Another permutation on the lipstick effect? Prom dresses are selling well in the recession. It's not just girls: a Florida shop owner said boys are spending more on tuxes than last year. [New York Times]

"The "Foundation index" appears ready to overtake the "Lipstick index" as barometer of economic activity... women plump for a layer of foundation as a pick-me-up in gloomy times, rather than a dash of lipstick." [FT]

Alan Greenspan always knew how to find out where the economy was headed: in the men's underwear department. And if the former Federal Reserve chairmen is to be believed, we're headed for more financial trouble.

Jockey says that its pink briefs for men have seen a 62% spike in sales since the start of the year. Bonus pictures of all the popular colors (and stuffed peens) here. [Daily Mail]

The British government apparently thinks so, as it's offering expectant mothers due on or after April 6, 2009 a £190 grant for seeing a doctor or midwife. [Telegraph]

Jessica Bennett of Newsweek aims a gimlet eye and the tween (and pre-tween) beauty industry aimed at convincing your toddler that this is what pretty girls look like. You know, like their moms.

The economy is so bad that even fictional newspapers are shedding staff. The Flash is laying off reporter Brenda Starr. Great, now someone else will want to start blogging. [Editor & Publisher, Brenda Starr]

The Foxy Lady strip club in Providence is holding its first-ever job fair this weekend to fill 30 positions due to increased demand during the state's mounting unemployment crisis. They just want to help!

Hannah Fairfield, attempting to explain the wage gender gap for the New York Times, places the blame squarely on "women's choices." Oh, and discrimination might have a little something to do with it.

Newton Emerson is a known satirist and a touch conservative and, as I know too well, sometimes satire flies over people's heads. That probably explains Louise Livesey's rant about Emerson's article on The F Word.

Dating a Banker Anonymous was totally a joke, says (alleged) DABA Laney Crowell in today's Times. DABA's blog is "a satire that embellishes true experiences for effect." [NYT]

Last week Broadsheet called the recession a feminist issue. This is especially true in Japan, where financially savvy housewives may have helped inflate the worldwide economic bubble.

Oh, the DABA Girls. Does anyone better represent the spirit of America right now? Hollywood, home of Shopaholics and Sex And The City sequels, thinks not, for the DABA Girls now have a Hollywood agent.

When Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi caved on including contraception funding in the stimulus package, many people got annoyed. Economics professor Nancy Folbre crunched the numbers to show that contraception funding is plenty stimulating.

In 2005, economists noticed that the last recession (in 2001) helped reduce the wage gap between men and women to the lowest level in decades. What will this recession do for women?

In a crappy economy, some women are picking up some freelance work: Fetish and dominatrix gigs.

Indonesian Trade Minister Mari Pangestu was the first woman in Indonesia to get a economics doctorate. She and other prominent financial women were asked last weekend what would be different if women ran things.

There's trouble in DABA-land. A trusted tipster says (and the company confirms) that one of the New York Times' infamous, blogging bankerdaters has been fired and another is suffering relationship fallout.

Did the DABA girls, those banker-loving women so devastated by the recession, pull a fast one on the New York Times? And, if so, do we dislike them more or less?

Earlier today, a group of brave young women told the New York Times that dating rich guys who were no longer so rich was very upsetting. And now they may have a book deal!.