Profile for Jessica Wakeman

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No, Diddy’s Not Actually Joining The Cast Of “Downton Abbey”

Diddy On "Downton"?
The rapper tweeted that he's joined the cast of "Downton Abbey." Read More »
Sex Lessons From Downton
What the show taught us about the birds and the bees. Read More »
Michelle Loves "Downton"
Michelle Obama
... and she gets advance episodes sent to her from the UK. Read More »
morning quickies
downton diddy
"Downton Diddy"
  • … but he did make this Funny Or Die video about the show’s upcoming first black cast member. I totally called it that Diddy’s tweet last night – ”So happy to announce that I’m a series regular on Downton Abbey” — was a joke. [Funny Or Die]
  • This morning on “The Today Show,” Zoe Saldana responded to Allure listing her weight on the cover of the magazine: “I think it was to talk about for a lightweight person, I seem to be really strong minded.” What, so it’s shocking that skinny people can have strong opinions? [TODAY]
  • People are speculating that the guy who discovered the rapper Nelly, a man named Cudda, is the abusive ex-boyfriend Kelly Rowland sings about in her song “Dirty Laundry.” [CelebOverdose]
  • This is how rich people in Greenwich, Connecticut, reacted when Prince Harry played a polo match there yesterday: “All the big bankers, real-estate titans and masters-of-the-universe got just as weak-kneed and unctuous as their female partners around him.” [Page Six] Keep reading »

Rod Stewart Explains His Shrunken Penis

Broken Penises
There is a new spokesman for broken penises. Watch »
Penis Snatching
It's happening in Africa. Read More »
Shrinking Penises
Rush Limbaugh blames shrinking penis sizes on feminism, of course. Read More »
  • Steroid use made Rod Stewart’s penis shrink back in the ’80s, the singer has confessed. You got that, Rush Limbaugh? It was drugs, not feminism. “The steroids will take down the swelling in any membrane, including your knob,” Rod Stewart explained. This has been everything you could have wanted to know about the penis belonging to my mother’s favorite singer. [MSN]
  • The ACLU is pushing for the gay dads Cam and Mitchell on “Modern Family” to get married. [Huffington Post]
  • Farrah Abraham’s sex tape with James Deen wouldn’t be complete without Catelynn Lowell, one of the other “Teen Mom” stars, throwing shade. [US Weekly]
  • This person hired an “esteemed cat photographer” to take pictures of his pet cat. [The Billfold] [midpostembed id="1361592" type="gallery" title="13 disturbing penis accidents"] Keep reading »

Women Don ’60s “Mad Men” Costumes To Protest North Carolina Birth Control Refusal Bill

NC Wants Parental Consent
frustrated woman
... for STD testing? Are you serious? Read More »
NC Vaginal Probe
Today's Lady News
North Carolina's ultrasound-before-abortion law challenged. Read More »
Abortion Provider Threat
abortion photo
NC politician calls for public hanging of abortion providers. Read More »
North Carolina Mad Men protest
  • North Carolina’s state house is set to debate a bill that would allow employers to refuse coverage of employees’ birth control. In protest, a bunch of women dressed up in ’60s-era “Mad Men” garb and sat in the audience! [RH Reality Check, Huffington Post]
  • A bakery in Oregon is refusing to provide a cake to lesbian brides. Oh this again?. [Raw Story]
  • The White House is taking proactive steps to lower the wage gap between male and female federal workers. [AL.com]
  • The director of the Pentagon’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response office said that sexism needs to be taken as seriously as racism within the military. Hear, hear! [USA Today]
  • Meanwhile, a soldier who was to set up a sexual assault prevention program in Texas has been arrested for “abusive sexual contact.” Facepalm. [Talking Points Memo] Keep reading »

Is There A Penalty For Powerful Women Admitting Mental Illness?

I Have Depression
Jessica has struggled with depression all her adult life. Read More »
Hyberbole & A Half
Webcomic finds the funny moments in the darkest depression. Read More »
Explaining Depression
What does it really feel like to suffer from depression? Read More »
Feminist Blogger's ED
Chloe Angyal
Feministing blogger Chloe Angyal reveals eating disorder, apologizes. Read More »
sad woman

Is there a penalty for a woman who breaks through the glass ceiling and, then, from her position of power, admits that she struggled with mental illness in her past?

Yesterday New York City’s Speaker of the City Council and the Democratic candidate for mayor Christine Quinn revealed in the New York Times that she had suffered from bulimia and alcoholism for a good portion of her life. Quinn explained how her mom suffered through breast cancer throughout Quinn’s childhood and after her mom died, binge eating and purging gave her a brief feeling of relief. It was also in college that Quinn binge drank to the point of developing alcoholism. She checked into a rehab center at age 26 and got control of her eating disorder and her problematic drinking; it wasn’t until three years ago that Quinn, who is also the first mayoral candidate to be openly gay, went entirely dry.

Christine Quinn’s admission echoed another powerful woman’s recent decision to go public about a private struggle: “Morning Joe” cohost Mika Brzezinski revealed in MORE magazine that she has suffered from exercise bulimia for many years, meaning that she binges on food and then over-exercises to burn off the calories.

Brzezinski and Quinn aren’t the only two well-known women to admit to mental illness: Carrie Fisher and Catherine Zeta-Jones have both been public about their struggles with bipolar disorder, Lena Dunham talks about her OCD, and plenty of other celebs have been open about their mental health struggles, too. But I suppose that Christine Quinn and Mika Brzezinski fascinate me in particular because they both work in fairly male-dominated fields — the mainstream media and politics — that aren’t known for being warm and fuzzy.   Keep reading »

Kelly Rowland Airs Her “Dirty Laundry” About Beyonce, Domestic Abuse, Fame

kelly rowland dirty laundry

Pause your Spotify and listen to Kelly Rowland’s new song “Dirty Laundry” (after the jump) — not only is it intense, but it’s really good. She sings about how hard it was for her to watch her “sister” Beyoncé get A+++-list famous while Kelly was “going through some bullshit,” mostly, it seems, an abusive relationship: ”Meanwhile this ni**a puttin’ his hands on me, swear y’all don’t know the half of this industry. She sings about lying to her mother and her friends about the abusive relationship, classically being isolated from help. “Kinda lucky I was in her shadow / phone call from my sister, what’s the matter / she said ‘oh no, you gotta leave’ / I’m on the kitchen floor, he took the keys / I was mad at everybody, I mean everybody, her her her her everybody,” she sings, adding that it took five years to finally get her life together. “I was trapped in his house … I was battered / He hit the window like it was me, until it shattered,” she sings. “He told me nobody love you but me, not your mama, not your daddy, and especially not B. He turned me against my sister, I missed you.” Keep reading »

Angelina Jolie Reportedly Will Have Ovaries Removed

Angelina Jolie: Mastectomy
angelina jolie breast cancer
Angelina Jolie reveals she's had a preventative double mastectomy. Read More »
Breast Cancer & Genetics
angelina jolie double mastectomy
A genetic counselor explains Angie's surgery. Read More »
Celeb Breast Cancer Survivors
Celebrity women who have survived breast cancer. Read More »
  • Angelina Jolie is reportedly planning surgery to remove her ovaries, as she has a 50 percent risk of getting ovarian cancer. Yesterday Jolie published an op-ed in the New York Times revealing she has the BRCA1 gene mutation and underwent a voluntary double mastectomy to prevent developing breast cancer. [Hollywood Reporter]
  • “Breaking Bad”‘s Aaron Paul wants to take you to Disneyland! That is, if you donate $3,000 to one of his charitable endeavors. [Twitter.com/AaronPaul_8]
  • Beyoncé posted a letter to her fans in Antwerp, Belgium, after canceling her show last night due to exhaustion, saying “I’ve never postponed a show in my life. It was very hard for me.” [Daily Mail UK]
  • In other Bey news, her H&M bikini ad has been covered up in one of New York City’s conservative Jewish neighborhoods. [ONTD] Keep reading »

James Deen Sounds Off On Farrah Abraham’s Pregnancy Test Publicity Stunt

Watch Farrah's Sex Tape!
We got a seriously NSFW clip! Read More »
Failed Farrah Wank
Amelia tried to masturbate to Farrah's sex tape ... unsuccessfully. Read More »
Farrah On James' Penis
farrah abraham
Farrah Abraham says James Deen has a small penis. Read More »
  • James Deen is not amused that his sex tape co-star “Teen Mom”‘s Farrah Abraham was photographed by paparazzi shopping for a pregnancy test. “To say you’re potentially pregnant is not something to joke about. When you knowingly involve another human being and a publicity stunt around that, a child is not something to be taken lightly,” he told Celebuzz.  Hear, hear! “I am taking it seriously enough to research the possibility of someone getting pregnant from anal sex and semen on their face while they are having sex on their period with a sponge inside them.” Okay, that’s more than we needed to know, James … [Celebuzz]
  • Beyoncé’s canceled a performance in Belgium due to “exhaustion” and dehydration, leading to further rumors that she might be pregnant with Baby #2. [People]
  • The National Transportation Safety Board has voted to recommend states lower the blood alcohol content level that constitutes drunk driving from .08 to .05. So, um, get your irresponsible drinking in now? [NBC News] Keep reading »

Rep. Michele Bachmann Urges “Spiritual Warfare” Against Marriage Equality, Reproductive Rights

Teen Stands Up To Sex Ed
sex education photo
Katelyn Campbell just said no to her school's abstinence-only sex ed. Read More »
No "Feminist" Blog
feminist
Beliefnet wouldn't use the word "feminist" on a blog. Read More »
Nutso Religious Graphic
birth control flower graphic
Your slutty behavior is killing flowers (or something?). Read More »
Michele Bachmann
  • Rep. Michele Bachmann is urging Christians to engage in “spiritual warfare” to put their religious values in government, like banning marriage equality and criminalizing abortion. Scary, scary stuff. [Raw Story]
  • In related I’m-moving-to-Canada news, North Carolina’s state Senate has advanced a bill that erroneously lists abortion as a cause of premature birth. Although the medical community vehemently disagrees, abortion opponents frequently claim that abortion causes breast cancer or makes it difficult for women to have children in the future. The NC bill includes abortion as a cause of “preterm birth” up there with drug use lack of prenatal care. [RH Reality Check]
  • On Planned Parenthood and the real lessons of the Kermit Gosnell case. [The Daily Beast]
  • “Elementary” actress Lucy Liu on the limits placed on her for being an Asian actress in Hollywood. [xoJane]
  • On the inappropriate comments being made about Angelina Jolie losing her natural breasts to a double mastectomy, which she chose to have to prevent breast cancer. [Slate] Keep reading »

Win This! 2 Tickets To See “Murder Ballad”

murder ballad

Last week the Frisky staff trooped down to Union Square for what’s being called NYC’s hottest new musical, “Murder Ballad.” The rock musical explores a love triangle between a married mom with a party girl past, her doting NYU professor husband, and her sexy bartender ex-boyfriend — and just like the title warns, ends tragically. Keep reading »

Parents Change Baby’s Diaper On Starbucks Seat, Pour Coffee On The Floor

Disney World Line Cutters
Rich moms are hiring disabled people to cut lines at Disney World. Read More »
Tattooed 11-Yr-Old?
If your 11-year-old asks for a tattoo, you should probably say no. Read More »
Crazy Germophobia
Australian officials try to ban kids from blowing out birthday candles. Read More »

I love me some babies. But some parents are really the worst.

On Friday evening, Ruth Burgos of Denver changed her one-year-old son’s diaper on the seating area of a Starbucks because there was no changing area in the bathroom. An employee tossed a rag at Burgos, according to her husband Alex, and told her in a “demeaning” tone that she should sanitize the seat. “He said make sure to wipe the seat when you’re done,” Alex Burgos recounted. “They started talking amongst themselves and laughing about it.”

So her husband, naturally, decided to pour his venti coffee all over the floor. “And I said make sure you clean that,” he said. Employees and Alex Burgos then “exchanged strong words and hand gestures.” Starbucks responded, rightfully so, by calling police on them. Keep reading »