Tag Archives: race

Teresa Lewis To Be The First Woman Executed In 5 Years

Jessica WakemanSeptember 22, 2010 //

Tomorrow the United States will execute Teresa Lewis, 41, the first woman to be put to death in the last five years, by lethal injection. In 2002, Lewis left the door of her Danville, Virginia, home unlocked so her lover, Matthew Shallenberger, and his companion, Rodney Fuller, could murder her husband and 25-year-old stepson with shotguns she had purchased. Her husband didn’t die immediately after being shot, but Lewis waited 45 minutes before she called the police. Lewis allegedly wanted to kill her family so she could collect life insurance and inheritance; she allegedly offered sex with her 16-year-old daughter if the murderers went through with the killings.

Lewis’ lawyers have claimed that she is borderline mentally retarded, was allegedly addicted to painkillers, and therefore was not an appropriate candidate for the death penalty. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: UF Professor Fired For Saying Latinas Dress Sluttier Than American Women

Jessica WakemanSeptember 21, 2010 //
  • A University of Florida professor was fired for saying Latina women dress sluttier than American women during a lecture on sexual harassment, apparently in reference to the sports reporter Ines Sainz. Timothy Taylor has filed a grievance complaint alleging his academic freedom has been stifled. UF is having none of it, considering Taylor was suspended twice before for “inappropriate interactions with female students,” like touching their hair, and was told further inappropriate behavior would get him canned. Why would the school keep someone around so long who had so many complaints against him? [Miami Times]
  • Unprofessionalism alert: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid introduced New York Senator Kristen Gillibrand at a recent event by saying, “We in the Senate refer to Sen. Gillibrand as the hottest member.” Witnesses said Sen. Gillibrand turned red and the audience started tittering. Tell me, Sen. Reid, would you introduce a male senator this way, too? [Feministing]
  • Abortion clinics in Louisiana are suing over a new state law that gives the state health department unprecedented control to shut them down over health and safety concerns. Right after the law went into effect this summer, a Shreveport abortion clinic had its license suspended for several weeks. [CNBC]

Keep reading »

Stuff White People Like … When It Comes To Online Dating

Jessica WakemanSeptember 8, 2010 //

White women talk about Nicholas Sparks, Eat Pray Love, Carrie Underwood and mascara. Black women love lip gloss, self-help and “Pretty Woman.” Latinas are gung-ho for the “Twilight” saga and “Sixteen Candles.” For Asian women, it’s “A Walk To Remember,” lip balm, and Tuesdays With Morrie that make the cut. Middle Easterners get excited by Vogue and Elizabeth Gilbert, while for Indians it’s “When Harry Met Sally” and Jane Austen. Pacific Islanders just love Mitch Albom, chivalry, and a bargain.

You might be wondering what I am talking about. Keep reading »

Vanity Fair’s 2010 “New Establishment” Is A List Of (Mostly) Rich White Guys

Jessica WakemanSeptember 3, 2010 //

I don’t know how much stock I take in Vanity Fair‘s lists of the most powerful and influential people. There’s no denying someone like Oprah Winfrey, Mark Zuckerberg, or Rupert Murdoch has an enormous ability to influence people. But there’s always people in lists like that who I sense are just getting a blow job from the magazine. Besides, who each of us is influenced by is such a personal thing! I personally find Tina Fey and Ani DiFranco enormously “influential,” but they are never listed on anything. Alas, Vanity Fair‘s 2010 list of the 100 people in “New Establishment” has another reason for you to scoff at its credibility: If my counting skills are to be trusted, of the 114 people on the list, there are only 13 women. That’s nine percent. Nine! Keep reading »

Levi’s New Curve ID Jeans Proving To Be Controversial

Jessica WakemanSeptember 1, 2010 //

Levi’s is selling new Curve ID jeans in three different versions: a “slight curve,” a “demi curve,” and a “bold curve.” The sizes in the various versions basically range from 2 to 14 (although I’m aware sizes are completely and non-sensically different from company to company.) The tag line for the ad campaign is “All asses are not created equal.” The models are three light-skinned women who appear to be Caucasian. Although “curviness” is relative, none of them are curvy in the way, say, J.Lo, Beyoncé, or Crystal Renn is curvy.

To some it’s just an ad campaign for “curvy” jeans. To others, it’s racist and sexist advertising. Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Happy 90th Birthday, (White) Women’s Right To Vote!

Jessica WakemanAugust 18, 2010 //
  • Happy 90th birthday, women’s right to vote! Let’s all nerd out and brush up on our knowledge of the hella important 19th Amendment, including one oft-overlooked fact: it only assured the right of white women to vote. [Oxford University Press]
  • Former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin is not one to let a holiday like this pass by without a comment. She tweeted from her Twitter account earlier today, and I quote, “Who hijacked the term ‘feminist?’ A cackle of rads who want 2 crucify other women with whom they disagree on a singular issue; it’s ironic (& passé).” Rads means “radicals,” maybe? The Frisky office is still trying to figure out if by “cackle” Palin meant “gaggle” or “coven” or something else entirely. [SarahPalinUSA on Twitter"]

Keep reading »

Girl Talk: Love Me, Love My Hair

Tamara LynchJuly 30, 2010 //

I was in fourth grade when my grandmother first took me to a hair salon. She drove me to her hairdresser, Betsy, a 50-year-old woman who dyed her hair pitch black, and had a head full of curls the perfect shape of large hot rollers. I squirmed as Betsy ripped out the rubber bands holding in my afro puffs and inspected the black cloud of kink on my head.

“Naomi, have you been trimming this yourself?” Betsy asked, horrified.

“Well, yes, but I don’t know how to do her hair.” Gram said sheepishly. Gram raised five straight-haired Irish-American kids, my mother being one of them. No curls were in sight until my father’s African-American hair genes messed it up. She was lost. Keep reading »

Essence Editor Responds To Controversial Hiring Of A White Fashion Director

Jessica WakemanJuly 29, 2010 //

On Monday, a media industry blog revealed that Essence, a lifestyle magazine geared towards black women, had hired a new fashion director named Ellianna Placas, to begin in September. But it was not the lines on her resume touting O: The Oprah Magazine and Us Weekly that attracted attention. It was the color of Placas’ skin: white.

Keep reading »

President Obama Visits “The View” To Talk The Economy, Jobs, Race, And Snooki

Jessica WakemanJuly 29, 2010 //

“I don’t know who Snooki is.”

Wait, I voted for this man?

When President Barack Obama visited “The View” this morning, people living in red states and blue states alike crowded around the TV for the big event. In between cute anecdotes about Sasha and Malia and softball questions about Lindsay Lohan’s jail sentence, he fielded questions about Afghanistan, unemployment, racism, and the economy. And yes, the show’s token conservative, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, behaved herself. Keep reading »

White Queen Wins In Chess-Inspired Skin Whitening Ad

Jessica WakemanJuly 20, 2010 //

Wow, SkinWhite. Symbolism much? Latino pop culture blog Guanabee noticed this ad for SkinWhite skin lightening cream which conveys a message about race via black and white chess pieces: “See, the white queen is reigning over all the black pieces. That’s because the black king took her as his queen. Because she’s white. Get it?”

It’s unknown if this ad is “spec work” or if it actually ran anywhere. But the fact that an ad for a product that helps darker-skinned people bleach their skin — itself disconcerting, as we recently discussed regarding Vaseline’s skin lightening app on Facebook — thought to depict “white wins over black” as a concept is troubling enough. [Guanabee] Keep reading »

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