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The Daily Pop Culture Scene
Source: LA Times The Artist Cleans Up at Critics’ Choice Awards for Aesthetic Glamour—LA Times The Beauty of Silence in Non-Silent Films—The Atlantic On the Joys of Reading While Running—Alexander...
View ArticleWhat’s Going to Happen to Mad Men’s Sally Draper?
I’m worried about Sally Draper, the pubescent daughter of brooding Mad Man Don. As season five develops, and we get further into the sixties, Sally is becoming a central character. She’s slowly...
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The Early Years of Vogue Magazine
On December 17, 1892, the first issue of Vogue magazine rolled off the presses with a well-dressed debutante on its illustrated cover (above). Founded by the New York society man Arthur Baldwin Turnure...
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The Anti-Airbrush
We heard news last week of the latest push by teens to have something novel reflected in their fashion and lifestyle magazines: reality. Two girls from the New York metropolitan area, Emma Stydahar...
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How Awe Can Change Your Life
Awe is a beautiful little emotion, but one that is not very well understood. In the field of psychology, where emotions are academically studied, awe has received very little attention. In a way, it...
View ArticleApropos of Nothing…
I think that the quote below, from one of the men of George Valliant’s Harvard Grant Study, is just beautiful. Prof. Valliant asked the men, who I believe were in their 70s at the time, to share some...
View ArticleWhat Is Sexy and What Is Crude?
In response to Ashley McGuire’s post about Beyoncé’s performance at the Super Bowl and the question of whether traditionally minded women can be sexy: of course they can. Traditional women can be, and...
View ArticleThere’s More to Life Than Being Successful
Listening to the Acculturated podcast with Rod Dreher, which we published yesterday, made me wonder about some of the cultural differences between the north and the south in this country. In an essay...
View ArticleThe Sinister Nature of Dove’s New Advertising Campaign
The early feminist, Sarah Grimke (1792-1873), wrote in her Letters of the Equality of Sexes and the Condition of Women: He [man] has adorned the creature whom God gave him as a companion, with baubles...
View ArticleDove’s Message Is Important for Women to Hear
Yesterday at Acculturated, Ashley McGuire had some harsh words about the Dove Real Beauty Sketches ad campaign, calling it “sinister” and “superficial.” McGuire wrote: With some basic dissection we...
View ArticleWhat Happened to Womanly Beauty?
Kate Bryan argued for changing the definition of sexy, basing her analysis on the Esquire cover photo of actress Scarlett Johansson. Today, let’s look at another magazine cover to illustrate the need...
View Article“Inner Beauty Doesn’t Exist”: Venezuela’s Beauty Problem
If you had money on anyone other than Miss Venezuela in the recent Miss Universe pageant (or in any international beauty pageant), then you have no business gambling. Venezuela’s socialist economy may...
View ArticleDove’s Campaign for Real Beauty
Last week, Dove released a documentary, Selfie, in commemoration of their 10 year anniversary of “The Campaign for Real Beauty.” The brand hopes to challenge the narrow cultural perception of feminine...
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Lupita Nyong’o Is My New Favorite Person
I am somewhat ashamed to admit that I watched the Academy Awards on Sunday. Usually, I’m completely uninterested in watching Hollywood’s glitterati gather and revel in their wealth and stardom. But,...
View ArticleWhat Is Beauty? The Case of ‘Human Barbie’
The “Human Barbie” is a young woman from Moldova who has become famous—or infamous—for her notable resemblance to the Mattel doll of that name. By sculpting her body via liquid diets, makeup tricks,...
View ArticleColbie Caillat’s Fresh, Uplifting Message
Last week, I wrote that pop starlets like Iggy Azalea who sell sex and shock rather than talent and class don’t deserve the fame we give them. It is becoming harder and harder to find stars whose music...
View ArticleOvercoming the Attractiveness Bias
Bodies have been on people’s mind perhaps more than normal the past few weeks. Whether it be critiques about how we talk about Melissa McCarthy’s body or salivation over all those world cup studs or...
View ArticleRenee Zellweger’s Unlovely Remodel
Whoa, that’s Renee Zellweger? The 45-year-old actress is literally unrecognizable in photographs from Monday’s Elle Women in Hollywood Awards. Zellweger told People magazine, “I’m glad folks think I...
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In Defense of Beauty Pageant Contestants
Televised beauty pageants have reached such a nadir of cultural relevance today that it seems the only time we pay attention to them is when a contestant makes a viral-worthy flub during the...
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The True Beauty of Beyoncé and Cindy
Move over nude photos. The latest celebrity drama is over leaked unretouched photos. First came the unauthorized leak of a photo of Cindy Crawford posing for a Marie Claire photo shoot that hadn’t been...
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