Many of us learned back in our school days that the first to retort “Well, you’re fat!” in most any argument has run out of ideas. This lesson appears to be lost on conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, who in a recent radio show went for the cheap shot in disputing political blogger Meghan McCain’s views on the future of the Republican party.

Ms. McCain, pictured above with her father Senator John McCain, recently criticized controversial pundit Ann Coulter for the disservice her radical views have done to public opinion of Republicans and stated that such extremism would dissuade younger voters from associating themselves with the party. In a subsequent radio broadcast, Ms. Ingraham criticized Ms. McCain on rather different grounds, calling her “too plus-sized to be a cast member on the television show The Real World” - and with that, the gloves are off.

In her latest piece, Ms. McCain raises that age-old question - why does image precede message? She cites a certain treatment of women in the media that is often taken as the status quo, where a woman’s appearance is the first order of business, particularly when the aspect of appearance in question is the woman’s weight. Not only has Ms. McCain come under criticism for being “too heavy” at all of a size 8, but her mother, Cindy McCain, has been the target of unkind remarks for her thin frame. What is this elusive “perfect size” that we must aspire to, then? That ideal proportion that won’t distract fickle audiences from our words and ideas? I’d like to think that the size of my brain matters more than the size of my dress, but I’m sure that there are many who would say that it’s all in my head.

President Elect Barack and Michelle Obama have choosen Harvard MBA Desiree Rogers, currently a prominent Chicago businesswoman to be their personal social secretary. Rogers, 49, will be the first African American White House social secretary. Rogers will be leaving her current position as an executive at Allstate Financial in Chicago to come to Washington later this winter.

The Obama’s have selected a highly-educated woman who has a great social stature and understanding of the demands on the office. It is clear that they are very focused on ensuring they are introduced to the country and the world with great attention to detail and no stone left unturned. Rogers knows the Obama family well and this puts her in a great position to get down to work immediately as she already knows their preferences, ethics and tastes.

The position is far-reaching. The job entails being involved in every event or ceremony that occurs at the White House on or the grounds. Beginning the moment after inauguration, Rogers will be responsible for organizing the swearing-in of Obama’s new Cabinet.

Her vision will be to make the White House more accessible and more inclusive. She is also committed to developing events featuring children because the Obama’s have two school-aged daughters, Sasha and Malia who will be the first young kids in the White House in over 30 years.

Ann Stock, a social secretary under the Clinton White House was once responsible for organizing the historic signing of the Mideast peace agreement, for 4,000 guests, on four days notice.

Prior to joining Allstate, Rogers headed a $2 billion utility.

SOURCE: WASHINGTON POST

A recent story on CNN.com titled My REAL life as a call girl proposed some very interesting and circular questions. Stating factually, the article asserts that experts disagree on whether or not prostitutes are victims. The sordid and not so sordid stories of how women fall into prostitution are as numerous as there are prostitutes. Is a high-end escort or call-girl different at all from a prostitute or are we just splitting hairs over semantics?

This story discuses one woman, Natalie McLennan moved from Montreal to New York City eight years ago at the age of 20 to pursue an acting career. She met a pimp, Jason Itzler, at a cocktail party who convinced her that “dating” men would be better than waiting tables while she waited for her acting career to take off.

Within four years she was earning $2000 an hour. She would see two or three clients a day for about two hours each. She was earning upwards up $12,000 A DAY, as a prostitute. In 2005 she was the July cover of New York Magazine and three months later her escort agency was shut down. She was arrested for prostitution and spent 26 days in jail.

McLennan knew what she was doing. She made a conscious choice to engage in those behaviors. Should that be illegal? She wasn’t coerced. She wasn’t selling herself for drugs or other criminal money. She was simply trading sex for money. The bottom line is that prostitution according to Wikipedia is the act of performing sexual activity in exchange for money. The legal status varies from one jurisdiction to another; in some parts of the world it is legal and in others it is punishable by death.

Do you think this is a slippery slope of legalities and situations or is it just wrong, morally? Legally?

Your thoughts?

::

Natalie McLennan’s tell-all book The Price: My Rise and Fall As Natalia, New York’s #1 Escort is due out soon.

My dollin’ readers, I apologize for the unannounced absence last week. Two things: I had some house work being done and my home was in total chaotic shambles and I still had to live in it with an eight-month-old-crawling-standing-eating-teething baby. And, the only news out there in regards to women was Sarah Palin and I just didn’t want to contribute any more to the (endless) debate on her record and lack thereof and also her personal life and how much it matters. I am however, writing my thoughts and feelings on my personal site, (as of publication I haven’t completed it yet, but feel free to check back) but I didn’t feel I could contribute anything newsworthy. So, here we are ! I am back!

I think this upcoming election is very important to women in America. I have visited each candidate’s website in search of a list of ISSUES that they feel are relevant to women. I wanted to discuss some of them here.

I make no secret about the fact that I am a Democrat and I will be voting for Obama. However, I’d like to bring to light each candidates stance on issues as they relate to WOMEN. For the sake of discussion and information-sharing.

On initial comparison, my first visit to each of these websites, Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin, Vote for Change versus Country First, what I found there was actually very telling in and of itself.

Obama’s website has a very well marked pull-down menu of ISSUES. One of those issues is WOMEN. Here you will find a brief description of Obama’s goals and concerns as they are related to women in this country. It includes health care, social security, reproductive rights, business issues, education and more.

Then I went to John McCain’s website hoping to find a similar set-up so that I could do a side-by-side comparison of the candidates. I can’t do that. Because McCain’s website not only doesn’t have a clear link to his stance on issues, but when you do find a link to the issues, it DOES NOT INCLUDE WOMEN AS AN ISSUE.

Hear me out ladies, John McCain’s website doesn’t specific any issues specific to women in this country. He isn’t interested in addresses the concerns of women, arguably the largest voting demographic in this nation.

On a slightly more annoying note, when you go to McCain’s website a video starts automatically playing showing McCain as a POW. When I went inside the website to several links once again, the video started automatically and I had to stop it in order to search for the information I wanted. To me this means he doesn’t have the information to back-up his plans and he isn’t interested in giving us (women) voters a sense of his politics.

Ellen DeGeneres, 50 and Portia de Rossi, 35 wed last Saturday evening at their home in LA. The couple exchanged handwritten wedding vows in an intimate home ceremony. Ellen announced their impending nuptials recently after the California Supreme Court ruled a previous ban on gay married was unconstitutional. Nineteen guests attended. Photos of their wedding are available in this week’s People Magazine. Sources also report the couple does talk about having children.

This past summer, Rossi sported a 3-carat diamond ring set on a pink pavé band, a gift from DeGeneres for their upcoming nuptials first noticed when the pair attended the Daytime Emmy Awards together.

In other domestic-type pop culture news, Jennifer Garner confirmed today that she and husband, Ben Affleck are expecting their second child. The couple claims that Violet, their toddler has given them a good idea of what having a baby around the house is like and that they are “excited”.

Glass of suds? Anyone? People Magazine reports Jessica Simpson is staring in a new beer campaign. This brew claims to have vitamins! Ladies … put down the Turbo Jam and drink up the vitamins! Seriously?? (WHAT!)

Heather Locklear just returned home after a brief stint in rehab for depression and anxiety. Her friends say she is looking great.

Finally, the United States women’s softball team lost their first game since September 2000 and will not be in the running for a gold medal, reports Sports Illustrated. They made two very uncharacteristic mistakes early in the game which allowed the Japanese team to take control of the game. The United States Olympic team has won three straight gold medals in women’s softball. This is quite an upset to the team and their fans.

Christina Applegate, best known for her 10-year roll on Fox’s Married with Children as Kelly Bundy and more recently as star of Samantha Who?, admitted this morning on Good Morning America that she had a double mastectomy just three weeks ago. She plans to undergo reconstructive surgery during the next year.

Diagnosed just this summer with breast cancer that was confined to one breast, she opted for the the more radical treatment of a double mastectomy. Applegate’s mother battled breast cancer and she tested positive for the BRCA1 gene mutation that has been linked to more severe forms of breast and ovarian cancer.

Since her diagnosis she has opted for a healthy diet including fish, grains and vegetables and taken a serious matter-of-fact approach in making decisions that will effect her health and the rest of her life.

“I’m going to have cute boobs till I’m 90, so there’s that,” she joked in the interview, which aired Tuesday. “I’ll have the best boobs in the nursing home. I’ll be the envy of all the ladies around the bridge table.”

Applegate appears to be taking things in stride although, without a doubt she is experiencing stress and anxiety on unprecedented levels.

In recent years she has stepped out of type-cast role as a dumb-blonde-bimbo and taken on some more serious and challenging rolls. Her Daily News hopes Applegate has a speedy recovery and quickly returns to the set.

This article on Newsday comments on the increase in women having preventative double mastectomies. Do you find this to be too radical? Or, do you think this is a wise decision when faced with the challenges of BRCA1-breast cancer?

Some other Breast Cancer Information Sites:

Breast Cancer Info

Susan G. Komen Race For the Cure

National Cancer Institute

At age 6, Darlene took her first guitar lesson. By 25, she was playing in a band and recording music. Last March, she purchased new digital, programmable hearing aids. “Since I have had this problem all my life, I don’t view it as challenging so much.” Her problem is congenital deafness.

I interviewed Darlene Hagler about her upcoming performance for Art in the Park in Mint Hill, NC. She will be a solo performer on Sunday, August 26, 2007, for the festival which started three years ago to showcase artists, musicians, and local talents. 20 years ago, Darlene and her band traveled all over North Carolina and recorded a couple of demos. “We even had fans!” she quipped. Adult life and responsibilities crept in and the band went their separate ways, but Darlene still enjoys playing.

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How Fares the Fairer Sex? is a new series that will feature a brief look at some of the top headlines for women. In this first edition, we will look at Reese Witherspoon, Natascha Kampusch, Skinny Bitch, and Leona Helmsley’s mansioleum.

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This article really hit home with me. In the Houston Chronicle today, there is a story about a study done by the University of Texas that shows teenage girls who are obese are half as likely to attend college as their slimmer counterparts. The study also showed that obese teenage girls were more likely to engage in reckless behaviors such as skipping school, underage drinking and drug abuse. Such acting out stems from feelings of isolation. What I found most poignant in the article was how the societal stigma of appearance is not the same for obese boys.

Today is my birthday and I’m venturing into my mid-twenties. But it wasn’t too long ago that I was a teenage girl in high school facing the same pressures discussed in this article. For girls, even at an early age, looks and weight become the focus. Once you fall outside of the desired parameters for looks in society, the change begins. It is a shame that these girls are judged by their looks before they have even had time to develop them. What is even more of a shame is that these outside factors are affecting the educational choices of these young women. Because you don’t wear a certain size means you aren’t supposed to be successful in life? This shows me how much young women tie beauty to self-worth. The unfortunate part is that beauty and outward appearance will fade and can be taken away. It’s what you learn, give to others and grow into as a person that makes you special. Those types of lessons often come with life experience and wisdom, both of which you do not need outer beauty to attain.

women, obesity, education, beauty, society, teenage girls, pressure

So I’m taking a break from my normal hard-hitting news routine to kind of vent my frustration with news resources. In this blog, my focus is on women’s interests and issues. While I think that leaves room for a pretty broad range of information, I am still finding it difficult to find stories that matter. Maybe I am picking or judgmental but I really want to focus on all aspects of female life. What I find, however, is that often the articles focus on women in relation to men in society. It always seems to be a compare and contrast of gender. I think many of the articles I have posted on here are great examples, such as articles about occupations, business and gender roles in society. Part of me wonders if we could use this type of information to keep women informed and in the know as opposed to just showing them what they already know about their roles in society.

My other beef is with the lack of substance. I do some other types of freelance writing and actually submitted one of my published articles as part of my application here. One of the articles I wrote and submitted is about the lack of substance in today’s female society. This is not to say that there aren’t women today with intelligence and insight to offer; it is that American society and often the world-at-large chooses not to focus on those things. Many womens sites, magazines and media outlets focus on fashion and beauty rather than education and independent thought. As I sat down today to write my post, I found myself on the hunt for useful, informative information that relates to women’s interests and issues. More and more often though, I leave disappointed. I don’t want to discuss Lindsey Lohan and Paris Hilton. I don’t want to give women tips on hair color. And I don’t want to talk about listen to women whine about dating. These things are temporary and often superficial. Unfortunately, this is what many women find as resources for life.

Now, this isn’t to say that I haven’t found some great resources for news and information. Women’s Media Center, Women’s eNews, the New York Times and some of the sites you see listed under my links have been very helpful. Some of the stories overlap and I do think there is a need to increase the number of resources. I think overall my point is that I want to see women’s view of society change so that society’s view of women will change. I think progress should be the major goal in the end.

women, news, resources, research, society, gender, news, information

So what would it be like if gender roles were truly reversed? Well, a news series on Fox this fall will explore just that. The brilliance of the idea almost makes me wonder why this hasn’t been explored before (possibly by a better network). Below is the series description:

When Women Rule the World - Fox

What if it was “a woman’s world”? What if women made ALL the decisions? If men were their obedient subjects?

These questions and more will be explored when a group of strong, educated, independent women, tired of living in a man’s world and each with a personal axe to grind, rule over a group of unsuspecting men used to calling the shots on WHEN WOMEN RULE THE WORLD.

The unscripted series will reveal how women and men react in a world where women are in charge and men are subservient, and each gender’s ability to adapt to a new social order will be put to the test.

The participants will be brought to a remote, primitive location where the women will have the opportunity to “rule” as they build a newly formed society – one where there is no glass ceiling and no dressing to impress. For the men, their worlds of power and prestige are turned inside-out and upside-down. And for these women, turnabout is fair play!

In order to win, the men must accede to the women’s every demand, 24/7. Here, women command and men obey. Over the series’ duration, the men will be eliminated by the women until one last man is standing.

How will the men react? How will the women treat the men? Can women effectively rule society? Will the men learn what life is like for some women in today’s world? Will this new society be a Utopia or a hell on earth? And in the end, who will be man enough to succeed in the new social order?

I guess it wouldn’t be safe to call this a reality tv show since it is the opposite of the society we live in today. That is not to say that the concept is an impossible reality. I view it more as a “what-if” scenario, acted out for the whole world to see. Unless the cast is poorly chosen, I think this will be an eye-opener for both men and women.

women, television, utopia, men, gender roles

Talk about a man’s world. An article in the People’s Daily Online shows that China is the most gender imbalanced nation in the world right now. Currently, there are 37 million more males than females. And the ration of girls born compared to boys is at 100:116 and expected to climb. The story cited three major reasons for the problem: “a long period of paying more attention to men than women, an incomplete social security system, and the abuse of ultra sound technology.” That is a polite way of putting it I think. Years of systematically aborting, murdering and neglecting baby girls seems like a more direct way of stating the cause.

Because of the growing problem a number of laws have been implemented to curb the problem. Just to name a few: “ Population and Family Planning Law, A Regulation on Banning Non-medical Need of Identifying the Gender of a Fetus, and Sexually Discriminative Artificial Suspension of Pregnancy. The Care for Girls Activity was also launched to advocate the idea that men and women are equal, in order to deal with the gender imbalance.” So the conclusion can be drawn that the country is taking positive steps to educate their citizens.

It still leaves me to wonder how difficult it will be to break the tradition. Boys are favored because they will care for their parents when they are older, while women will marry into another family and do nothing to support their family. If that tradition alone changed there wouldn’t be much of a problem. Women could grow up and get an education and help support her parents the same as her male counterpart if women were given the opportunity for success the same as men. Another issue raise in the article was social security. These parents rely on their sons to take care of them when they are older because the government has nothing else in place. Wouldn’t some sort of social security program or retirement education benefit in this case?

China is headed down a slippery slope if changes aren’t made in how women are viewed. They aren’t just risking the present security of the women and children that will become the victims of the societal chaos but they are also risking their future. If some have forgotten how valuable women are to a society let me refresh you memory: women are the ones that carry, birth and raise the children, male and female. So this leaves a society such as China’s in a catch-22. In order to continue their sexist traditions of valuing men over women, they will need to take a step back and start valuing women enough to close the gender gap.

women, China, gender, abortion, human trafficking, social security

Female only floors in hotel. At first glance you might jump to one of a number of conclusions. Is it sexist? Discrimination? Anti-feminist? A safety measure? Well, after reading the article below, you be the judge…

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Though it is still early and there is still much to be seen regarding the presidential election, I wanted to take a moment to show some important factors women should consider when voting in 2008:

• Women outnumber and outvote men, and candidates are already creating campaigns to woo the female vote and strategists are tailoring campaign issues to focus on women’s concerns, including health care and education.

• Women constitute more than half the population, which makes them highly sought-after voters, political observers say.

• They register and vote in larger numbers than men.

• Although some may be influenced by their sex and thus likely to vote for a woman on the ballot, others are just as likely to vote for a man, observers say.

• in last year’s midterm election, exit polls indicated that proportionally more women than men voted for Democrats, and they were credited with helping Democrats regain control of Congress.

• Married, suburban women historically are more likely to vote than their younger, unmarried counterparts, observers say.

• In the 2004 election, 50 percent of women ages 18-24 voted, compared with 44 percent of the men that age, according to the Center for Information & Research on Civil Learning & Engagement.

• Worldwide, more than 40 countries - but not the United States - have had women in charge of their government. England has had Margaret Thatcher, Ireland has President Mary McAleese and Germany has Chancellor Angela Merkel, to name a few.

• The U.S. lags far behind others in female legislative leadership, ranking 70th out of 139 countries, according to data from Women in National Parliaments.

• Top on the list was Rwanda, with 48.8 percent women in their House and 34.6 percent women in their Senate. In the U.S. Congress, women are 16.3 percent of U.S. House members and 16 percent of the Senate.

• Presidential candidates are creating special groups to try to draw women to their camp. Women for Giuliani. Women for Hillary. Women for McCain. Women for Richardson. Women for Romney. And so on.

Source: Women’s Vote is a big factor in 2008 - Anna M. Tinsley, Miami Herald

women, voting, politics, election, presidential, 2008, voters

In the view of many women, having your choice between Ms., Mrs. and Miss when filling out a form may seem like a minor inconvenience. Some don’t even notice at all and happily mark the box that best fits their current status. But when you look deeper at the social impact of the choices given, you see that there is so much more to these titles than society lets on. So much of this name game is steeped in tradition that women don’t stop to look at whether the tradition itself is sexist.

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