emotion

Were you aware there is a sub-genre of romance novels focusing specifically on pregnant women? I wasn’t.

I like the titles–Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame…so scandalous! Here’s a link to the image.

I am not, at this very moment, entirely certain of how you could use these in a sociology course–I guess in a discussion of how we think of pregnant women’s bodies (are they beautiful or not?), how we feel about pregnant women have sex or of men being attracted to pregnant women who aren’t their wives (I bet a good number of people would find it kind of creepy), or whether we still think there is such a thing as a “baby of shame.” It’s interesting that the women are pregnant but still very skinny everywhere but in their “baby bump,” as the tabloids call it these days. This might be a starting point for a discussion of changing ideas of pregnancy–that the amount of weight you’re “supposed” to gain has decreased, that pregnant women ideally say thin everywhere else, and that they’re supposed to lose the weight immediately. Or you could contrast pregnancy with just being “fat”–can you imagine a similar sub-genre of romance novels with large, non-pregnant (or even pregnant) women?

Whether or not they’re useful, I know that they’re funny. Secret Baby, Convenient Wife? Awesome!

Thanks to Jason for sending it along!

The smaller text says,

Every hearts on fire diamond is cut and polished at 100% magnification to guarantee a life of intensity.

I honestly don’t know what we’re supposed to get out of this–that buying this ring will bring so much passion and “intensity” to your relationship (by setting your “hearts on fire”) that there will be no reason to stray? That buying her a ring will turn her on so much that the sex will be fantastic enough to satisfy him? I really don’t know.

From Metropolitan Home.

Miguel in Barcelona sent us this government-sponsored poster aimed at promoting egalitarian relationships. He translates the text as:

The love has to be free
Free of machismo
Free of fights
Free of jealousy

This image, as a representation of idealized egalitarian love, is a nice contrast to the representations of love common in the U.S. (and in Spain?) that make power asymmetry sexy, desirable, and constitutive of love. Consider the love affair between this apple and pear and these two images (which look more like the fruit than Miguel’s image above):

Thanks to Miguel for sending us our first image from Spain!>

The Home Made Simple Squad is a new ad campaign for Proctor & Gamble cleaning products. Five women make up the Squad. From Lori’s bio:

‘I love to entertain in my home, and when people come over, I want them to walk in and immediately feel welcome and comfortable. So I make sure my house is always looking good and smelling fresh.’ Lori, 37, prides herself on her clean and well-organized home that’s always ‘company-ready’. Lori is disciplined about more than just caring for her home – she’s also recently lost 95 lbs, and keeps fit with a regimen of healthy eating, power walking and yoga.

So not only is she a good housekeeper, she keeps herself fit and trim, too!

Although all of the bios mention that the women have children and are busy, not a single one mentions a husband, partner, or other adult who might have some role in keeping a house clean. Or, for that matter, making the kids clean up after themselves.

Thanks to an anonymous commenter on another post for bringing my attention to this one!

NEW! This vintage ad relates sweeping the floor to dancing… because cleaning vinyl-plastic tile flooring, unlike cleaning other kinds of floors, is a kick!

An Anonymous Reader sent another example of the message that women absolutely love cleaning!  The bucket reads, “What could be better than this?”  I suppose it could be tongue-in-cheek, but I’m not getting that vibe.

Gwen Sharp is an associate professor of sociology at Nevada State College. You can follow her on Twitter at @gwensharpnv.

This is an ad I found in The New Yorker for Patek Philippe watches. The text in the lower-left corner says “You never actually own a Patrick Philippe. You merely take care of it for the next generation.” So by buying an expensive, new watch, you’re creating a “tradition.” I’m going to use this in the future when I talk about inventing traditions.

An ad for a floral shop: “He chose her. She chose us.”

Found in Zions Bank Community magazine, January/February 2008 issue.

This 50-minute documentary is about men who are in romantic relationships with high-end sex dolls. It’s a must watch. There is a lot to see in this movie: objectification of women, for sure; also the sad lonliness of men who don’t want to, can’t, or don’t think they can, be in a relationship with a real woman; as my friend Jason pointed out, the way in which the men project an interest in clothes and make-up onto their dolls; and so much more.

The Real Dolls website is worth a look, too.

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.

As a result of my dissertation research, I receive a lot of military emails and mail. Today I got an email called “shock and awe” with this text:

Raw photos and movies of explosions, fierce battles, inspirational footage and more, uploaded by members and military personnel.

I don’t think this website needs a lot of commentary. Note the “miltary.com: enterainment” logo in the upper left and the various kinds of entertainment offered– tattoos, video games, books etc.

And take a look at the most popular videos: “Iraqi Cadets Can’t Do Jumping Jacks” with the tag line “Oh boy we’re going to be in Iraq for a while…” and “the BN Disciplinator” (with a lot going on race and gender wise). The “Disciplinator” is hard to watch but really, you have to at least get through the first couple minutes.