- I’m curious what you guys think of these Playboy Playmates recreating their covers 30 years later. (Dangerous Minds)
- Texas just signed off on some pretty horribly sweeping anti-abortion legislation that includes requiring fetal remains to be buried. This is just such an unspeakable bummer. (The Cut)
- Today’s excellent time-waster: all 213 Beatles songs, ranked from worst to best. (Vulture)
- I’m kind of liking this trailer for Victoria & Abdul, which is based on the true story of the unlikely friendship between Queen Victoria and one of her servants. (Kottke)
- I enjoyed this piece about learning about feminist pioneers via their obituaries. (Elle)
The big story here is the awfulness in Texas…everything policy-related is awful…teen pregnancy rate going down in most places but not Texas… backwards, mean and anti-woman.
The most interesting thing about those Playboy covers is that its a close up look at how tremendously difficult it is for some women to age with grace and dignity. Well, and porn is bad for men…
Amen! As far as the Playboy covers go, what I find most interesting is that the majority of the women have been so altered by plastic surgery they bear no resemblance to younger self. In order to avoid aging they’ve relinquished their “self” to a surgeon in an effort to be reimagined as youthful. Sad, I imagine their grandchildren asking, “who’s that lady?”
Re Playboy, I’d be curious to know more about both the photographer’s and the models’ intentions for that project.
Thank god for plastic surgery and photoshop… I found these covers deeply disturbing on so many levels.
I found the photographs disturbing too. The former playmates seemed to have aged well but like Wendy says plastic surgery and photoshop can do wonders. More they anything it is a big surprise that beautiful women age beautifully? Also I can’t imagine this photo series being either interesting or celebrated if this series were about sexy male models aging???? The assumption would be — of course.
I grew up in Texas, and every time I read about these new restrictions, that have led to Texas having the highest maternal death rate in the developed world, I donate to the TEA fund. It keeps me from tearing my hair out.
Ugh, those Playboy covers. I guess the upside is that it affirms that older women can be considered sexually desireable now, but it’s very superficial (unsuprisingly). You need to have had a lot of cosmetic surgery, one, you need to get that airbrushed look IRL somehow, two, and three – well, congratulations, you’re still just an object whose own desires and personal agency in general don’t count for sh*t. So basically it’s problematic becasue it’s *still* in the context of Playboy.
I also resent the implicit idea, of which this is merely one example of many, that retaining desireability is the most important thing for a GOACA. At least in the past, a woman over 40 could escape from this kind of objectification – you were considered invisible at best, it was hardly ideal, but it at least offered a certain kind of freedom. Not anymore.
I agree with DeDe too. She capture exactly what I wanted to say with so much clarity and eloquence. Thank DeDe.
Yes, well-written, DeDe…
Agree 100%
I got confused at first when you wrote GOACA, because I thought you were writing about “us.” And I don’t put Kim’s GOACA in the same category…
We are bad-ass.
Thanks, Dana! I had doubts about using the GOACA acronym (and on second thought probably shouldn’t have), but inasmuch as we’re all subjected to the same basic standards, I kinda felt like we *are* all in the same catagory. It’s just that some of us choose to resist to varying degrees, some choose not to, and others don’t know they have a choice at all.
And YES again, DeDe!
“Playboy is now synonymous with America and American values as Mom’s apple pie, the Stars and Stripes, and Abraham Lincoln. ”
Ha- not in my world, bub. Nice try but no cigar.
What is dangerous is having a mind and not using it. I think Hef is a huge phony and does not in fact actually like women… and like all such, is probably bad in bed. (Unless he is no longer with us? In which case I probably shouldn’t trash him.)
As for the photos, I don’t care much either way. The photos were fake then and are fake now. Mind you, not all fakery is bad… fantasy and all that. It took me a really long time to pin down what I don’t like about nudie mags, because I see nothing wrong at all with nudity, or stripping, you know *if* … if it’s done right. The issue is whether the people in question actually like and respect women as people. I think most of the time, you can tell.
It’s like how some men are “womanizers”… but they are honest about it and actually respect women on a basic level… encounters with them can actually be affirming even if brief. For whatever reason, there aren’t very many men who manage to pull this off.
My brain is Comey-testimony-depleted, but wanted to throw my 2 cents in here regarding Texas. I have to live there for six months and one day each year in order to keep my Texas resident status legal and I have to do that for several reasons which are too lengthy to go into here. It is killing me to have to live there. I am so disgusted by what is going on with our governor and our legislators. I am amazed on an almost daily basis by what these small minded white racist men are able to get away with no matter how hard we work to defeat them. Texas is an extreme example of what gerrymandering can do to a state. BE VIGILANT in your home states to keep the gerrymandering at bay and in check!!!!!!
Excellent point…
thank you for sharing this. I understand this will be President Obama’s new focus.
So many of our problems are caused by “small minded white racist men.”
Those “small minded white racist men” probably all have small dicks, too. No consolation AT ALL, but most likely true.
I hate Playboy and everything it stands for. Whatever they do stinks of male chauvinism.
those then & now covers are depressing. the craziness in TX is depressing. the Cosby trial is depressing. & that’s before you get to politics. a friend once said – an intelligent woman will go mad if she you opens her eyes even a little bit. I’m sorry to be so dark but i really do believe this.
The amount of fear and hatred of women is so overwhelming. Listening to Terry Gross interview Manall Al Shariff today about her experiences as a Saudi woman who experienced GFM as a child and then seeing the Playboy cover models performing for the ultimate male gaze — it’s a fucking war against women. There’s just no way around it.
The Playboy covers just reinforce my feelings (especially after going to a high school reunion) that contrary to conventional wisdom, women age better than men. Whether it be these women are the women who I went to high school with. Nearly all the women at my 20 year reunion looked the same, whereas the men were almost unrecognizable (and not in a good way) due to their hair loss, hair gain in other areas, weight gain, etc.
To be completely honest, I don’t give a sh*t about Playboy models 30 yrs. later (Lets just say there’s no danger of losing jobs in the “plastics” industry).
I’m impressed and yet, angered by the story about the feminist pioneers that had to DIE to be recognized for their efforts (but applauding Pres. Obama for recognizing one when he saw one!)
I love that the brilliant Judi Densch can still completely mesmerize an audience in one of her magnificent performances.
And I’m depressed about TX…To quote Jane Jacobs, “I hate the government for making my life absurd.”