I'll just accept the fact that I'm a naturally athletic build and can't do the curves."

WTF?  So it's okay to gain weight in the boobs, or to have sexy hips... but god forbid she should develop a round tummy or flabby thighs.  That would be downright unsexy... and what kind of universe would this be if Miss Universe was curvy in all the wrong places?

Trista Sutter (the bachelorette) on baby weight

My friend Eva said it best:

"GRRRR! Bachelorette, non-celebrity Trista Sutter is whining about her post-baby weight in US.
http://www.usmagazine.com/cover_story_14

This woman had a really tough time getting pregnant, and now she has a healthy baby, and THIS is what she's complaining about?

SHUT UP, SIZE 4 TRISTA!!!!
“I’m definitely not pleased when I look in the mirror,” admits the 5-foot-2 star, who now wears a size 4 and weighs 116 pounds, but aspires to surpass her prebaby physique and get down to 106 pounds. “When I fit into my size 26 Hudson jeans, then I’ll be happy.”

AND SHUT UP, TRISTA'S ASSHOLE HUSBAND WHO SHE LETS ENCOURAGE HER INSECURITY!!!!
"If I eat something that I shouldn’t, Ryan shakes his finger at me and says, ‘Uh, uh, uh!’"

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Egads!  What a HORRIBLE message Trista is sending out.

And yeahhhhhh, Eva, your comments are dead on.   Miss you!

The Perfect Woman

I came across this photo while doing research for the presentation I give to schools, conferences and youth groups.

And I can't decide which is more disturbing:  That a woman would do this to herself thinking it's fun, and hysterical and good for a laugh....

Or that someone has posted it online with the caption "The Perfect Woman?"

Sexy Halloween Costumes

Lots of buzz already about who's wearing what for Halloween.  Well, here's a new one for ya:

It's the AnnaRexia costume--because as a Playboy bunny/porn star/sexy witch/french maid is apparently totally passe.   This year, you can go as a sexy chick who's all skeletal skin and bones (and uh, boob implants).

For $42.95, you get: "Skeleton Costume includes Knit Dress with Glitter Screenprint, Headband, Choker Neckband, Removable “Anna Rexia” Badge and Ribbon Tie Belt."

Yeah, this costume is from an "adult" site...but it doesn't really matter. Before long it, or something like it, will trickle down to younger women.  But more importantly: WHO came up with this?  Does s/he live in a cave and no idea about cultural consequences?  Does s/he earn so much money that they just don't care?  Can s/he sleep at night knowing this is what they contribute to life on the planet?

Big questions... but someone has to ask them.  And I want answers!

"Prosti-tots".....whoa.

Dude... I know I was kinda out of it last winter.... but have you read these stats?

From last Feb:

"In a recent Newsweek Poll, 77 percent of respondents say young women celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan have too much influence on young girls. Eighty-four percent of those polled say sexuality plays a bigger role in American popular culture than it did 20 or 30 years ago and 70 percent say this is more of a bad influence on young people today than a good influence. In the February 12 Newsweek cover, "The Girls Gone Wild Effect," (on newsstands Monday, February 5), Deveny and Kelley examine whether there really are harmful long-term effects of overexposure to Paris Hilton and whether we are raising a generation of what one L.A. mom calls "prosti-tots," young girls who dress like tarts, live for Dolce & Gabbana purses and can neither spell nor define such words as "adequate."

Cardio Striptease: Feminist fitness?

I got the most interesting email from a friend of mine today.....

"Hey Audrey:

OK... so I'm out to dinner with 7 mommies this weekend and most of them are into running/fitness and they're really fun, cool women who are all organic and everything.

So, one of them starts talking about this stripetease fitness class she's going to offer near us around Valentines Day and ALL of them think this is cool. I'm like, WTF? Weren't we the same gals who were spelling womyn with a "Y"? I turned to my good friend Claudia (a botanist turned nature photographer with a 7 year old girl) and I say, "What are you going to tell Robin you're doing when you go to learn how to exercise in a fashion based on the complete objectification of women?"

It was bizarre. And, then our nanny was all into the idea too when I told her about it. The 20 something girls today are really sexualized in a gross way- I mean I was pretty open and sowed my oats in my 20s but I did it listening to The Dead and wearing Birkenstocks not showing my thong and all of my cleavage (ok... i've never had cleavage :-)).

Strange days indeed.

Am I just a prude?"

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This is SUCH a hard question... and it leads back to the discussions I've posted on this blog about Female Chauvinist Pigs. Some women think they are being liberated by getting in touch with their inner stripper... others, like m'self, think that the whole Girls Gone Wild trend cons girls and women into thinking that their sexuality is the nexus of their power and that they should exploit it to their gain since we live in a culture that exploits it anyway.

I'm all for feeling sexy.  I'm all for feeling powerful... but I gotta agree with my friend who emailed,  and so many other women who feel like they are feminists, but not into raunch culture...and therefore are made to feel prude and lame.

It just ain't right.

Paris wants to shed her party-girl image

Yep.  That's the word on the street.

"There are a lot of bad people in L.A. Before, my life was about having fun, going to parties — it was a fantasy," she tells Newsweek magazine in its Oct. 22 issue, now on newsstands. "But when I had time to reflect, I felt empty inside. I want to leave a mark on the world." (From a yahoo news report).

That's one way to handle it.... blame it on all the bad, bad people in LA.  Play the victim.  It's not like you had anything at ALL to do with cultivating that persona, eh, Paris?  (Ahem, anyone remember the whole "Firecrotch" incident with Brandon Davis and Paris.  And um, how about the fact that she started a celeb trend of not wearing undies and letting her yoo-hoo be photographed?  Blame THAT on those LA meanies too!)

Actually, it's not implausible at all that she might pull it off.  I wouldn't be surprised if she's able to generate enough buzz and become the poster child for being a good role model. And if she does....well, cool.

I just think it's amusing that things can get so turned inside out, and the people we vilify in the media one minute might suddenly be held up as a great example.

Let's watch this one closely, shall we?!