Interesting commentary in the New York Times, hinting at how androgynous our society could become.  Driven by changes from Hollywood, music, and offices.  I nor you will agree with some of the conclusions, but the article points out some interesting trends.  One has to look no further than Western Europe to see what's being said.  Continuing to hold this idea that gender is a "construct, only a representation of conflict between gender" is partly the problem, brought about by the post-modern garbage that Bart mocked a while ago.

In the discreet white-collar realm, men and women are interchangeable, doing the same, mind-based work.  Physicality is suppressed; voices are lowered and gestures curtailed in sanitized office space.  Men must neuter themselves, while ambitious women postpone procreations.  Androgyny is bewitching in art, but in real life it can lead to stagnation and boredom, which no pill can cure.

In the 1980's, commercial music boasted a beguiling hose of sexy pop chicks like Deborah Harry, Belinda Carlisle, Pat Benetar, and a charmingly ripe Madonna.  Late Madonna, in contrast, went bourgeois and turned scrawny.  Madonna's dance-track acolyte, Lady Gaga, with her compulsive overkill, is a high-concept fabrication without an ounce of genuine eroticism.

"No Sex Please, We're Middle Class" 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/27/opinion/27Paglia.html

True that it is. Somehow, Lady Gaga, wearing a bra to the Yankee's game, is construed as sexy these days. Pass. But imagine Marilyn Monroe going to the New York game 50 years ago, and oozing a whole different kind of a sweet aura, without looking like a weirdo. 

Furthermore, thanks to a bourgeois white culture that values efficient bodies over voluptuous ones, American actresses have desexualized themselves, confusing sterile athleticism with female power. Their current Pilates-honed look is taut and tense — a boy’s thin limbs and narrow hips combined with amplified breasts. Contrast that with Latino and African-American taste, which runs toward the healthy silhouette of the bootylicious Beyoncé.

We will do what we can at the Anti-Strib to reverse these skinny trends, one Friday HCF at a time. No sammiches needed here.