Jezebel
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rooms of their own
Salon Offers A Last, Well-Put Word On A Week Of Women Writers
"We are mired in a repetitious pattern of hate, jealousy and resentment toward those who are plucked by media powers and come to stand — however inefficiently — for the rest of us in the cultural imagination, securing the top spots, the best exposure, the prime media real estate in exchange for opening veins of feminine vulnerability." That's Salon's Rebecca Traister, weighing in on the publishing world's ghettoization and fetishization of the female experience by women writers both real (Emily Gould) and imagined (Carrie Bradshaw). Traister, in a little over 1,400 words, perfectly sums up this writer's inner conflicts over Sex and the City, the nasty, knee-jerk reaction to Emily's NY Times magazine piece, and the aesthetically prejudiced, commercially-limited and critically loathed space occupied by many contemporary female writers. Here's more: More » -
eliot mess
Is Seeing Prostitutes A Deal Breaker?
So, Eliot Spitzer, huh? As most know by now, the muckraking, ethically-superior New York Governor is said to have been "involved" in a prostitution ring. There were federal wiretaps at play, and the sexual congress took place at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington on the day before Valentines'. In light of Spitzer's transgressions, today's Since You Asked advice column in Salon seems oddly prophetic! A distraught reader asks Cary Tennis, "Have I ruined my karma by sleeping with prostitutes?" The reader feels his life has been destroyed by years of whoring, and wonders if he's a horrible person for cheating on his wife with hookers. Tennis gives some drawn out, hippy-dippy response as per usual, but ultimately decides "It is not about abstract forces and balance sheets. It's about conduct and relationships." This dude should probably forgive himself, but it begs the question — if you knew your guy had frequented prostitutes, would it be a deal breaker? More » -
Today an unhappy wife writes in to Cary Tennis's advice column on Salon, seeking counsel because her husband keeps yelling at her when they go skiing together. "My husband cannot understand why I won't go faster, and he gets upset when I ski slowly. He even thinks I ski slowly on purpose. But I cannot go fast, or at least not as fast as he does. I've tried. It's just not my thing," the woman writes. Well first off, lady, your husband sounds like kind of an asshole, but secondly, there's something innately icky about couples working out together. It's sort of like wearing matching sweaters: exercising in tandem seems way too Doublemint gum commercial for real life. [Salon]
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hot or not
Some "Sexy" Men Actually Not So Hot!
As an antidote to what it describes as the tyranny "of lantern jaws, bulging biceps and Seacrest hair" in People magazine's latest Sexiest Man Alive list, Salon has come up with its own list of sexy dudes and it's predictably politically correct and decidedly not hot. The list isn't entirely off-base (we've already expressed our lady-boner for Flight of the Conchords), but choosing Yale dropout/clean energy activist Billy Parish, who signs his emails with quotes by MLK? Admirable, but not necessarily a turn-on.
We never thought we'd say this, but we have to agree with the New York Post's resident Candace Bushnell impersonator Mandy Stadtmiller, who rails on People's choice of Matt Damon as 2007's Sexiest Man. "Sexy is nasty, dirty, rough," Stadtmiller says. "Sometimes you just want someone you can feel terrible about in the morning."
Sexiest Man Living 2007 [Salon]
Bring Sexy Back [NY Post]
Related: Sexiest Man Alive 2007 [People] -
sexx laws
Campaign 2008 Got You Hating Women Yet? We Can Solve That!
You know how genders? They're different? And thus in society? Their roles: traditionally different? Do you accept this? Have you outgrown it, sorta? And like, we're all adults here? (Well, you know.) So when Hillary calls herself your "girl," and her husband refers to her opponents as "those boys," and then McCain gets knocked by liberal bloggers for not "condemning" it when a supporter refers to her as a "bitch" — oooh ooooh! rub index fingers together!!! — and then you read about how women sorta like Hillary, because she's a girl and they are girls, but on the other hand they know enough of competitive girls to keep a distance, do you not feel, just a little, like everyone's appealing to some electoral elementary school principal? Salon's Rebecca Traister does, I think, which may be why she adds this imagery to a story today about all the other women we send to the White House next November:Far too many contenders seem to have selected their better halves from the Political Helpmate Bin made available to eighth-grade boys who already know they want to be president. I often wondered if these guys were spirited away during gym class and presented with a kick line of apple-cheeked, god-fearing, pearl-wearing, cookie-baking girls willing to sacrifice independent thought, sensuality and their postgraduate education in service to the highest office.
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crap request from a dude
"I Think You Should E-mail My Wife And Apologize"
For possibly the first time in his career, Salon's resident sensitive new age ponytail man cum advice columnist Cary Tennis gives excellent counsel. A woman wrote in today about an "emotional affair" she had with a former boss that never became physical. The energy her boss was spending on their relationship nearly ruined his marriage. The woman has subsequently left her job, and her now ex-boss wants her to write an e-mail apologizing to his wife, as all three of them must interact professionally in the future. The letter writer says:"I feel like they labeled me the harlot who almost ruined their marriage, and I suspect he didn't fess up to his wife how emotionally involved he was with me. Although I don't want to apologize, I also feel an obligation to, just to smooth things over and make them feel better. But I'm uncomfortable apologizing because I feel like it gives them more fodder to use me as an excuse for their marital problems. Does my ex-boss's wife deserve an apology from me?"
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lohanmania
The Critics Speak: 'Georgia Rule' Is A Hot Mess
So you might've heard that Lindsay Lohan made a lil' movie with Jane Fonda and Felicity Huffman called Georgia Rule. And it totally comes out today! But what do the critics have to say? While The New York Times gets oddly sentimental about Lohan — "The surprise is that she does it with such poise and intelligence....[The film] doesn't succeed, but there is nonetheless something admirable and honest in the effort" — the rest of the country is ready to throw-down with some harsher words... More » -
toxic wives
Salon Unravels The Real Truth Behind The "Until Recently" New York Bride
We always thought that the plethora of wedding announcements in the New York Times featuring brides who "until recently" held jobs was evidence of the powerful parry and thrust between male Manhattan investment bankers and the female public and private school teachers who know how to love them. The equation was easy: Well-meaning gal meets gazillionaire Prince Charming, and voila! All ambition to teach the ABC's goes right out the window, along with those worn-down Nine West leather pumps. More » -
oprah winfrey
Oprah Winfrey's "Secret": Peter Birkenhead Explains It All For You
Apparently we aren't the only ones troubled by Oprah Winfrey's wholesale endorsement of the recently-released new-age sensation The Secret. Yesterday in Salon, writer Peter Birkenhead launched a surprising but thoughtful warning shot over the bow of Winfrey's self-help ship, and our jaws went slack. More »
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1-9 of 9 for "Salon"
