Are Taylor Swift & Katy Perry’s Images Bad for Women?

Are Pop Stars Ruining Women?

American author, teacher and social critic Camille Paglia writes an arresting article for The Hollywood Reporter this month, on the current image of women in entertainment. Her prime cases-in-point: pop music pin-ups Taylor Swift and Katy Perry. (I’d love to hear what she’d say about Beyonce and her recent GQ cover!!)  Taylor and Katy’s popularity, Paglia argues, reflects a very peculiar schizophrenia in girls and women of the 21st century.

“Despite the passage of time since second-wave feminism erupted in the late 1960s, we’ve somehow been thrown back to the demure girly-girl days of the white-bread 1950s. It feels positively nightmarish to survivors like me of that rigidly conformist and man-pleasing era, when girls had to be simple, peppy, cheerful and modest,” writes Paglia, chalking out the area of her argument.

“Swift affects a “golly, gee whiz” persona of cultivated blandness and self-deprecation, which is completely at odds with her shrewd glam dress sense…[and] now 28, Katy Perry is still stuck in wide-eyed teen-queen mode…She’s like a manic cyborg cheerleader, obliviously whooping it up while her team gets pounded into the mud.”

“Most striking about Perry, however, is the yawning chasm between her fresh, flawless 1950s girliness, bedecked in cartoonish floral colors, and the overt raunch of her lyrics, with their dissipated party scenes. Perry’s enormous commercial success actually reflects the tensions and anxieties that are afflicting her base audience: nice white girls from comfortable bourgeois homes. The sexual revolution launched by my baby-boom generation has been a mixed blessing for those who came after us. Katy Perry’s schizophrenia — good-girl mask over trash and flash — is a symptom of what has gone wrong.”

While Paglia, a self-described dissident feminist, is often relegated to being outright pugnacious by her fellow drum beaters, nonetheless her latest article is quite a read. And if you want to know what else the professor thinks read her 1990 bestseller Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson.

 By Sita Wadhwani for Vogue India 

Watch News Yorkers try to identify the healthiest treat from three Serve, Taste or Trash! Food Game choices bought at a convenience store. You might be surprised by the results.

Diabetes & Exercise? What real women living with diabetes have to say about blood sugars, marathons and motivation with Mr. Divabetic

TUNE IN: Free to Diabetes Roundtable podcast Inspired by Rihanna with guests: Neva White DNP, CRNP, CDE, Connie Frazier RD, CDE, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE, author Elsie Spruill, poet Lorraine Brooks, hairstylist and makeup artist Charlene Wilson, Mama Rose Marie and Allison from Jersey City, NJ living with diabetes http://www.blogtalkradio.com/divatalkradio1/2013/01/08/diabetes-roundtable-inspired-by-rihanna

 ’Movie Girl Workouts’ with Mr. Divabetic and fitness expert, Katherine Adamenko

Experience Mr. Divabetic’s wellness with a wow programming in Tucson, AZ, Santa Clara, CA, Philadelphia, PA, Savannah, GA and Bethesda, MD in 2013. Get more details at www.divabetic.org

Taylor Swift’s Patchwork Of Emotions Showcased on Red

Taylor Swift‘s new album Red, was released Monday featuring the single “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” which landed her first #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The uptempo breakup track caught her fans’ attention immediately with its undeniable pop sound that had Swift teaming up with hitmakers Max Martin and Shellback.

Yet, Swift promises that when you listen to Red, nothing else on the album will sound like “Never Ever,” and that’s how she wanted it to be.

“This album is interesting because each song stands on its own,” Swift recently told MTV News. “It’s this patchwork quilt of different sounds and different emotions, and I don’t think anything on the record sounds like ‘Never Ever,’ and I’m really happy about that because each song is its own approach to what that particular emotion sounds like, and it’s a really, really different record from anything else I’ve ever done before.”

One of those sounds that had people talking is Swift’s incorporation of dubstep on the infectious track “I Knew You Were Trouble,” also produced by Martin and Shellback. The song, which Swift admits is her favorite on the album, tells the story of falling for someone you knew was wrong to begin with, and Swift knew that bringing a country-flared dubstep into the mix would bring to life the emotion she was trying to convey with this song.

“I brought in this chorus to Max Martin and Shellback and just kind of played it for them, and it was just piano/vocal, and I was like, ‘At the end of the chorus, I want it to just explode,’ and it ended up having a little bit of a flare to it that is reminiscent of dubstep,” Swift said. “It’s very subtle, but I’m really excited because it actually sounds like the intensity of that emotion that I wrote about.”

TUNE IN: Free Diabetes ‘PINK FRIDAY’ Podcast Inspired by Nicki Minaj saluting Breast Cancer Survivors living with diabetes and  raising awareness for Domestic Violence with guests: Connie Frazier RD, CDE, Kathy Gold RN, CDE, Catherine Schuller, Connie Elder, Mama Rose Marie and Leola C., from Grand Rapids, MI living with type 1 diabetes http://ning.it/PUQy9B

See Mr. Divabetic’s nutrition game, Serve, Taste or Trash!  You must decide which one you’d serve, which one you’d taste and which one you’d trash.

Before you decide to “trash” a veggie for good, why not try to eat it raw? Raw veggies can be more appetizing than their cooked counterparts to people who aren’t crazy about vegetables. The flavors of raw veggies can be milder than those of cooked ones.

Look who’s on the red tomato carpet with Mr. Divabetic at Plus Night Out -NYC

Meet Mr. Divabetic on his quest to glamorize good health at the American Diabetes Association’s Diabetes Expo in Pittsburgh, PA  and the Taking Control Of  Your Diabetes Conferences & Health Fairs in San Diego, CA.

Taylor Swift’s Stunning 70′s Look at Mtv Video Awards

Divabetic’s Diva Inspiration for September,  Taylor Swift also wowed in white at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) last night.  We think she seemed to be channeling Bianca Jagger circa Studio 54 on the red carpet  in a white pantsuit from J. Mendel. Not everyone agreed. Some fashion critics said the singer looked she was headed straight from work to a PTA meeting (rather than a music awards show) as she stepped onto the red carpet wearing Goldie Hawn’s white suit from First Wives Club.

Later the blonde beauty  performed her latest hit ‘We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together ‘during the show – opted for a tailored white trouser suit to walk the red carpet. The singer kept things simple, wearing her hair loose and teaming the chic look with metallic gold sandals.

Don’t miss Divabetic’s free monthly podcast, Diabetes Roundtable inspired by Taylor Swift scheduled for Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 6 -6:30 PM, EST.  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/divatalkradio1/2012/09/11/diabetes-roundtable-inspired-by-mystery-diva

The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic hosts the roving red TOMATO carpet at the 66th Annual Tony® Awards at the Beacon Theater in New York  to talk about divas, dazzle and diabetes.

Free Diabetes Podcast inspired by Whitney Houston hosted by Mr. Divabetic featuring the Charlie’s Angels of Outreach, Mama Rose Marie and real-life diva, Emily C. from San Francisco! http://www.blogtalkradio.com/divatalkradio1/2012/08/07/diabetes-roundtable-inspired-by-whitney-houston

Mr. Divabetic hosts the roving red TOMATO carpet at the 3rd Annual Bake Bethesda A Pie Contest at Central Farm Markets, Bethesda, MD

LISTEN NOW: Free Diabetes & Exercise Podcast hosted by Mr Divabetic http://www.blogtalkradio.com/divatalkradio1/2012/05/01/studio-d–diabetes-and-exercixe

 

Taylor Swift Inspires Diva Style Diabetes Podcast

Divabetic’s September’s Diabetes Roundtable diva inspiration and Grammy winner Taylor Swift’s “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” the lead single from 6-time forthcoming album, Red, spends its second consecutive week at #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 all-format singles chart, which factors in both sales and radio airplay.

In its first two weeks of availability, “Never Ever” has sold in excess of 930,000 downloads in the U.S., and made more than 67 million all-format audience impressions at radio. Last week’s sales of 623,000 downloads was the biggest opening-week for a song by a woman in SoundScan history, and the second-biggest debut ever. Worldwide, the single has already reached the #1 position atop the iTunes charts in 32 countries.

Inspired by Taylor Swift, the happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic hosts a thirty minute whirlwind of  lipstick, laughter and the latest diabetes headlines, which includes a hot topic debate, a Food Aisle Face-off, a menu review of healthy dining choices at Neely’s Barbecue Parlor and a Mother Your Diabetes commentary.  Guests include Judi Wilcox RD, CDE of Hollywood, FL, Patricia Addie-Gentle RN, CDE of Atlanta, GA, Connie Frazier RD, CDE of Pittsburgh, PA, Jessica Clark, Cincinnati, OH, professional makeup artist, Kiauna Hunt of Diva Status and Divabetic’s Mama Rose Marie.  The program’s special guest is John W. from New Orleans, LA., who checks in to share her from diabetes diagnosis to dude story.

Tune in to Diabetes Roundtable inspired by Taylor Swift on Tuesday, September 11, 2012, 6 -6 :30 PM, EST.  The podcast programs stream live from the host page at HTTP://WWW.BLOGTALKRADIO.COM/DIVATALKRADIO1. Listeners can call 1-347-215-8551 to comment or chat during live shows.  Archived shows are available via the Internet or as a free podcast on iTunes

How do you get your BBQ on in a healthy way? Mr. Divabetic visits New York City’s largest Barbecue Party,  the 10th Annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party,  to hear how real people skip the sauce and stay on track with their health goals at summer parties

The happy healthcare host, Mr. Divabetic stops by Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA to talk to everyday people about fruits and veggies often with hilarious results.