Saudi Cleric OKs Rapes of Syrian Women; Israel Bans Models With BMI's Below 18.5; Obama Joins Ike & FDR 51% Club
In 2013 Anne’s jewelry collection GlamTribale will sponsor ‘Informed’, a series of quick info bits for Anne of Carversville readers. View our goddess Diana Collection (above) online.
Alex Nabaum illustration6. Both ancient philosophy and modern psychology suggest that darker thoughts can make us happier. Consider it the power of negative thinking — and it’s positively unAmerican. via WSJ
2. Israel bans models with BMIs below 18.5 in ads. Also ads must reveal use of Photoshop. via WSJ
7. Print book sales tumbled in America last year, declining from 72% who said they had read printed books in the previous 12 months to 67%. via Pew Research
8. Indian police have filed rape and murder charges against five men accused of a brutal gang rape of a New Delhi woman. The sixth suspect is a juvenile who will handled separately. Police say they will seek the death penalty. Read on at AOC
3. Saudi religious leader Muhammed al-Arifi, calls for gang rape of Syrian women over 14, specifying that “intercourse marriages” last only a few hours “in order to give each fighter a turn”. via Salon
The hard-line Wahhabi cleric said that the marriages between the foreign-backed militants and Syrian women will satisfy the militants’ sexual desires and boost their determination in killing Syrians.
BREAKING NEWS!!! Time Warner drops Current after Al Jazeera deal via Salon
4. President Barack Obama is the first president in more than 50 years to win at least 51% of the vote twice. The last president to do it was Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1956. The last Democrat to win such solid support was Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944. via Bloomberg
9.Fragonard’s ‘The Swing’ is a model of French Beauty & Decadence, writes Anne.
The existing — or soon to be — mistress flies through the air in frivolous abandon, losing her shoe in an action powered by her husband.
5. Among tablet users, men are 11% more likely to say they get news on the devices than women. via Pew Research. Age, on the other hand, seems to be less of an indicator of mobile news consumption. This is particularly true on the tablet, where daily rates are similar across all four age groups studied (50- to 64-year-olds are a bit more likely than the youngest and oldest groups to get news). On the smartphone, owners under 50 get news at higher rates than those over 50. Read more at Pew Research
10. Energy drinks are the fastest-growing part of the beverage industry in America, reaching more than $10 billion in sales in 2012. Energy drinks promise edge, writes the NYT, but experts say there’s little proof to the claim.
Share Article Thu, January 3, 2013 in Informed, Sexual Politics tagged President Obama, book sales, depression, energy drinks, female sexual desire, female sexuality, happiness, rape, size 0 models, technology, violence against women, women of India 
Lady Gaga's Vogue Cover Is Surreal Fashion Fantasy | Don't Be Ethel Granger
If you are one of those women who spends her days trying to look like a Vogue magazine cover model, STOP IT!!!
BUZZFEED points out the difference between Lady Gaga’s American Vogue cover image and the behind the scene video. We all know that the cover was photoshopped, but Mert & Marcus went overboard in the transformation of their image.
To be fair, Gaga’s Marc Jacobs dress is just not flattering on the vast majority of women. And if one watches the video, the worst angle of Gaga in the dress was chosen for comparison.
Anne of Carversville has a long history of writing about size 0 models and the most recent transformations of the female body in fashion. Anne considers the stripping of sensuality and muscle from the 90s Supermodels to reflect the industry’s conscious and unconscious need to disempower strong, sexy women. We share some of our most enduring, widely read articles.
Just Say No
Self Love Is Saying ‘No’ To Fashion Body Images You Hate
I’ve been ruminating over this new accusation that AOC and I aren’t members of the ‘creative class’ and don’t understand that our artists must be free to say and do whatever they wish. What they are saying is so profound that lesser intellects like myself just don’t ‘get it’.
Because I’m opposed to censorship of artists, I must agree with the point that our artists should be free to say and do what they wish with their art. But I will not refrain from comment, even if I earn a new title of intellectual ignoramus by the elite members of the ‘creative class’.
Never will I write that the image should be censored, which is why I leave it in all its glory for us to look at. It’s an example of the messages that women send each other. No censorship is permitted on AOC, but I will help women to keep these degrading images out of our psyches by Just Saying No. Let another woman love them but not AOC women. We are too strong for this nonsense.
Celebrating the Supers
Just Say ‘No’: Programming Your Brain’s RAS System to Hate Size Zero Fashion Ads
80s powerhouse supermodel Cindy Crawford told German celebrity magazine Bunte that she would stand no chance of being a successful model today.
Desensualizing the Supermodels
Cindy’s healthy athletic figure was the rage in the 80s and 90s, along with Naomi Campbell, Stephanie Seymour. Christy Turlington, Linda Evangelista, Claudia Schiffer and more.
As a former Victoria’s Secret exec who worked with many of these models, I know we are in a time warp with today’s fashion designers, who care most of all about themselves and their brands. Neither models nor consumers penetrate the minds of today’s fashion patriarchy.
Models exist as coat hangers for fashion designers, experts explain, asking why women like me can’t get that reality through my pretty blond head. As fashion hangers, women must be as thin as humanly possible.
The problem is, this image does become deeply entrenched in the human psyche — among women and men. Much scientific research documents the fact that human minds process ad images as intended. Otherwise, why would advertising exist?
The Lilith in Every Woman
Christina Hendricks Reveals Our Inner Lilith Woman
I maintain that Ralph Lauren doesn’t like this Hendricks-looking, hourglass woman because she is … fertile, sexual, a bit of the Meryl Street wanton woman female with a robust libido.You would think that Hendricks is every guy’s dream girl because she likes sex, men and is willing to make her own way in the male establishment back then. In a weird twist of feminism, today’s world fears the hourglass woman.
In the same way that blonds are considered to be best in bed but poor wives, given their extra-robust libido and supposed penchant for infidelity, the hourglass woman is sinful, and shame incarnate. She is Lilith.
Art directors and stylists are subliminal creatures, often striking poses and sets that spring from their unconscious minds without warning. Of course, I can see the Boticelli beauty of Christina Hendricks, but knowing of Lilith, Adam’s first wife, I chuckled over the Hendrick’s corset photo.
Years ago I published a small journal ‘The Gospel According to LIlith’. This was before the Conservative revolution that swept through America, basically derailing the women’s movement and leaving American women years behind those in other countries — about 60 other countries, according to the World’s Economic Forum report from Fall 2009.