better to call it "North American" media and culture as a rule of thumb when it's something that's relevant to both above and below the border.

psi, anyone?

some stores in Sweden are already featuring average woman-sized mannequins.

if Manning deserves to be in prison, every single officer ranked above her that was alerted about the military brutality at play and did nothing needs to get right in that cell with her. Reporting to Wikileaks was a desperate last resort for someone whose conscience wasn't ready to ignore the atrocities committed by…

the story about your first love sounds heartbreaking—I can relate to the part about not having enough self-respect to leave someone who's terrible to you. I've loved someone who said we could never be "official," as he didn't feel comfortable bringing someone from outside the race & religion to meet his conservative…

the above looks like a very skinny human being, while most other mannequins are size 00 without the realistic human oddities of ribs, nipples, or what looks like a tummy next to the emaciated body parts surrounding it. On one hand, I see how this is disturbing to your average passer-by, but on the other, it does give…

rather than go at you full force just yet, perhaps you'd be interested in a little light reading?

you had me till the last part—weight is mostly not a choice, at least in daily life.

I can't fully explain what you mean, either, but there really is a double standard at play when men and women call themselves "fat." I love telling people to "kiss my fat ass" as a way of completely dismissing them—I find it rather empowering. At the same time, I don't wonder if it's a bit of unfair appropriation for…

I thought Joshua Jackson did that like 15 years ago?

use of "the" is more of a cultural translation than a direct one, as Russian (and I'm almost certain Ukrainian, as well) doesn't use articles. When you're just stating the name of the country, there's no difference. It's only after the prepositions "in" or "to" that there's a distinction. The contemporary, accurate…

...and me :p

true enough. I heard somewhere that they call each other "41" and "43," though

remember the crazy media backlash when Barbara Boxer had the audacity to ask someone call her "Senator," and not "ma'am" at a military hearing a few years back? Maybe "sir" and "ma'am" works for those in uniform, but when you address your US senator, eep your gendered rhetoric out of it!

slang for Bush Senior and Bush Junior are "41" and "43." If Hilary becomes our next president, they can be "42" and "45." Until then, Secretary Clinton for Hilary, and President Clinton for Bill. Solved.

I was just gonna say...

thanks for reminding me why I've still got the hots for Kal Penn ;-)

I agree 100% that it's still very much a very unfair prejudice that people need to learn to overcome. I'm not excusing people for balking when confronted with androgyny/gender-bending—not at all. I'm just saying it's good for people to be forced to confront their own biases about the gender binary, since it's easy for…

I'm having a debate now with a Russian friend over Conchita and gender identity issues. She (my friend) is quite liberal, and very LGB-friendly and accepting, but is really weirded out by Conchita's gender-bending antics. She's not even transphobic, so much as bothered by such overt blurring of gender lines. Plenty of…

it's more politically charged than saying "The Canada" or "The Mexico" right now, though equally as inaccurate. "The Ukraine" suggests less than full independence and sovereignty as a state. Prior to 1991, "The Ukraine" was correct, as it was part of the USSR, and not a separate country. Most people who say "The…