NEWSWEEK:
There is a growing market for LGBT retirement communities: Newsweek found at least 25 such facilities in the nation, compared to 1 in 2001.
And uh, that little factoid is about the only worthwhile thing in this entire article. All the rest of it just proves that Newsweek is woefully helpless when they try to talk about gay people, or um, “sexual minorities,” according to the article. ‘Cause sex and sexuality are obvs the same thing. (Sidenote: try saying “sexuality minority” five times fast.)
The writer addresses several legit issues, like domestic partner rights and the fact that many LGBT senior citizens don’t have children to help take care of them, as well as the fact that LGBT seniors are more likely to prepare consciously for retirement and anticipate difficulties in procuring proper medical care.
But then there are quotes like this: “You need separate pools for the men and the women, and a place for dogs. Pets are very big,” says Veronica St. Claire, who is planning a full-featured continuing-care retirement community in Palm Springs, Calif. “… and we’re going to have a flower room for making flower arrangments,” she says. “We’re not going to be playing bingo, I’ll tell you that.” Really? Separate pools? Why? And the flower arranging? Why? Why ask why when we can just state these things like they are facts, obviously Newsweek has their shit together.
And this: “We have interest from a huge number of people who are very affluent. They are lawyers, doctors, Indian chiefs, everything,” says St. Claire. Wow, Indian chiefs! They must really be on to something.
Ok, I recognize those quotes are not actually Newsweek’s words, but they still made the cut into the article. Someone should’ve sent this reporter back to the drawing board or at least made them ask why the hell separate pools are necessary. And seriously, this article could have been super interesting and in-depth, had they given it a little more effort.
This article plus the whole Ramin Setoodah debacle has us raising a few eyebrows at Newsweek.
BULLYING:
GENERATION X:
Douglas Coupland, author of Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture, has donated 30 years of papers and ephemera to the library at the University of British Columbia. (@theglobe)
MCDONALD’S:
McDonald’s released this commercial in France:
Heartwarming, right?! Just imagine what would happen if that aired in America, whooo boy. (@queerty)
NEWS:
Racialicious uses examples of mainstream media’s coverage of Aiyana Stanley-Jones’s senseless death and the recent racially-motivated violence at a South Philadelphia High School to look at the future of online news and whether parts of our current media model are worth salvaging. (@racialicious)
FEMINISM:
Is Sarah Palin a feminist? Jezebel says, among other things, “you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” “What comes next? “Phyllis Schlafly feminism?” “Patriarchal feminism?” “He-Man Woman Hater Feminism?” I mean, how long until the Washington Post publishes a “feminist” argument for repealing the 19th Amendment (there’s no truly pro-woman party anyway, don’t you know?), or widening the pay gap (so more men can be sole breadwinners again and more women can freely choose to stay home) or, I don’t know, reclaiming the word “chattel”?” (@jezebel)
VIRGIN/WHORE:
If you’re still up for talking about Taylor Swift, you might be interested in the new film being made about ideas of virginity, purity, and the virgin/whore dichotomy, “How To Lose Your Virginity.” When a bridal consultant effusively tells Therese, a 40-something sex-savvy feminist planning her first wedding, she looks virginal in her white wedding dress, it sets her on a journey to uncover why virginity still holds such importance in our hyper-sexualized society. Her growing tension around chastity-based wedding rituals is the narrative backbone of the film, but the true target is idealized, fetishized virginity: its historical role in U.S. culture, its power to mold and damage a girl’s self-image and self-worth; its commodification as something manufactured, sold, given away, taken. View the trailer here:
(@jezebel)
