One of the frames for Obama and his candidacy that Wendy’s post didn’t cover involved the extent to which he does whiteness (and the degree to which we approve). This t-shirt, available on CafePress, riffs on his whiteness and the common compliment/insult about black people’s ability to be articulate:

Thanks to Jenny S. for sending along this image!

Truthfully, I don’t think I have ever seen so many symbols of masculinity mobilized in so short a time. I had to watch it three times:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anl_7Q05C8c[/youtube]

Thanks a bunch to Christine who recommended this in our comments.

Over at the New York Times, Peggy Orenstein wrote a light article about the social construction of race, ethnicity, and culture through the lens of multiracialism. This figure (in Hawaii, Hapa means “half”) shows the states with the highest percentages of people claiming to be multiracial:

For background: 2000 was the first year that the Census allowed us to mark more than one race… talk about the social construction of racial categories!

Perhaps related to increasing wealth and income inequality in our society, the gap between the life expectancy of the rich and the poor is also increasing. This image is from a New York Times article on the topic:

Dr. Singh, who was part of the study, explains:

In 1980-82… people in the most affluent group could expect to live 2.8 years longer than people in the most deprived group (75.8 versus 73 years). By 1998-2000, the difference in life expectancy had increased to 4.5 years (79.2 versus 74.7 years), and it continues to grow.

This commentary by Dan Charnas on Obama’s speech and the public reaction (found here) might inspire an interesting class discussion on race, politics, and getting along:

[vimeo]http://www.vimeo.com/808451[/vimeo]

White People, Get Over Yourselves from Dantrification on Vimeo.

Thanks to Lawgeek for sending this our way!

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Copyranter has pointed me to a recent spate of ads for homes, apartments, and condos that use the idea of accessible women, or otherwise use sexuality, to sell their product.

Lindsey Dale, at Nobody, sent along this additional example:

Also in using women’s sexual availability to sell real estate.

This image, getting lots of negative attention in the blogosphere, is advertising a new Chinese restaurant in Rhode Island:

Warning! This image may not be safe for your workplace. 

Reappropriate offers a nice analysis. She writes:

…the ad relies on Orientalist fetishization to sell the store: the message of the ad is that the Asian food of the restaurant — like Asian women — are exotic and different, and will represent a new experience. Diners are urged by the ad, then, to come and consume the Eastern food much as they would hope to consume and conquer the Asian woman.

While Alvin at Hyphen notes that “…the Chinese characters on her side are awkward translations that a native speaker wouldn’t use.”

The ad is extremely similar to the one for a restaurant/nightclub in Las Vegas posted by Gwen.

Thanks to Penny R. for sending us this link!

If not, why the martini?

Found here.