• A woman from Arizona may be forced to fly more than 300 miles away from her hometown to give birth, because her local hospital insists she must have a c-section. Joy Szabo had a c-section for her last child, and the hospital claims that doing a vaginal birth after a c-section is too risky. •  According to a British study, less than 33% of men wash their hands with soap after going to the bathroom. In order to increase the number of hand-washers, researchers suggest placing messages above bathroom sinks, which either shame the person into washing, or gross them out ("Soap it off or eat it later"). •  A man from the UK - who the Daily Mail dubs "Cruel Graeme Conroy" - has been sentenced to 18 months in jail for forcing a 3-year-old girl to smoke cigarettes. Conroy had a 14-year-old girl film him while he forced the young child to chain smoke five cigarettes, "as a joke." •  A Missouri ninth-grader has been arrested for making a website that called a classmate a "slut" and said she "would be better off if she just died." Missouri is cracking down on cyber-bullying after Megan Meier's suicide. • A woman who was raped as a 13-year-old is speaking out against rape kit backlogs after her kit sat untested for twenty years, much longer than the statute of limitations for her case. • A Berlin brothel is offering an "eco discount" to johns who walk or bike there. • PUMA Amy Siskind says "President Obama seems largely tone-deaf to women and women's issues," and praises the Republican party for "promising stars" like Sarah Palin. • But Jimmy Carter is bullish on Obama, saying that he deserves the Nobel Peace Prize "as much as anyone who's ever gotten it for his achievement already," and that "he's spelled out an agenda that can be adopted by others in Europe and around the world to lead toward increased peace and human rights and the alleviation of suffering. Those are all tangible contributions - even though the fulfillment of all of them has got to require time to realize." •

• A state panel has found that there is probable cause to believe that a suburban Philadelphia swim club, which asked a group of mostly black and Hispanic kids to leave, was guilty of discrimination. One of the girls who was asked to leave reports overhearing a club member asking, "What are all these black kids doing here? I am scared they might do something to my child." • For the low price of $39.95, you can be the proud owner of a Joe Wilson action figure, because nothing says I'm well-versed in politics! quite like a plastic figurine. •  Girls are fast catching up to boys in violent crime, according to new data. Although the increase first began to appear in the 1980s, it was only in the past decade that we saw a true rise in violence among young women. Professor Kerry Carrington will publish her findings in her book, Offending Youth. • The man accused of beating a female soldier outside an Atlanta Cracker Barrel has been indicted on charges of aggravated assault, cruelty to children, and false imprisonment. Federal officials are currently investigating whether he should also be charged with committing a hate crime. • A South African man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of the "corrective" rape and murder of Eudy Simelane, one of the country's leading female soccer players. Two other men were acquitted due to lack of evidence. • Police have been unable to link Philip and Nancy Garrido to the disappearance of two young girls. Last week, it was reported that police found what could possibly be human remains on the Garrido's land, but it has since been determined that the bones are "far too old to be relevant to our case." • Max Baucus has backed down on his proposed tax on the medical devices industry. The so-called "Q-tip tax" has been amended, so that items under $100 (including tampons, sanitary pads, and Q-tips) would no longer be taxed. •  Researchers have found that providing Mexican women with new, pollution-reducing stoves can dramatically improve their respiratory health. Many Mexican women cook over indoor, wood-burning stoves, which causes them the same damage as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day. • Bad news for breeders: Scientists have linked childbearing to an increased risk for developing metabolic syndrome. • High school science teacher Susan Vincent was disappointed to realize that inner-city girls don't get to spend a lot of time outside, so she introduced a program at her school that brings kids to the Hudson River estuary. She hopes that they will eventually be able to fund a field-trip to the Mississippi River delta. • According to a recent poll, women are twice as likely to ask someone else to park for them than men. Women are also more likely to admit to being flustered while parallel parking, and to becoming self-conscious when watched. This leads the Daily Fail to deduce that "parking is a masculine strength." • Though Justine Henin retired from tennis last year at 25, when she was ranked number one and held two Grand Slam singles titles, she announced yesterday that she's returning to competition, and may even be back for the Australian Open. • A study of 2,000 British children ages 7 to 11 found left-handed kids are more likely to enjoy school and get along with their teachers. • According to another study of 2,000 adult Britons, many people are in denial about their weight problems. Though only 7 percent of those polled thought they were obese, the actual figure was 27 percent. • The FDA has banned the sale of candy, fruit and clove-flavored cigarettes, effective immediately. However, the ban does not apply to flavored cigars, smokeless tobacco products, or most notably, menthol cigarettes. Menthol cigarettes are preferred by 80% of black smokers and 25% of white smokers, and are increasingly popular with teens according to Jonathan Foulds, director of the Tobacco Dependence Program University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey-School of Public Health, but he says banning them too would result in a "pretty major revolt from industry." • Experts say the murder and persecution of women and children accused of being witches is increasing around the world, and may number in the millions. U.N. investigators say the persecution and killing of accused witches, who are often elderly women, is becoming common in South Africa, Nepal, Papua Ne Guinea, India, and other countries. In other areas children accused of witchcraft are abandoned or killed by their families. • Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backed off his denial of the Holocaust in an interview with the AP yesterday. He said he isn't interested in debating the past anymore, but that the Holocaust shouldn't be used as a pretext to repress Palestinians today. • Some of the 42 African-American members of Congress who attended the Congressional Black Caucus conference this week said that "tea parties" and the people protesting against Obama's healthcare reform show that racism is on the rise. Democratic Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, said Joe Wilson shouting "You lie!" could signal the return of "folks putting on white hoods and white uniforms again, riding through the countryside." • In the late '80s, when Glenn Beck hosted a Phoenix, Arizona radio show he used to do a version of Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" every Halloween. A rival radio host, Bruce Kelly, told a newspaper reported the bit was a stupid rip-off of an old joke. As revenge, Beck called Kelly's wife, Terry, live on the air a few days after she had a miscarriage. According to Brad Miller, one of Beck's former co-workers, he said," We hear you had a miscarriage... When Terry said, 'Yes,' Beck proceeded to joke about how Bruce [Kelly] apparently can't do anything right — about he can't even have a baby." •

Images of suffragettes are juxtaposed with images of "modern" women, yet the language is still sexist — the cigarette flavor is "mild," for women only; the cigarettes are "tailored for the feminine hand." As blogger Lisa of Sociological Images points out, the last commercial insists that the cigarette is "beautiful."

What's interesting is that this idea of the smoking woman as being both "beautiful" and "liberated" has stuck with us, to some extent. In the late '70s, women were being encouraged to smoke pretty. Some recent fashion layouts have featured smoking models, gorgeous in their utter lack of feeling "motherly." In 2007, a direct mail campaign marketed Camel cigarettes as a "designer" "must-have." And when thinking of contemporary iconic women who smoke, three images sprang to mind:

Carrie Bradshaw

Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction

Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct

All beautiful, all "liberated," not the kind of women who ask permission. Do we as viewers see them as sexy and confident? Or as damaging their lungs and hearts?

"You've Got Your Own Cigarette Now, Baby!" [Sociological Images]
Virginia Slims Commercials (1969) [Internet Archive]
Earlier: How To Market Death To Women: Make It Sexy, Make It Pink
Oldies But Goodies

You too could be distinguished like Miss Mimi Richardson...


...an elegant hostess like Mrs. Hamilton Fish, Jr...


Glamorous like Maureen O'Hara...


Fit like America's aquatic stars...


Be fun and popular...


Find romance...


...and live happily-ever-after...with your cigarette, of course.

Cigarette advertisements from the 30s, 40s & 50s [Vintage Ads]
Related: 30 Years of 'Cosmo': Sex, Drugs & Sperm-Killers

Related: New Research Dispels Myth That Cigarettes Make Teenage Girls Thinner, But Smoking May Stunt Growth Of Teenage Boys [Science Daily]
Earlier: How To Market Death To Women: Make It Sexy, Make It Pink

[Time, Science Daily, Hindustan Times, EurekAlert, The Economist]

The ad, which was elaborately designed and executed, arrived to one Jezebel's home via direct mail, which is one way tobacco companies are forced to reach people, now that they no longer advertise in women's magazines. The vibe is upscale, luxe, exclusive, pretty — words you could use to describe say, Vogue or the lifestyle portrayed on Sex and the City. (And Camel is not the only brand that makes "designer" smokes.) But a pack of cigarettes is not a Prada dress or Blahnik shoe. Or is it? Is there something inherently chic about smoking, even today? Teenagers often start smoking because it "looks cool" and then find themselves with a habit that's hard to break. And though some of us think that smoking and advertising have nothing to do with each other, the fact remains that a deadly product is glamorized. Wouldn't we all give pause if we saw a gun or a disease-loaded syringe treated the same way?

(Click to enlarge)

Earlier: Sex And The City-Inspired Cigarette Ads Die Early Death
Lawmakers Get Pissy About Cigarette Ads In Women's Mags

Related: Puff Daddies: Designer Cigarettes [Glam.com]

We Quit...For Now [WWD, sub. req.]
RJ Reynolds to Stop Print Ads Next Year [ABC News]
Earlier: R.J. Reynolds Thinks Women Are Superficial. They May Be Right

[London, October 5. Images via Bauer-Griffin.]

• WHAT?! Model Irina Lazareanu is engaged to Pete Doherty. They're already on the registry at Cokespoons N' Things! So, like what is it with this man and models? What is it with models and this man? And like, does Irina read the tabloids? Does she read at all? [WWD, 1st item]
  
• Model Natalia Vodianova will be walking in the Valentino show today. She gave birth three weeks ago. Yeah, fuck her. [NY Post]
  
• Mazel Tov, Stella McCartney! Her eponymous fashion line is finally turning a profit, which makes us happy because we were seriously worried about how Stella was going to pay the bills and put food on the table. [WWD, sub req'd]
  
• We can't help but wonder if it's the same, wounded-by-fashion soul who robbed both Elle international creative director Gilles Bensimon's home and Skeletor/celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe's during the flurry of fashion shows. [Fashion Week Daily]

• Yves Saint Laurent designer Stefano Pilati takes a cue from Howard Dean. On making his fall advertising campaign a political manifesto (complete with Gisele-bedecked pamphlets!) he says, "I decided I had to scream a bit more - not in an angry way, because that would be impolite, but to give people more opinions." [Vogue UK]
• Normally we get bitter when celebrities act as "guest editors" at magazines. But Charlotte Gainsbourg overseeing December issue of French Vogue? That's just cool. [WWD, 2nd item]
• Nepotism! 19-year old Delfina Delettrez Fendi makes a jewelry collection and it gets sold at exclusive Paris boutique Colette! Poor family planning! 19-year old Delfina Delettrez Fendi gets knocked up and has a baby this summer! And this is why we love Italian heiresses. [WWD, 3rd item]
• The dangers of smoking? Ain't Vogue's problem. The American branch of the international fashion magazine's advertising director is reaching out to congressional leaders to pass additional legislation to teach about the health risks associated with the habit. Because the magazine will continue to practice "freedom of the press" - aka, still take advertising dollars from tobacco companies. [WWD, 1st item]
• Just us, or isa coffee table book about stylists along the same lines as Kramer's coffee table book about coffee tables? [WWD, 3rd item]
• Miuccia Prada is to be honored by Los Angeles' Hammer Museum for the art space established in Milan by herself and her husband back in 1993. [Vogue UK]
• Why aren't we becoming millionaires predicting "trends" based on info you can otherwise get for free? [Guardian]