Between the Covers with Eight Girls Taking Pictures

Yes, it is a purposely salacious blog title. Now, what of it?

So...moving right along, here's that promised review of Whitney Otto's novel Eight Girls Taking Pictures.
What can one say? That this tome is an homage to art and the dilemmas and opportunities that are an intrinsic part of creating? That Otto examines, in eight interlinking stories, what it's like to be a woman -- caught in time, in love, lust, excitement, possibility? That Otto captures in words like photographic detail, images and ideas and sensuous experience? Let us answer, "Yes!"

This is a novel of ideas. But don't let that scare you, my lovely. For example, among the ideas is one that discloses how to be the perfect subject of a photograph. You can become the very image of delight. No more embarrassing wedding shots, no more unflattering booty call F-book pics wallpapered for all  perpetuity. Even mug shots will come out better when one implements this advice. Instead of culling this gem from the other riches of the book, I leave you to discover it for yourself.

Oh, and there is a delightful twist to the wearing of a pearl necklace...

Life is an adventure and sumptuous feast and Otto has captured it brilliantly. Buy the book. Read it, gift it, live it.

Well, That Just Bites

Just when you thought it couldn't bite any worse -- a dentist in Iowa fired a woman who had worked in his practice for ten years -- and whose attractiveness was asserted to be a threat to his marriage. Actually, he fired her when his wife, who also works in the practice, found text messages between the two (both are married to other people).

The employee's husband implored the dentist to let his wife keep her job, but in conference with his wife and their pastor, the dentist extracted the conclusion that she was simply too hot to handle and a threat to the dentist's marriage -- and so the employee is being pulled her from her place of employment.

Ouch!

Considering the fact that almost everyone is sexually attractive to someone else, at some point in time or another, this lower court ruling is problematic.

You know that you're smart. Competent. Educated. Ethical. And very, very hot.

Be afraid my lovelies, be very afraid.

http://flair.wittysparks.com/article/09YW9ZF5qx3Ua/national-briefing-midwest-iowa-court-upholds-firing-woman-boss

Do You Want to Make Up or What?

It is a conundrum: This cosmetics company is passing out swag at a local university. Women are lining up to get the goodies, which included consultation, application, and a fine array of colors, tints, and products, from mascara to lip gloss, as part of a promotional campaign.

Why Yes, That is a Lipstick in My Pocket; Yes, I am Glad to See You...Why Do You Ask?

A guy is watching the long line of women snake around the kiosk. He goes and gets a poster board and marker from the student union (red lipstick would have been perfect, but one can't have everything -- at least all the time and upon demand -- and it's not for want of trying!). On it he scrawls: "You are perfect. You don't need make-up!"

Damn, but this is one question that is so tough we're gonna have to call up the rabbinical council for consultation.

The women in line talked about his sign. So, if it's their faces, then it's their right to choose. And yet, were they falling into a knee-jerk reaction about what a woman's face should look like? Then again, all this shit was FREE (smart cosmetics company -- they share in the London motto: Get 'em while they're young!).

Question: Do cosmetics make a woman look beautiful? Feel beautiful? Or does it play into conventional stereotypes? Do women feel coerced into wearing color? If it does mimic sexual desire, what does its application mean? Does a woman have a right/obligation to ignore the voice of reason/liberation against patriarchal pressures? Or if affirmation to be oneself (whatever that is) comes unbidden, is it one more pressure?

Finally -- do questions such as these bring roses to a woman's cheeks?
Nah, that's just the tinted foundation/sunscreen/moisturizer.