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In a move that is sure to go down in adorable bear history, the BBC has named a female panda named Sweetie one of its female Faces of the Year. 2011 was either lacking severely in girlchievements or a banner year for lady pandas. So what was Sweetie's glorious achievement that elevated her, a bear, over that of all female humans who did stuff? More »
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Chloe Holmes has been living without a hand since lost her fingers when she was a toddler after complications with chicken pox resulted in blood poisoning. Her parents paid £38,000 for the bionic attachment, which officially makes her the youngest recipient of a bionic limb in Europe. She says that kids used to laugh and stare at school, but now when they stare it won't bother her anymore: "I think I'll get a lot of staring and stuff, but I won't mind now because I got this [hand] and I like it." More »
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Exciting news! Chain-smoking, Champagne-guzzling self-centered and vulgar fashionistas Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone are being resurrected. This summer, Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders will shoot three new episodes of AbFab, and the show should return to BBC1 in the fall. It's been almost 20 years since the show first aired, but many of the issues it touched on — a mother being parented and scolded by a daughter; weight-loss hysteria and anxiety; adoption of brown kids as a "trend"; adventures in plastic surgery — remain fresh, relevant and current topics. More »
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Julian Assange just told the BBC, "Capable, generous men don't create victims, they try and save people from becoming victims." He also said his accusers had "unprotected sex and they got into a tizzy about" STDs. Generous, indeed! More »
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In her first interview with Prince William, Kate Middleton discusses wearing Diana's ring; she also says William's "a true romantic." There's nothing earth-shattering, but after years of media stalking, this may be the first time we've heard Kate's voice. More »
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The firing of a British TV presenter — and her subsequent discrimination lawsuit —has gotten some people talking about an "ageist-sexist" TV culture. More »
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So there are lesbians in Britain - at least three of them! –- and they're all hot, white, currently single and brought to you to by the venerable matriarch of British TV, the BBC. More »
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A new miniseries has one writer asking: what exactly is so comforting about these British period pieces, anyway? More »
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Coming soon to a small screen near you: "Anna Nicole, The Opera." Smith's life story will soon become the subject of a BBC Four production, with a Dutch soprano playing the title role. More »
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• Lady Gaga, who was supposed to wear Prada to the Met last night, never walked the red carpet — and then performed in a sparkly catsuit nearly identical to the one she wore under her Grammy Awards dress. [The Cut]

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"Are you an angry person, are you angry about other things in your life?" documentary filmmaker Vanessa Engle asks her young feminist subject. Strangely, Sophia doesn't appear particularly enraged. Could it be the angry feminist stereotype rearing its ugly head? More »
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Tim Burton's upcoming Alice looks trippy. The 1951 Disney version had weird moments. Carol Channing added to the oddity of the 1985 TV movie. But Jonathan Miller's 1966 BBC film looks terrifying! Details about the project here. [VSL, YouTube] More »
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The name really says it all: I'm Hotter Than My Daughter: More »
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In the UK, there's a new version of a popular makeover show: How to Look Good Naked...With a Difference. The "difference?" All the women on this series are disabled in some way: More »
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In an early Mad Men episode, Roger Sterling is asked what women want. "Who cares?" he replies. But the Sixties advertising revolution — invoking Freudian-influenced research — did care. And even more so when it came to what men wanted. More »
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The word "model," in and of itself, speaks of perfection. Model student. Model citizen. You'd think a show featuring models who are also disabled would be interesting, but it really isn't. Shocker: You can be disabled and pretty. More »
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The news of a remake of the iconic Upstairs/Downstairs has been met with optimistic trepidation by the original's many fans. Will it be Pride and Prejudice-remake good - or Brideshead Revisited-movie-unwatchable? And will the soundtrack change? [NYP] More »
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Italian tile company Bisazza recently drew the ire of the UK's Advertising Standards authority, which said the image implied sexual violence. The ad (pictured) has been banned. [BBC] More »
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After recently being faced with accusations of ageism, the BBC has announced that they are searching for a new newscaster, and they want a woman over the age of 50. More »
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There's a new Marple in St. Mary Mead. The iconic spinster detective's brogues have been filled by such luminaries as Angela Lansbury and Geraldine McEwen, and now by veteran actress Julia McKenzie, who premieres in A Pocketful of Rye. [BBC] More »
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My lunch time eating has been forever transformed by Gillian McKeith and BBC America. By slotting the highly addictive show You Are What You Eat in at around noon my time, I look twice at everything on my plate. More »
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The latest U.S. export to land on foreign shores? Child pageants. The BBC3 documentary Baby Beauty Queens follows contestants in the first-ever Mini Miss UK contest, and, as Eleanor M. blogs for The F word: it's "surely a new low." More »
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The news that '90s supermodel Karen Mulder was arrested in Paris for making death threats to her plastic surgeon could be written off as, at worst, a punchline, or at best, the latest expression of an unbalanced woman's erratic behavior. More »
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Quentin Tarantino's long awaited so-called "masterpiece" Inglourious Basterds opened today at Cannes, and although reviews of the film are varied, most seem to agree that it isn't his best work. More »
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• Madonna's adoption of a second Malawian child: Denied.

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The new guy at the BBC is phasing out traditional costume drama and literary adaptations in favor of "a grittier look at the period." We say: boo. [The Guardian] More »
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Sugar Mummies is a new BBC documentary focusing on relationships between men and much older women. What's interesting is that the couples all express a feeling of persecution by their neighbors and families, but when those people were interviewed, they didn't seem to have a problem with the age difference, but with other issues (one woman is known for skipping out on rent, and another couple are just plain rude to his parents, who go out of their way to be nice to his elderly wife). The couple in the clip above are Edna and Simon. Edna is 72 years old and her husband is 40 years her junior. This, however, has no effect on their sex life, which, they explain, is very healthy and active. More »
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Earlier this week we discussed advances in genetic testing for fetal abnormalities, but what about testing for designer babies? In Britain, where it is illegal to use Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) to determine the sex of an embryo before in vitro fertilization, many couples go to other countries to get that boy (or girl) they've always wanted. Though one might assume that parents use PGD to get male children more frequently, the BBC's Colette McBeth says, "If anything, girls won over boys." Surprisingly, the United States does allow PGD for embryos, so if you have an extra $3,000 lying around to add to the approximately $15,000 you'll end up paying for IVF, you can get the baby of your dreams. More »
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We're all aware of what seems to be an epidemic of teen pregnancies these days. This is a particular problem in the northeast of England, where 1 in 20 girls will have a baby before the age of 18. Since this isn't all that new of a statistic, women in that region who had children in their teens are now dealing with those kids getting pregnant, leading to a new epidemic: Grandmas in their early 30s. The BBC documentary Britain's Youngest Grannies profiled a handful of these modern families. In the clip above, we meet Pauline, who became a grandmother at 34 when her 16-year-old daughter gave birth to a little girl. More »
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ixties supermodel and former ANTM judge, Twiggy, will host a three-part TV show about clothing swap parties that are apparently a huge trend somewhere. • Women in the Krebet village in Indonesia are keeping the ancient craft of batik wood figures and textiles alive thanks to the growing popularity for batik items in the West. • One of America's best chances for a gold medal is with the women's water polo team! Too bad no one watches water polo. • An Australian Vogue editor snipes that a Queen Bee bully and cycle winner from Australia's Next Top Model "scrubbed up all right" but she is "no Alice Burdeu." Who? More »
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We often hear about women who are unhappy with their breast size, but it's usually those with smaller breasts who wish they were bigger. The BBC documentary My Big Breasts and Me explores the flip side of the coin: Women with very large, natural breasts who suffer both physical and psychological repercussions from such their "heavy" burdens. One of the women featured is 23-year-old Jodi, who is 5'1 with a bra size of 28K. She says it's difficult to find a bra that fits her well, and studying to be a musician, she also says that her breasts get in the way when she plays piano. Her back hurts often, and she said that it's nearly impossible to run. For 19-year-old Maddy, who wears a size F, the problem is more about fashion. She finds that her breasts limit her wardrobe options (I feel her on that one; so sick of sack dresses), and she feels the need to wear large blousy tops that hide her boobs, and make her look less like "a porn star." Clip above. More »
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Disputing long-held beliefs that some female athletes' irregular menstrual cycles are caused by intense training regimes, a new Swedish study is reporting that many hyper-athletes with "menstrual disorders" may also suffer from polycystic ovary syndrome, which, incidentally, can make them better athletes. The syndrome, which is quite common, increases production of male hormones, making it easier for women to increase muscle mass and absorb oxygen. While 1 in 5 women in the general population has the syndrome, some 37% of women training for the Olympics and surveyed in the Swedish study had polycystic ovaries. [BBC] More »
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The BBC is launching a new reality show in which young women will compete for a modeling contract. Sounds familiar, yes? But this series has an added twist: The women participating are all disabled. Says the production company, "Our intention is to empower both the women featured in the project and thousands of others, who shouldn't be invisible to the fashion industry just because they are disabled people." Wonder if Heather Mills will be a judge? [Guardian] More »
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Happy National Eating Disorders Awareness Week! An eating disorder charity is calling on MySpace and Facebook to do something about pro-anorexia groups. "We believe that the sites should act responsibly," says Susan Ringwood of B-eat, an eating disorder charity. "They have acted to remove other content that is seen as 'dangerous', or could encourage young people to do dangerous things." Research shows that young women exposed to pro-ana websites feel more negative, have lower self-esteem and are more likely to compare their bodies with other women, reports BBC News. But a spokesperson for MySpace explains: "It's often very tricky to distinguish between support groups for users who are suffering from eating disorders and groups that might be termed as 'pro' anorexia or bulimia." More »
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According to Reuters, 70% of Canadian households are run by women, and most of those women are also holding down full-time jobs. The Canadian national channel, the CBC, is using these statistics as the backbone for a forthcoming special called The Week The Women Went, based on a BBC documentary of the same name. CBC producers set up shop in the tiny (population: 760) town of Hardisty, Alberta, then took all the women and sent them on holiday, leaving the children and domestic duties solely to the men for a week. Hardisty's Kelly Weatherly predicted, "It will be a disaster, a complete disaster," but the original BBC version of The Week The Women Went showed that the stunt actually helped create a greater sense of parity between husbands and wives in the domestic sphere. More »
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• Dita von Teese is collaborating with Wonderbra on a lingerie collection to be called — so original! — Wonderbra by Dita von Teese. Um, what would Dita von Teese know about needing a Wonderbra? [Vogue UK]

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Tor Stimpson had a "pretty happy" childhood in a small British village; she had a St. Bernard and her own ponies. But her younger brother was super smart and, as the pressure built for her to get good grades and amazing test scores, Tor began to feel "this huge cloud" over her. She started to cut herself, using knives, razors, and blades from pencil sharpeners. When a teacher told Tor's parents that she seemed depressed, they sent her on vacation. "Money was a way of dealing with things," Tor says. "I didn't feel I could talk about feelings, I just pretended things were OK." Even after she started therapy, Tor didn't feel as though her parents took her seriously. "My mother would make jokes about my psychotherapist," she says. "I think a lot of people from my background think mental health issues only happen to the less well off, who are doing drugs and who've led a hectic life." More »
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• The man convicted of killing Brandon Teena has recanted part of his confession and is now claiming he was the lone murderer. (Teena's story was the inspiration behind the 1999 film Boys Don't Cry, for which Hilary Swank won the Best Actress Oscar.) One thing kinda irks us about this news story: CNN insists on using his birth name "Teena Brandon" even though he lived and died as Brandon Teena. [CNN]

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We've been obsessing over how best to approach this story and we've decided the only method is to just let it speak for itself. The BBC is reporting that a young Briton named Amanda Monti was apparently so angry after a former lover rejected her advances at a party that she pulled off one of his testicles. Like us, we're sure you have a few questions. And thanks to a bang-up job on the part of the BBC, we have some answers! More »
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