Jezebel: freakonomics

Kissin' Cousins

Sadie — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 19:45:00 EST

U.S.: One kiss. France: Two. Netherlands: 3. In today's "Freakonomics," Daniel Hamermesh asks, who makes the kissing rules? Who changes them? How do we learn them? And we'd better! [New York Times]

Plastic Surgery: Where Do You Draw The Line Between Deformity And Vanity?

Jessica — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:20:00 EDT

Americans are spending a reported $13.2 billion on cosmetic surgery (more than the GDP of Bolivia!), but should health insurers be reimbursing at least a few of these procedures? Over on the New York Times "Freakonomics" blog, plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Zenn points out: "Insurance companies often insist that surgery should treat a functional problem, not a cosmetic one. However, the distinction is not as black and white as they would like and there is a large gray area between the two." Zenn uses the following as an example: "We might all agree that a woman who is a C cup and wants to be a D cup should not be covered by insurance, but what about an 18-year-old girl who has one B cup breast and one D cup breast? Many would argue that this scenario creates a functional problem that is hard to describe as only cosmetic. What about a woman who has had a mastectomy and wants a reconstruction? Cosmetic?"

Zenn also talks about how difficult it was to get breast cancer patients covered by insurance for reconstruction — same thing for children born with congenital deformities. So where should insurance companies draw the line? When Is a "deviated septum" an actual deviated septum and not just what people claim when covering up their frivolous rhinoplasties?

Your Plastic Surgery Questions, Answered [Freakonomics — NYT]
Americans Putting Up The Dough For Plastic Surgery [Houston Chronicle]

Prostitutes Are The New Therapists

Jessica — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 12:00:00 EDT

Hookers are everywhere these days: on the cover of the cover of the Post, in a special Diane Sawyer boasts, you find prostitutes here and there, you can find prostitutes anywhere! But seriously, folks, the nerds over at the New York Times' Freakonomics blog have an interview with two sex workers, Mindy and Dorothy, who answer readers' burning questions about what it's really like to be a prostitute. High or low end, they're all in cahoots with the coppers and they think legalization is ultimately bad for prostitutes because "they will just get exploited. They'll get paid a lot less and be forced to do a lot more." But the most interesting part is that both Mindy and Dorothy think "much of prostitution work is about therapy."

Mindy continues, "These men who paid me thousands of dollars control their worlds. Everyone listens to them. And, at the same time, they are incredibly insecure people. Every man I've had as a regular client went through a period of several months where he just cried — and I still got paid."

Over at the Village Voice, anal sex enthusiast and noted sex writer Tristan Taormino only partially agrees with Mindy. In her "Pucker Up" column, Taormino interviews sex workers rights advocate and journalist Melissa Gira Grant, who says "Some men go to sex workers for closeness and intimacy—they want to cuddle, and that's what they are not getting at home. But for others, it's not emotionally therapeutic at all, it's the same as getting a deep sports massage."

Um, I don't want my boyfriend getting any "deep sports massages!!" Taormino argues that we "need to see sex workers as people performing needed sexual services in our society." Theoretically, I agree with her (and so do many others) — that a consenting adult who wants to sell their sexual services should be allowed to. But in practice prostitution seems like the ultimate in objectification, and most of the women who do it seem to be using it as a last monetary resort, not as a fulfillment of their own kinks. Should sexual healing be one of the benefits covered by your health insurance?

Your Sex Industry Questions Answered [New York Times]
In (Partial) Defense of Eliot Spitzer [Village Voice]

Earlier: Really, Eliot? You Interfaced With This?
Young Beauty Sells Her Body, Breaks Our Hearts
Tristan Taormino: Porn Is As Cerebral As It Is Visceral

Finance Roundup: We Scan The Biz Pages So As To Stop Hating Ourselves

Moe — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:06:12 EDT

Sick of celebs — of the non Money Honey neo-P. Keaton variety — yet? Good, cause it's time for finance roundup, that thing we're doing so we don't lose all our neurons to the silicon-silicone vortex. (Get that? Please?) Basically the big news today is that the Fed Chief, who is no longer Alan Greenspan so we really don't trust him, has called a recession "unlikely" despite all the bad news for the housing market, meaning you may actually be able to afford those babydoll dresses and lumberjack flannels along with your rent this time around. But probably not. Because economic health is for rich people.

The WSJ blogs about The New Republic writing about how Freakonomics has ruined Economics. Steven Levitt's response is incredibly thorough and well put — NOT! We'd side with TNR on this one because we hated the 2.7 chapters we read of Freakonomics, but we can't really hate on economists for being "addicted to cleverness" when we're so addicted to... oh yeah, carbohydrates. [WSJ]

Macy's beats out Microsoft for the M ticker symbol on the New York Stock Exchange. This is fucking retarded, as far as we're concerned, namely because Bill Gates is practically Angelina when it comes to giving away money, and Federated Department Stores' name has only been "Macy's" for about five seconds, and well basically because Macys'. Totally. Sucks. [WSJ]

Chick-food hating Burger King does a solid for chicks, proverbial and actual, vowing to buy pork and eggs only from suppliers who vow not to keep their animals in crates and cages. [NYT]