Tag Archives: black women

African-American Ladies Get “Juicy,” Their Own Celebrity Rag

Jessica WakemanJanuary 27, 2010 //

Lots of our beloved magazines have been flushed down the tubes. Au revoir, Gourmet! Goodbye, Modern Bride! We’ll never forget you, Domino! But it’s not all dark clouds at the newsstand. Juicy, the first celebrity, hair and beauty magazine just for African-American women (from the same folks who publish XXL), will launch in May. (You can also check out their site, JuicyMagOnline.com, shortly before the May launch.) Will Juicy be able to hold up next to the gajillion other gossip rags like In Touch and US Weekly? If all the dramz in Rihanna, Kanye and Usher‘s lives are any indication, Juicy won’t have a problem. Keep reading »

Quotable: Sorry, Directors, Zoe Saldana Won’t Play Your Prostitute

Jessica WakemanJanuary 6, 2010 //

“I have a hard time accepting roles that typecast a culture. I don’t need to play Juana, the prostitute from Washington Heights, in every movie. If it’s been done before, you don’t need my help. Latinos, we’re not all pimps or prostitutes, we don’t all deal drugs; not everyone in Jamaica smokes weed; not every Middle Easterner is a terrorist. It’s boring, offensive, and hurtful. “

—”Avatar”‘s Zoe Saldana, when asked what roles she refuses to play [Complex] Keep reading »

We Can’t Wait To See “Precious”

Jessica WakemanOctober 26, 2009 //


On paper, the new movie “Precious” doesn’t sound like much fun: It’s the story of a 350-pound, illiterate black teenager impregnated for the second time by her dad and physically and verbally abused by her mom. It’s enough to send a girl galloping into the next showing of lighter fare like “Couples Retreat”! But the film industry buzz for “Precious”—from the illustrious Cannes Film Festival to this week’s cover of The New York Times Magazine — says the film is not to be missed. There’s even buzz about an Oscar for Mo’Nique, who stars as Precious’ monstrous mother, as well as accolades for the rest of the cast, including Mariah Carey, Paula Patton, Gabby Sidibe, and Lenny Kravitz. Keep reading »

Can Michelle Obama Inspire Another The Cosby Show?

Jessica WakemanJune 19, 2009 //

It’s June now. The election was eight months ago. It’s kind of a random time for Robin Givhan at The Washington Post to pen a heady thinkpiece about What Michelle Obama, As A Black Woman, Means.

But whatever. I feel like I’m back at the Gender Studies department again!

Givhan, herself a black woman, has written a thoughtful analysis of the precedent Clair Huxtable on “The Cosby Show” set for Michelle Obama, who was and continues to be the foremost black woman in a starring role on a major mainstream TV show.

America’s never had a black president or a black First Lady. But Givhan asks us not to forget about the boob tube, either: the last time Clair Huxtable was on TV was an astonishing 17 years ago. Keep reading »

Black Women Have Higher Chance Of Remaining Unmarried

Persia AliFebruary 16, 2009 //

Many black women are quick to point out that there are no good single black men out here. It turns out, they might actually be right, which also may explain why more black women remain unmarried than white women. Forty-two-percent of black women have never been married, compared to 21% of white woman, according to national statistics. That’s double, chicks! Within the last two generations, marriage rates for African-Americans have dropped significantly. Between 1970 and 2001, the black marriage rate dropped by 34 percent, compared to 17 percent in the general population. African-American women are also the least likely group to get married in the United States. That’s pretty sad. And if they wed an African-American man, those couples have the highest divorce rate in the United States. So what the hell is going on?
Keep reading »

Michelle Obama Is The Fourth Black Woman To Grace Vogue’s Cover

Catherine StrawnFebruary 11, 2009 //

It’s official: Michelle Obama is a Vogue cover girl. The March 2009 issue, which will hit newsstands next week, features the first lady on its cover wearing a Jason Wu dress (the same designer who created her inauguration night gown). Inside the magazine, Obama is pictured at the Hay-Adams hotel in Washington, D.C., wearing a Narciso Rodriguez dress and a J.Crew ensemble. While a number of first ladies have been featured in the so-called fashion Bible, starting with Lou Hoover in 1929, Hillary Clinton is the only other one to make the cover, in 1998. But perhaps what’s more exciting than Obama being the second first lady to be on the cover of Vogue is that she is the fourth black woman to be featured on the cover in the magazine’s history. Keep reading »

The Daily Squeeze: Guy Vegetarians, Flavored Breast Milk, And Marriage Stats

Catherine StrawnJuly 24, 2008 //
  • It’s a bad day for vegetarians. Guys who average half a serving of soy food per day have lower concentration of sperm than men who do not eat soy foods. [Medical News Today]

    • Keep reading »

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