Curing the Lolita Complex

Who would disagree that the “baby-faced nymphet” — perhaps embodied most explicitly by a school-uniformed Britney Spears in the Baby One More Time video — is a regular fixture on the media landscape? What we might disagree on though is how to counteract it. Some believe that shielding girls from sex for as long as possible — preaching the abstinence message and the pregnancy/STD/victimhood perils of sex — is the only way.

Durham disagrees. Girls do not need “rescuing” from sex, she says. Merely the media’s one-dimensional, profit-driven version of it, which is based purely on male fantasies without a nod to female needs or desires.

Rather, girls should be encouraged that it is their right to enjoy it, thus reclaiming their sexuality from a culture that increasingly positions them as passive, objectified sex kittens who are not encouraged to actually want sex or get any pleasure from it yet are mandated to be desirable to males — to look up for it but not, of course, act on it, for that would be sluttish.

Times Online

Reading habits

Found at Veronica's blog:

I'd like to think that those who read other books outside of HP and the Twilight series are not going extinct, but apparently this graph proves otherwise?

Perhaps a comparison across age groups is in order.

Costume Ideas?

So next Friday I am going on a pubcrawl with the EPHE faculty and need to come up with a costume that starts with an E, a P or an H. So far I'm drawing a blank; I mean, I can certainly come up with plenty of things to be but none that are getting me super excited. Perhaps it's because I don't really want to spend that much money on a costume (spending it on alcohol seems so much more logical).

I do have the makings of a Peter Pan costume, and a Power Puff girl costume would be easy (but so much more fun if I could get other people in on it). I'm not a huge fan of the over sexualized trashy costume ideas (Pimp's and Ho's), so I feel like that seems to cut short a lot.

I've thrown 'The Letter P" parties before and have thus thought of being a puppet or pepto-bismal, pterodactyl, but seriously, nothing is making me excited to put together a costume.

I think maybe I want to be a panda:

Bandi-Panda Fashion by Zhao Bandi

At least, the blond wig and ears, plus pandaid style makeup and panda styled clothing.

Input?

Alexander McQueen ss 2010

I would love to get into his head when he is coming up with his designs. And also to understand how hard it must be to walk in those shoes...Booth Moore describes it best:

The creatures that came out onto the runway were otherworldly nymphs with hair like cobra hoods, and staggering platform shoes with armor-like shells. One look morphed into the next, with dresses wrapping, twisting and folding in on each other. Moth, praying mantis and manta ray prints evocative of Damien Hirst’s nature-themed works were engineered specifically for each garment, and embroideries brought to mind underwater wreckage. Dresses also were covered in a print taken from an aerial view of the Great Barrier Reef, and when the evolutionary process was complete, a new being emerged in the final model, dressed in sequins and opalescent beads that conjured underwater bio-luminescence.

There are pieces that remind me a lot of Alien, and just as many others that remind me of nature and the different ecosystems. As fashiontoast puts it: "I love it when fashion reminds me of things that have nothing to do with fashion".

More

Hockey

Hockey

For anyone who has not heard of this band and enjoys upbeat music with a hectic feel to it, you should really check them out. It's the type of music I put on when I'm getting ready to go out, or play when I am having a dance party in my room. Totally infectious.

I first came across these lads while at Sasquatch while waiting for...St. Vincent I think...and was blown away by their raditude. It was nothing short of a pleasure to watch them, they ended up being one of my favourite performances. I thoroughly enjoy watching a lead singer who has charisma and gets the rest of the band and audience revved up; these boys know how to perform, how many lead singers do you know that will join in on drums and wail away on them alongside the drummer? I think it was pretty much that situation that sold me on them.

Since Sasquatch they have played Glastonbury, T in the Park, Bonnaroo, and the Hove Festival. Follow that with the release of the first album, Mind Chaos, and it's been a good year for them.

So seriously now, go check them out.

mid-week wall

Last post was celebrating October; this post is frustrated with October's seemingly 'in the middle of it all' feel.

Perhaps it's just the fact that I am frustrated with upcoming midterms, projects and lack of general clarity on the parts of professors or perhaps it's because I am in the middle of trying to find worthwhile jobs for my spring co-op. It's quite disheartening.

So in the meantime I will focus on the pubcrawl I'm doing next Friday, the British boys' goodbye party this Friday and...the feeling I will get once projects and midterms are dealt with?

I wish I had something more interesting to post...

Until next time I will leave you with another fabulous photo of Mariacarla:

smut-to-go

It's October!

So let's celebrate with some Stam!

By Mariano Vivanco for Numero Korea
fashiongonerogue

This photo shoot illustrates perfectly why she is one of my favourite models.