Just Because

Have a good weekend!

Vintage Beauties: Marilyn Monroe

Modernity & Tradition: A TED Lecture by Kavita Ramdas

EXCLUSIVE: Jenna Jameson's Attorney Says Tito Ortiz's Drug Claims Are "Patently False"

Tito Ortiz and Jenna Jameson have a huge domestic violence blow out on Monday (4/26/10).

Now the accused Tito is saying that the accuser was on drugs and fell.

Tito had claimed during an impromptu press conference held outside an Italian restaurant in North Hollywood Monday night, that he never laid a hand on Jameson - insisting instead that she hurt herself when she fell.

This is insane. Just because Jenna Jameson has a sexy job doesn't mean you can abuse her. Also even if she was high which her lawyer points out is still not a justification for abuse.

So let everyone remember no one deserves to be abused or murdered. Just because someone morals do not align with yours we can't throw them to the wolves of society.

Tracy Anderson Says Something Crazy in Response to Jillian Michaels

Damnit, Tracy Anderson, why are you making me write on this topic again? Essentially, Tracy Anderson, personal trainer and grifter to the stars, has joined the fray criticizing Jilliam Michaels' proclaimation that she didn't want to have biological children because of how it would impact her body. So, Anderson, suggests that one can have a post-baby-bounce-back-baby in six weeks. The kind of mindset that pressures women in body-conscious industries, heck all women, into drastic and unhealthy regimes post birth or guilt them into thinking that these measures are normal when they fail to apply themselves and get even skinnier than before giving birth, mere weeks post-partum--with a newborn in tow! Check out her full quote below:

As you may have read in the news recently, some fitness personalities say that pregnancy and having a great body can't go hand-in-hand, that you have to choose between giving birth and looking great. I'm here to dispel those notions.

Being a mother is undoubtedly one of the most rewarding and meaningful connections you will ever experience. Your body and mind will forever be filled with a constant state of love, protection, concern, and selflessness from the day you find out you are pregnant.

Of course, there are many ways to become a mother, and all of them are beautiful. But to claim that pregnancy and natural childbirth are somehow unhealthful for a woman's body sends an incorrect message to women everywhere.

Although I gained 60 pounds when pregnant with my son, I have never felt more beautiful since then. I had discovered a new level of femininity that every mother owns. Even though I was tired and could hardly catch a shower as a new mom, I found myself with a new power and belief that I could achieve anything.

But I also knew that restoring my body after pregnancy would be an important gift for myself and my child, so during my pregnancy I began researching and creating a new fitness method that would give me the energy and strength I'd need once my baby was born. As soon as my OB-GYN gave me the green light to work out again, I started experimenting with my workouts whenever my son Sam was sleeping or with his Nana.

Six weeks after having Sam, I was smaller and more fit than I had been in my entire life. It took a lot of work, but I am a testament to the fact that pregnancy is not the end to your dreams of a perfect body.

Tracy Anderson, shut up! You are the problem.

Skinny Dream: Must Read!

I highly recommend checking out this article about the false idea that weightloss is the key to happiness. It profiles Jen Larsen, formerly a blogger at the Elastic Waist which is now a defunct blog, who lost 150lbs via gastric bypass surgery; it also profiles Jennette Fulda from Half of Me, a great current blog, who lost more than 170lbs via South Beach and LOTS OF EXERCISE. Both share how weightloss isn't instant perfect life (or even perfect health, as Fulda has suffered from a chronic headache condition for the past two years, post-weightloss). Neither would wish to gain back the weight, but they think its important to acknowledge that weightloss is an panacea that cures all ills, makes you rich, famous, loved, etc. Fantasies that many lay on the "if I ever" fantasy of someday getting skinny. Check out the article and come back here to share your thoughts!

Bring a Chicken to the Doctor

I stole this video from Pandagon which has an excellent discussion up about the dangers of viewing "the olden days" as Rep. Sue Lowden phrases them through rose-colored glasses. It is true that in say 1880, bartering with a doctor was common practice, but the skills, the medicine and the training of said doctor was usually questionable at best and to except physicians, nurses, hospitals, MRI machine companies and similar to accept a chicken in lieu of cash payments is ludicrious in the MARKET ECONOMY REPUBLICANS HOLD SO DEAR! Her nostalgia is not good public policy, nor does it really speak honestly about "the olden days" a phrase that I find laughable because it seems to encompass Pre-Antiquity through the 1950's as one large swatch of "better times" for people like Lowden. Interestingly, one item that was dug up on this woman was that while she was VP of your family's casino, the casino was fined $200,000 for labor violations that included forcing full-time employees to sign waivers for benefits and denying health insurance to eligible employees. I guess she takes her bartering seriously and wants her employees to start the trend because forefend she be forced to obey labor laws!

Dr. Oz's Weight Loss Secret for Carnie Wilson? Tough Love!

So Carnie Wilson is 'trying' to lose weight with Dr. Oz. It is not going well. She has only lost four pounds and it not following his suggestions such as get a diet buddy.

I love me some Carnie Wilson, but we have to start the think maybe she is just turning weight loss into a money maker. She is on her 4th reality diet topic shop. So she either needs the money or she refuses to deal with the psychological issues that cause her to chronic overeat.

If this doesn't work with Dr. Oz, I think we need to deny her TV time.

Must Read

Check out this article by Jezebel's Tasha Fierce regarding the under-representation of women of color among the recent bevy of plus-sized features in mainstream women's fashion magazines. Its well written, thoughtful and honest. Let me know your thoughts in the comments section.

WellPoint: Systematically Canceling Women's Health Insurance Policies After Breast Cancer Diagnosis

So, in yet another reminder about how for-profit health insurance is out for the bottom line and not clients' health. WellPoint, a major insurance company, systematically canceled women's health insurance policies after cancer diagnosis and looked for pretexts (like, finding a misspelled word in a Doctor's notes...seriously, they used THAT as an excuse) after the fact. This was automatic and generated by a computer program in their system.

Of course, its worth pointing out that being able to drop patients is still allowed under healthcare reform, though allegedly restricted, but that's crap as we know how excellent insurance companies are at getting out from under their obligations and how weak individual patients are. The fight for universal healthcare is far from over, but the recent legislation is a beginning.

See these women's stories HERE.

Jillian Michaels' Statement About Motherhood Controversial--But for the Wrong Reasons

In a recent interview with Health Magazine, Jillian Michaels, the trainer from The Biggest Loser was asked whether she was planning on having children. Her response has critics mad about the WRONG things. She said, "I can't handle doing that to my body." And then she continued explaining that she planned on adopting and that, "when you rescue something, it's like rescuing a part of yourself."

First of all, let me express my clear and unwavering support of Ms. Michaels' right to make decisions about child-rearing and pregnancy. No woman should ever be forced to endure pregnancy and childbirth against her will, or made to terminate a pregnancy against her will. I trust women to make the best decisions for themselves and their families, period. In addition, adopting a child is as legitimate as giving birth to a child, period. Watching Pete and Trudie's infertility issues on Mad Men is a real lesson in how stigmatized adoption used to be and apparently people still hold some of these anti-adoption views to this day. Don't get me wrong, I know that genetics can be a very difficult to combat in terms of certain diseases, such as addictions and mental illness and by adopting a child you may not know their full family medical history, but nothing is ever certain.

Now, critics have glummed on to how her concern over pregnancy is about how it transforms one's body--which pregnancy most definitely does and it carries certain risks of death or injury, though greatly reduced by modern obstetrics and pre-natal care.

A Fox News commentator responded to Michaels' concerns about the impact of pregnancy on one's body by stating: "Women [...] have children all the time and get right back in shape particularly if they exercise."

Uhh, that is decidedly not the right way to address this issue because statements like that demonstrate why it is so stressful for someone like Michaels whose industry, personal training and network TV, to consider pregnancy. The expectation that women get back into shape six weeks after pregnancy and birth to walk in Victoria Secrets shows or to pose on US or People is the real issue. Baby-bounce-back-bodies are almost as pervasive as "baby-bump" watches, which are by the way, incredibly misogynistic and creepy to boot. Having a burrito and soda for lunch almost always equals a "baby-bump" watch for slender starlets, even Jennifer Garner's shirt getting blown, obviously, by the wind got a speculation as she carried her infant and held her toddler daughter's hand walking down a Boston street. Stop that noise, people, or at least don't buy People.

Now, it is true that Michaels and perhaps women who suffer from eating-disorders or body-dysmophic disorders may reject pregnancy because of its perceived "maiming" of a highly controlled body size. By no means to I suggest pregnancy for such women, but I do think that treatment for such perceptions are important because getting freaked out by pregnancy might just indicate the need for coming to terms with the variable, out of control bodies we all inhabit--after all, we all will age and die and dealing with bodily reality is something we will all have to do eventually. I'm not saying that Michaels' has an eating disorder or exercise anorexia and once again, I support her right to determine her own reproductive path. I'm just saying that her exact words do sound like she sees pregnancy more as an injury or a disease than a natural process that is legitimate for those who choose it. Since she is so influential and may start her own talk-show in 2011, I hope that she really tries to grapple with her views on pregnancy or corrects her remarks later to clarify her position in a more broad understanding of "health."

Vintage Beauties: Kim Novak

The Supremes

President Obama was asked about the replacement for Justice Stevens he responded:

THE PRESIDENT: You know, I am somebody who believes that women should have the ability to make often very difficult decisions about their own bodies and issues of reproduction. Obviously this has been a hugely contentious issue in our country for a very long time. I will say the same thing that every President has said since this issue came up, which is I don't have litmus tests around any of these issues.

But I will say that I want somebody who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women's rights. And that's going to be something that's very important to me, because I think part of what our core Constitution -- constitutional values promote is the notion that individuals are protected in their privacy and their bodily integrity, and women are not exempt from that.

Nice, very nice--but of course, its sad when acknowledging that women have the right to make their own medical decisions and their bodily integrity is their own is considered a controversial statement. Remember folks, elections matter! The Supreme Court is stacked with Conservatives and Roe hangs by a thread! Also, did you know that with Steven's retirement, he's the last Protestant Christian on the court? The court is all Catholic with one Jewish member. I'm not an anti-Catholic person or anything, but I do think that more diversity on the court is important, as is racial and gender diversity. An Atheist might be nice--or a Hindu, Quaker, etc. Are their any African-American, Lesbian Unitarians fit for the appointment? Okay, I'll settle for someone who interprets the Constitution as the Progressive and Rights-Conferring document it is.

Damnit Oklahoma!

So, Oklahoma has a new anti-abortion Bill up in the State legislature that not only seeks to force women to have vaginal ultrasounds (which can be triggering for rape victims and which are medically unnecessary) but that seeks to HAVE DOCTORS HIDE INFORMATION ABOUT FETAL ABNORMALITIES FROM PREGNANT WOMEN. Seriously....seriously!

So, not only does this Bill demand medically unnecessary procedures as a precondition for abortion, but it actually encourages medical malpractice--which hopefully will be its Achilles Heel if it does pass and will be overturned as Unconstitutional in Federal courts. But, this is another Bill pro-choice advocates will have to contest and spend large sums of money to legally defeat instead of advocating for greater access to abortion services and contraceptive services for women. If you live in Oklahoma (or not) contact your legislature to stop this Unconstitutional Bill before it becomes another expensive exercise in proving once again, that women and full human beings worthy of the ability to make their own choices (and have ALL the information) about their bodies and pregnancy. OK legislature page is HERE.

Lane Bryant: Censored?

So, apparently, Fox thought that the above commercial was unsuitable for an ad-buy during American Idol, YET similarly scantily clad Victoria Secret models/commercials have run during the SAME TIME SLOT!

From Lane Bryant's own Blog:

It appears that ABC and Fox have made the decision to define beauty for you by denying our new, groundbreaking Cacique commercial from airing freely on their networks.

ABC refused to show the commercial during “Dancing with the Stars” without restricting our airtime to the final moments of the show. Fox demanded excessive re-edits and rebuffed it three times before relenting to air it during the final 10 minutes of “American Idol,” but only after we threatened to pull the ad buy.

Yes, these are the same networks that have scantily-clad housewives so desperate they seduce every man on the block, and don’t forget Bart Simpson, who has shown us the moon more often than NASA, all during what they call “prime time.”

We knew the ads were sexy, but they are not salacious. Our new commercials represent the sensuality of the curvy woman who has more to show the world than the typical waif-like lingerie model. What we didn’t know was that the networks, which regularly run Victoria’s Secret and Playtex advertising on the very shows from which we’re restricted, would object to a different view of beauty. If Victoria’s Secret and Playtex can run ads at any time during the 9pm to 10pm hour, why is Lane Bryant restricted only to the final 10 minutes?

Discrimination? Yes clearly, but good for business? Probably. Lane Bryant will probably get more buzz from the controversy than the original ad alone would generate, but that doesn't make it right.

Here and Here are two excellent profiles of Dorothy Height, Civil Rights activist and feminist. She died this morning at the age of 98--80 of those 98 years dedicated to professional social justice work and advocacy. She was one of the few women allowed at the Men's table when many of the landmark protests and rallies were planned during the 1960's.

She was famous for her hats and dressing well to demonstrate the inherent dignity and worth she knew everyone deserved.

Barack Obama, in a statement earlier this morning, called Height "the godmother of the Civil Rights Movement and a hero to so many Americans." She was also an advocate of dressing to impress — she said, "I came up at a time when young women wore hats, and they wore gloves. Too many people in my generation fought for the right for us to be dressed up and not put down." (Jezebel)

She is also credited as one of the first Civil Rights and Women's Rights activists to engage in intersectional justice work. Or, as the NYT puts it:

"Ms. Height is widely credited as the first person in the modern civil rights era to treat the problems of equality for women and equality for African-Americans as a seamless whole, merging concerns that had historically been largely separate. "

Ms. Height, truly was a remarkable human being--and we need more like her to continue the work for social justice and equity (as well as equality).

More Good Marketing from Kotex

Here's another good ad from Kotex. She's trying to see if "a man on the street" would buy her tampons and starts discussions with men about how concepts of the masculine and feminine influence buying/refusing to buy "embarrassing" products like tampons/pads. There was another which I couldn't get the embedding code HERE that has a male protagonist trying to get women to help him pick out tampons for his girlfriend--their conversations are hilarious!

Anyway, another Check plus for Kotex and their campaign that is also revealing of the taboos that surround menstruation.

Clothing Store Owner Can't Fit Into Her Own Stock!

The Times of London Online has an article up with Belle Robinson, the owner of the boutique clothing store, Jigsaw in London. Its subtitle suggests a message of uplift and support for "normal" sized women: "The chic Jigsaw owner, Belle Robinson, explains why not being sample size is less important than loving your life."

That's great, sample sizes (0's or 2's) are unrealistic and unhealthy for more women (not all, I'm not being a skinny-bitch hater here). Here's the crux of the issue, Jezebel uncovered that Jigsaw only offers sizes up to a UK 14 (US 12) and that Ms. Robinson is a size UK 16 (US 14). Her own boutique doesn't carry clothing that would fit her and yet she's trying to impress upon Times of London readers a message of body self-acceptance? Cognitive dissonance much?

The difficulty finding stylish clothing that respond to many body-types is just the kind of experience that helps to reinforce to women who wear 10's, 12's, 14's, 16's, 18's and gasp beyond the sense of comfort in our own bodies. I am not suggesting that Jigsaw change its business model and become a plus-sized boutique, but about about integrating a few more sizes (say, up to 24?) into your stock. Most certainly, integrate a size 16-18! Seriously, self-hatred sucks--get over it! And please, don't give me your body acceptance speech without first, oh, I don't know--accepting your body and the bodies of women like you into your shop.

Lisad00 2010 Race Results

Here are my RACE RESULTS

My time this year was 50:38 .
My time last year was 52:03.

I reached my personal goal. I am happy with that.

Update:
I was 88 out of 127 on F 30-34.

I was 954 out of 1475 overall.

Vintage Beauties: Jane Russell

April 20th is Equal Pay Day

According to new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women continue to earn, on average, just 77 cents on the dollar to their male counterparts. With women now making up half the workforce and more and more families dependent on a woman's paycheck to make ends meet, pay equity is more important than ever.


To find out more check out the AAUW page.

Translation of the text: Every day, thousands of women are victims of violence...and every year, some women die from it.

Domestic violence, sexual harassment, forced marriage, prostitution, rape...

Let's react. Call 3919

I thought that this was an excellent PSA because it highlights how scary the sound of silence can become when one is immune to the constant sounds of violence which this neighbor experiences. Of course, the French social services wants the neighbor to call their hotline prior to that silence--they want him to react!

Now, this is a complex issue and for many reasons I do understand why neighbors do not call the police or social services when they witness or infer violence. The possibility that you might become a victim of retaliation is both scary and real. For someone like me, it is a professional obligation to report any possible instances of abuse I witness, whether at home or out and about professionally.

In terms of contacting authorities in general, I know that many people shy away from doing so for very mundane things. For example, once my neighborhood's power went out and I thought "surely someone has called" but after about 15 minutes, I called just to make sure that I was an additional "voice in the crowd" of complaint and guess what? I WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO REPORT THE BLACKOUT! Some many people are sheep and its important to remember that when you witness a car accident or their's a power-outage or similar, YOU MIGHT BE THE ONLY ONE WITH THE WHEREWITHAL TO CALL!!! So, call folks, call.

You don't have to give your name if you are witnessing abuse, everything can be confidential.

Furor over adopted boy sent back to Russia

This has really set back single women controlling their reproductive rights. Incidents like this limit the options women have in the pursuit of motherhood. Theologian has reported that that there are body mass restrictions on Chinese adoptions.

This one case has stopped over 1,600 adoption applications in Russia.

I am not pro-parenthood, but I think all people should be judged on their own merit and not on the actions of others in their demographic.

My heart goes out to all those parents who got the letter that their application is on hold due to this woman's actions.

Dixie Carter: Julia Sugarbaker Tells It Like It Is

Actress Dixie Carter, who is perhaps best known for her role as Julia Sugarbaker on the sitcom Designing Women, has passed away at the age of 70. As a tribute, here is one of her greatest speeches. Designing Women was (like The Golden Girls) part of a ground-breaking 1980's quality sit-com era that showcased professional women, which was culturally important. Of course, Designing Women, also had its serious problems, like their at times progressive at times seriously regressive use of their one black, male character Anthony. Anthony's place in that show is worthy of a post itself, but that's for another day. Today, we applaud Ms. Carter for her career and her life.

Creating a Health Journal

What is a health journal?

A health journal is a complete record of your health. You keep the health journal yourself. The journal helps you keep track of every aspect of your health.

What is included in a health journal?

A health journal should keep track of your overall health. Some of the things you should include are:

•Illness or injury
•Hospitalizations
•Surgeries
•Allergies
•Medications, vitamins or supplements that you are taking and how often you take them
•Diseases or illness in your immediate family

When you fill in your health history, be sure to include the dates. For example, if you were hospitalized, write down the date that you were admitted and the date you were discharged. You can also include notes on how you were feeling.

Why should I have a health journal?

A health journal is an easy way to keep track of your health. By recording your health history, you can keep track of illnesses, medications, treatments and procedures. Be sure to take your health journal to your doctor’s appointments. This will help you provide your doctor with exact information about your health. Your doctor can also help you keep your health journal up-to-date.

Keeping track of your health history helps you to be an informed, knowledgeable patient. Knowledge allows you to take more control of your healthcare. A health journal can also help you keep yourself healthy. Your journal will help you understand what makes you sick and how to take better care of yourself.