Hope and Kristi P. sent in another example of the way the idea of a “curvy” shape is associated with non-White bodies. This Levi’s ad for their Curve ID jeans shows models whose skin color gets progressively darker as they move from less to more curvy styles:

Notice also that curvy here means primarily having a larger butt. All three models are show in size 27 jeans, which generally are equivalent to about a size 4 (though of course, sizes vary greatly) — certainly larger than the average runway model, but still very small.

Question: does anyone have examples of non-White men depicted as uniquely or systematically “curvy,” or is this applied only to women?

These vintage Lucky Strike cigarette ads posted at the Stanford  School of Medicine collection tell both women and men that they can lose weight if they reach for a smoke instead of a sweet

I’ve never seen any contemporary cigarette advertising using this idea to sell to men; but we have and do see the “slims” meme in advertising cigarettes to women.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

The two google maps below — showing Las Vegas and Laguna Woods — help us understand the extent of the foreclosure crisis in the U.S. (at HuffPo).    Each red dot represents a foreclosure.

Las Vegas, NV:

Laguna Woods, CA:

These illustrations are nicely complemented by our posts featuring the empty housing grids of California City andhalf-home foreclosures, or the dilemma of the duplex.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

…and more in this 3-minute TED talk by Derek Sivers, sent in by AJ S.   As AJ points out, the examples show that “…just because something is different doesn’t mean it is not logical in context.”

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

• Suffragettes Delay Thanksgiving Dinner
• Holding Women Responsible for Holidays (pictured)
• Thanksgiving Poca-Hotness
• The Happiest Day of the Year!

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

An anonymous frequent reader sent in this Calvin Klein jeans ad that has been removed from billboards in Australia after the Advertising Standards Bureau banned its display on the grounds that it implies sexual assault. I’m putting it after the jump because it might be triggering for some people.

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In this vintage ad, smoking tobacco is linked with a (rewritten) Thanksgiving history:

See also our vintage ads marketing cigarettes with Christmas.

From Vintage Ads.

Lisa Wade, PhD is an Associate Professor at Tulane University. She is the author of American Hookup, a book about college sexual culture; a textbook about gender; and a forthcoming introductory text: Terrible Magnificent Sociology. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

David Sparks created this video that uses blue and red to show shifts in voting patterns (Democratic vs. Republican) in all the presidential elections since 1920:

Sparks points out several interesting patterns that emerge:

1. Voting in urban areas often differs from other parts of their states (for example, Salt Lake City stands out from the rest of Utah, as did San Francisco from the rest of California in 1980).

2. We can see the South swing from solidly Democratic to predictably Republican (as Sparks highlights, the 1924 and 2004 maps are nearly inverted).

3. Despite clear patterns (such as the South going Republican, a coasts vs. interior voting split), we often see fairly drastic shifts between one presidential election and the next, as well as temporary disruptions to the overall trend (for instance, the reliably Republican South went Democratic in 1980).

As Sparks puts,

More broadly, this video is a reminder that what constitutes “politics as usual” is always in flux, shifting sometimes abruptly. The landscape of American politics is constantly evolving,  as members of the two great parties battle for electoral supremacy.

He also has a thorough explanation of his methodology for creating the map, if you’re interested.