As much as it pains me to see the following byline pop up in the Washington Post:

. . . at least people are reading the goddamn thing:

Why pay journalists to write about Sarah Palin when Sarah Palin is perfectly willing to pay people to write as if they were Sarah Palin? It’s almost too easy.

The Washington Post’s breakout Weddings section, “OnLove,” has debuted, providing Washingtonians with another outlet for more-of-the-same coverage of the institution. You’ve got your pair of interlocked golden rings illustrating the header; your bouquet-clutching, white-veiled bride gracing the front page; and your tales of everlasting love sparked in Dewey Beach spicing up the copy.

But WaPo’s weddings page is stepping out of the traditional mold in one way: It’s soliciting stories and photos of same-sex weddings and commitment ceremonies, as well.

Read More “Washington Post Recruits Gay Marriage Photos” »

In March, the Washington Post announced that it would be expanding its wedding coverage in the paper. “Style is seeking a reporter to help launch a new feature covering local weddings,” read the memo. The new section, the memo explained, would be balancing a major gender inequality in WaPo’s pages—it would serve as “the Sports page for women.” Because where men compete to get a ball in a hoop, women compete for the most taffeta, diamonds, and love. They’re basically all the same thing, to women!

Now that WaPo is preparing to roll out this “Sports page for women,” perhaps it’s time we consider to what other seemingly gender-neutral activities have been crying out for a clearly feminine alternative all along.

A colleague of mine suggested a game: I name an area of interest relegated to the ladies, and you tell me what normal (or “male”) activity it corresponds to. When I say “hair salon“; you say, “gym, for women!” Ready?

1. High School Reunions: _______, for women!

2. Victoria’s Secret: _______, for women!

3. Cosmopolitan: _______, for women!

4. Anorexia: _______, for women!

5. Childbearing, cooking, and vacuuming: _______, for women!

Answers are after the jump.

Read More “Washington Post Launches Its “Sports Page for Women”” »

Is this woman pregnant with Metrobus’ baby?

Yesterday, I hopped on a 90 Metrobus in the hopes of escaping the downpour. Little did I know that the unsuspecting bus I was boarding was actually an anti-abortion vehicle of shame!

The bus was wallpapered, front to back, on both sides, with this “FREE Abortion Alternatives” Ad, pictured. The ad, for a local crisis pregnancy center, offers free pregnancy tests, counseling, and “services” to pregnant women at four D.C.-area locations. Also on the menu: A good shaming! The woman’s numb, downturned face says it all: “You’re lost. You’re confused. You’re thinking about killing a tiny human. We can help.”

Go ahead, try to look away: You’ll still have to look at another identical forlorn future abortionist!

Blogger Kat of “This is Everything” boarded a shame bus last month (she also snapped the photo). “Ick,” she wrote. “[I] pondered whether it would even be worth it to get off the bus (I decided against it since I had already paid the fare.. they have my money so no big deal whether I’m on the bus for six more blocks or not).”

Read More “Metro Swathed In Anti-Abortion Shame” »

On the U Street Listserv this morning, Washington Post Staff Writer Theola Labbé-DeBose solicits “ex wives and new wives who get along”:

Hi, for a potential Mother’s Day feature I’m looking for local Ex-wives and New wives who get along! The women should be able to talk freely about what it took to get their relationship on a positive note. If you or someone you know fits this bill, and they live in DC-MD-VA please reply to me at labbet@washpost.com.

Thanks,
Theola

Since the situation warrants an exclamation point, I’m betting this holiday-themed piece will have a good layer of bitchy female rivalry beneath its grinning facade. But wouldn’t a real Mother’s Day present from WaPo be a piece on chummy ex- and new husbands? Certainly there are just as many men in this situation as there are women. My suspicion is that WaPo wouldn’t find the stories of male rivalry sufficiently catty to warrant a piece. Or maybe WaPo’s just waiting until next month to roll that story out for Father’s Day?

Photo by Cosmic Kitty

That’s what Ruth Marcus claims in today’s Washington Post, quoting Sarah Palin’s remarks from a—what else—a pro-life fundraiser. At the dinner, Palin discussed her “choice” to have a child with Down syndrome  at the age of 44—a choice that, as Marcus points out, Palin wants to deny other women. Marcus is miffed that right-to-lifers like Palin routinely justify their anti-choice positions by describing their own “correct” “decisions” to have children. This isn’t the fist time Palin has used choice to explain why women shouldn’t chose—who could forget Palin’s election-season classic, “We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby”?

Palin’s pro-”choice” comments—where she describes twice considering abortion before deciding to carry her pregnancy to term—after the jump.

Read More “Sarah Palin Makes Case For Abortion” »

So, George F. Will wrote 700 words in the Washington Post yesterday on why he hates jeans. The column, “America’s Bad Jeans,” was largely inspired by last month’s Wall Street Journal piece by Daniel Akst on why he hates jeans. Apparently, Will felt that just one rich white guy opining on his distaste for plebeian fashion was not enough, in this economy.

I’m tempted to sympathize with Will here: Some weeks, you’re just really hard up for a column. In this case, however, Will’s misuse of his cushy WaPo spot is too egregious not to mention. Will spends half his jeans essay rehashing Akst’s jeans essay, chortling along as he relives Ackst’s every turn. Will co-opts Akst’s argument that the blue jean, once decidedly working-class, has now become an expensive, obnoxious, and hypocritical mark of the American elite, who take pains to “slum it” in their unwashable designer jeans. Will then rehashes Akst’s SUV-to-the-Whole Foods joke, his McMansions joke, and his Steve Jobs joke.

Read More “George F. Will Hates Jeans” »

Actually, this is enough to make me not want to have sex ever again.

The Washington Post’s editorial board published a piece today arguing that “Pope Benedict XVI Is Wrong on Condoms.” An understatement, sure, but I was still glad to see our newspaper of record take God’s gift to Africa down a notch. Until I got, oh, four sentences in:

In a perfect world, people would abstain from having sex until they were married or would be monogamous in committed relationships.

Now, at long last, we know what a perfect world would look like!

Read More “Washington Post Employs Faulty Pope Logic” »

Cruuuuush heeeer

IF SHE DID RUN, HE WOULD CRUSH HER, a new poll finds [PDF]. “A new national [Public Policy Polling] poll finds that nominating Palin could be a death wish for the party, with Barack Obama leading Palin 55-35 in a hypothetical contest. The key reason Palin would lose to Obama by so much is that even though she might be the top choice for a certain segment of voters within her party, there’s also a number of Republicans who say they would vote for Obama if their party nominated Palin.” [via ThunderPig].

Read More “Daily Palin: 2012 Obama Crushing Edition” »

* Metro Weekly profiles two laid-off longtime Whitman Walker Clinic employees, Barbara Chinn and Pat Hawkins.

* The Post details Malia and Sasha’s first day of school at Sidwell Friends:

Usually the recommencement of classes at a private school don’t warrant breaking updates: The girls’ motorcade left the Hay-Adams Hotel for Sidwell Friends School. They arrived early! Several hours went by. Then they left!

* Slate’s Dear Prudence answers “Is it wrong to keep Viagra use a secret?” (No), and offers up some unsolicited advice as well:

I’m wondering why you feel the need for this boost. If you always require it, that’s one thing. But if it’s just insurance that you will be able to perform even though you’re feeling insecure, that’s possibly a signal that you should do less performing and more talking. If you don’t need the pill, then leave it in the bottle and see how things go naturally.

* Tiger Beatdown, in a post on Gaza, recalls “September, and the planes, and where you were, and how scared you felt, and how you kept calling people to see who was and was not okay”:

I remember being on the phone with an out-of-town friend and saying, “I’m so scared we’re going to go to war. I’m so scared that we’re going to retaliate, and that people will just keep dying.”

“Obviously, we’re going to go to war,” he said, because in a crisis what you really want to do is prove once and for all that you are smarter than the person you are talking to, “and I can’t say I disagree with that. We have to defend ourselves. When I look at the footage… anyone who could do this just isn’t human.” . . . “Everybody’s human,” was the only thing I could say at the time.

Photo via trialsanderrors.