A short but not very sweet Men's Health article gave advice to its readers on how to snag the interest of women who couldn't care less about sports. Apparently we need story lines and a personal connection, otherwise we simply aren't interested. Excuse me?
In just a couple of paragraphs, allegedly written by a woman, we're given sweeping gender statements and generalizations that are as plainly insulting as they are untrue. Though the mag quickly realized its bad and deleted the page, the cache is still visible here for your groan-worthy reading pleasure.
I can't decide which is worse—the recent gaffe by this game show, or speaking for an entire gender. Assumptions make an ass of you, as the saying goes, to which I say hell yeah.
True, I no longer watch sports or even much TV for that matter. But once upon a time I dished stats with the best of them. (And in fact, one boy I used to talk hockey with later joined the NHL.) I had no interest in playing, yet I went to minor league games and heckled alongside much older men, and knew every player by his jersey number. If a game went into double overtime, I stayed up and was glued to the screen. Mercifully I never felt any judgment.
Though I rarely watch sports on TV, I still love the atmosphere of a live sporting event. I have taken my husband to rugby matches and not once did I—or would I have—feign my interest. Nor did I ever give a damn about the players' private lives. And if I were so inclined I would happily continue this tradition, but I would never do it purely for my husband's or son's sakes.
You tell me: Is this article demeaning, or are we reading too much into a frivolous piece?
How many of us can relate to this career mom's dread of the "white space" on her resume following the birth of her first child? This fictional letter to a future employer struck a nerve. In a former life, Janie Porter was a successful TV reporter. But she wants the world to know that in her three-year hiatus from the office she has been working—hard—at being a mom.
She readily admits that her current role as a parent is simply incompatible with her previous career, a sobering fact for many moms who are forced to rethink, and occasionally revamp, their careers after starting a family.
Porter goes one further, filling in the dead space by detailing her new skill set, which includes powers of negotiation to "convince a toddler to eat broccoli, go potty in the toilet and wear shoes outside."
Breaking a big story on a deadline or interviewing a big shot has nothing on the pressure that comes with being a parent. In the face of a tantrum, Porter has the newfound ability "to lace my frayed nerves into a soft blanket of calm."
Talk about a passion killer. Released footage from Joe Carnahan's movie Stretch proves just how unsexy filming a sex scene can be in the biz. The behind-the-scenes, under-the-sheets clip of actors Brooklyn Decker and Patrick Wilson sees them spritzed with fake sweat. There's music pumping and much cackling going on in between takes.
I've heard tales about porn being very, shall we say, perfunctory and business-like, yet for some reason I had been willing to suspend my disbelief for Hollywood. But these are professionals, after all.
Some sex scenes are truly hot, especially when the actors have on-screen chemistry. (Hello 9 1/2 Weeks!) But I have to say, this clip has officially ruined it for me. And it's testament to the skill and focus the actors have to be able to snap in and out of the 'action' amidst such distractions.
But does all this spectacular acting raise a bigger question. Do you worry that with increasingly graphic sex scenes being featured in movies and on television, we're setting up an unrealistic impression of sex for our kids?
While you're at it, check out the sultry trailer for Fifty Shades of Grey.
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