Last week’s premature and untimely death of Michael Hastings produced numerous reflections on the loss of the hard-charging, courtesy-defying, convention-resisting, […]
Banning Heterosexuality in the Workplace
By Jacqueline Antonovich
It has recently come to our attention that some of our employees are offended or distracted by our LGBT employees who flagrantly display their sexual orientation in the workplace. Management has expressed concern that worker productivity is at risk if we fail to take action on this matter. This feeling of unease, we would like to assure you, is not isolated to our own company. Recent news reports make it abundantly clear that “overt displays of sexual orientation” (ODSO) is on the rise across the United States and that various government officials are beginning the arduous task of addressing ODSO in the workplace.
Sunday Morning Medicine
By Jacqueline Antonovich
-Curdled breast milk.
-A brief history of funeral invitations.
-The cure for vapours.
-Building a cyborg, circa 1920s.
-Hair stockings to ward off “perverts”?
-Is there a scientific reason for oral sex?
-The incredible, disappearing evangelist.
She Works Hard for the Money
It is officially summer in Madison. The air is moist, the boats are out, and I, like many other graduate […]
What We Can Learn From Republican Men
By Carrie Adkins
Listen up, people: Republican men have had A LOT to teach us this week about sexuality, reproduction, and abortion. For one thing, you can all breathe a deep sigh of relief about the possibility of rape leading to pregnancy; apparently, that happens only very rarely, so really, we should probably just overturn Roe v. Wade. Oh, and in case you need a second reason to ban abortion, here’s one: male fetuses masturbate! Also, not to be homophobic or anything, but it seems that gay people are likely to show up at work wearing tutus. Now what would you have done without all of this edifying information? You’re welcome.
Sunday Morning Medicine
By Jacqueline Antonovich
-Going through menopause? Blame men?
-Mussolini’s gay island.
-Scientists sequence DNA of medieval leprosy.
-What happens to women who are denied abortions?
-26 diseases and how they got their names.
-Disappearing Americana: roadside rest stops.
-11 vintage celebrity PSAs.
Barbie’s Dream House?
by Rachel Epp Buller
Well apparently, Barbie’s house is not such a dream after all. I’m working in Berlin for two months this summer, and there’s been quite a kerfuffle about the life-sized Barbie Dreamhouse that opened near Alexanderplatz in May. Organizers bill the Dreamhouse as a temporary theme park, but I think that may be overstating it slightly. The 2,500-square meter house is more like an expensive fun-house shopping experience – pay the money, walk through and see life-sized Barbie ensconced in her expansive pink world, bake virtual cupcakes on a touch screen, do some dress-up if you paid for the high-end VIP package, and then end your visit at the toy store.
The Consequences of “LAD” Culture: “Drinking, Football and F**king”*
By Helen McBride
I was initially motivated to write this piece as a response to the controversy over an anonymous post on a Facebook page, “UW Crushes,” associated with students at the University of Wyoming that read “I want to hatefuck ___ so hard. That chick runs her liberal mouth all the time and doesn’t care who knows it. I think it’s hot and it makes me angry. One night with me and she’s going to be a good Republican bitch.” While the outcome of this storm has been problematic due to legitimacy concerns over who posted the offending comment, the story prompted me to visit the current debate over “LAD” culture in British and Northern Irish universities.
Quit Snickering about Michael Douglas, HPV is Serious Business
By Heather Munro Prescott
In an interview about his new film “Behind the Candelabra”, actor Michael Douglas told the Guardian that his throat cancer was caused not by years of smoking but “by HPV [human papillomavirus], which actually comes about from cunnilingus.” Douglas said, “I did worry if the stress caused by my son’s incarceration didn’t help trigger it. But yeah, it’s a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer.” He shrugs. “And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it. . . It giveth and it taketh.” When I first heard this story, I thought Douglas was compensating for playing a flamboyantly gay character by boasting of his heterosexual male prowess (and/or showing that despite his age and illness, he can still satisfy his much younger wife).
A Historian’s Guide to Summer – The Ice Cream Edition
Whether you’re overlooking the sandy shores of your local beach chowing down on a Gaytime, discretely licking the sides of […]
