20060112   

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Although it probably wasn't intended as such, Jamie has a pretty good review of Brokeback Mountain, that light-in-the-chaps cowboy movie about two wranglin' lovers played by Gylennhal and Ledger. I'll admit I haven't seen it but Jamie manages to point out some interesting tidbits without giving anything away at all - like the fact that there is as much female nudity as male nudity, a fact that is wholly unsurprising given the current dark cloud hanging over our social climate. Sure, gays are making inroads into politics, media, and religion faster than you can say burning down the house these days but then again, they've said the same of feminists in earlier decades yet women are still underpaid compared to their male counterparts. It's not even 1999 anymore, folks. It's 2006. We're in a new millenium. 86 years after women received the right to vote in the U.S. (almost exactly four score and seven years ago) and 35 years (only 35 years!?) after Nixon signed the Civil Rights Act banning sex discrimination in employment and education, women are still feeling the effects of a culturally ingrained categorization some smartasses refer to as "the lesser species". These same gender-librarians (the average American) think 24% of the U.S. federal budget goes toward foreign aid.

Only 0.9% actually does.

Luckily for us Americans, since aid agencies are forced to buy from U.S. companies at inflated prices, historically America has effectively taken back 70% of the aid it donated.

Those wonderful facts from Mother Jones. If for nothing else than a good laugh I urge you to follow the link and read the rest of the lovely statistics they provide. The stuff of true entertainment. Truly, politics is more theatrics these days than Hollywood - no wonder their revenues were so horrible this year (which is probably why they are wasting their time suing grandfathers these days instead of, oh, you know.. making good movies!)

But I digress. Back to the plight of the fairer sex (also thanks to Mother Jones):

Women make 80¢ on the male dollar, even accounting for time off to raise kids. If that factor is not accounted for, women make 56¢

Models weigh 23% less than average women. In 1986 it was only 8% less.

31.5% of Iraq's parliament are women. Only 15% of the U.S. Congress are women.

Where, oh where, is this (admittedly wandering) post going? Well, specifically, we're here to talk about the titties. As Jaime pointed out, heterosexual males who might find themselves screening Brokeback Mountain may be pleasantly surprised to see Anne Hathaway's boobs flashed on the screen (How are they? Like scoops of ice cream, says one commenter). Who is this Anne Hathaway? None other than the lead in such (very recent) films as The Princess Diaries, Ella Enchated, and The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement. A 23 year old who has, in the past, stated that she would only ever appear topless/nude if she felt it would enhance the film... or her career? I'm not making any assumptions here, just speculating about a hypothesis. Some people might wonder, though, if one of her childhood heros might have been someone like Meg Ryan?

Although Meg Ryan managed to make it to 42 before she showed her stuff on screen (In the Cut) she does follow my previously discussed "Model movie career for young women" - she started in TV soap operas before.. drum role.. you guessed it, being cast in a horror flick (Amityville 3-D). Then, as we all know, she plodded through a few decades of fluff with movies like When Harry Met Sally and You've Got Mail.

So what signal are we as a culture sending? Well, it's clear, isn't it? We do think women should earn the same as men. We do want gender equality. We want to see fine actresses such as Ryan and Hathaway in serious and dramatic artistic roles.. that is, we want to see their boobies. Even if that means putting up with some gay cowboy manlove.