The Great Gray Female War (for Boomers)

To continue my silvercat journey I’ve found a piece in Time Magazine called the War Over Going Gray. Written by author Anne Kreamer of the book Going Gray, which I hope to read/review.

It points out, among other things, that men prefer women with gray hair…

It Begins

“In 2005, at the age of 48 and practically on a whim, I decided — after nearly a quarter-century of every-three-weeks hair-salon coloring — to buck convention and stop dyeing my hair. And I found to my surprise that by visually challenging my peers (if I was really gray, so must they be!), I unwittingly landed myself on the front lines of a public struggle — literally superficial but at the same time almost existentially meaningful to American women — with the vicissitudes of age.

“Friends and strangers responded to my newly revealed natural hair color in one of two ways: a sort of proud, sometimes sanctimonious right-on-sister enthusiasm from fellow gray-haired women or an equally proud, sometimes resentful don’t-judge-my-choices-I-do-this-to-feel-good-about-me defensiveness in the comments of the committed-to-dyeing cohort. Hardly anyone was lukewarm in their reactions, which suggests to me we may have a contentious new baby-boomer argument over gray hair that is as mutually judgmental as the mommy wars between working and stay-at-home mothers was in the 1980s and ’90s.

They say it’s for work…

“…most baby-boomer women have held on to the hedonistic forever-young part of their Woodstock dreams a lot more tenaciously than to the open-and-honest part.

“And in doing so, they have presided over a narrowing of the range of acceptable looks for women. Women may be CEOs, Cabinet officers and TV-news anchors and may openly indulge their sexual appetites — but only if they appear eternally youthful. And a main requirement is a hair color other than gray or white.

“Ironically, it’s feminism’s success that has driven today’s widespread, virtually obligatory camouflage of gray hair…women in all kinds of professions report feeling similar pressure.

But, it’s really a personal choice

“Interestingly, women apparently aren’t as fearful of the negative professional implications of gray as the personal ones. Clairol research reports that the 71% of women who dye their hair do so in order to “look and feel more attractive.”

“I assumed that if I accurately reported my age and posted first a photo of myself with gray hair and then, three months later, the same image with brown hair, that the photo with brown hair would be deemed more attractive by more of the Match.com men.

“I couldn’t have been more wrong. Among Match.com-ers in New York City, Chicago and — most shocking of all — Los Angeles, three times as many men were interested in going out with me when my hair was gray as when it was dyed. This blew my mind.

Gray hair – in search of the Silvercat

I’m fascinated by the absence of gray hair in my life. As a ‘male’ youth of the feminist movement I have continually had women in positions of authority over me. There have only been a few male bosses who were worth their weight, while the females overwhelmingly dominate every aspect of my life.

In many ways I have come to expect this continual mentoring and guidance from women. Which is why it is all the more shocking for me to find this chinc in their armor: gray hair.

Among the 100 most powerful women on Forbes list only four of them have natural hair, even though all of them are at the age where gray hair sets in. I don’t know what to make of this. My idols have dropped the ball on this one and I am left to fend for myself.

Join me as I explore this trend and try to discover the truth of the situation and where I fit into all of it.

 

Next: The Great Gray Female War (for Boomers)

“You don’t own me, I pay your salary” – Rice professor Douglas Brinkley argues with Congressman Don Young

Friday, while testifying about his passion — protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling, Dr. Brinkley met a strong critic on the House Resources Committee.

Chairman Don Young, a congressman from Alaska, called Dr. Brinkley “Dr. Rice” and used the word “garbage” to describe part of Dr. Brinkley’s testimony. The professor responded saying, “It’s Doctor Brinkley. Rice is a university. I know you went to Yuba College and didn’t graduate.”

—

Young, who is visibly angry in the video of the exchange, shouted back, “I’ll call you anything I want to call you when you’re in that chair. You just be quiet.”

Brinkley, of course, didn’t take those comments lightly or back off.

“You don’t own me,” the professor said. “I pay your salary. I work for the private sector and you work for the taxpayer.”

From KHOU and Chron

If you’re interested in the full back-story the MinnPost has a good write-up.

"You don't own me, I pay your salary" – Rice professor Douglas Brinkley argues with Congressman Don Young

Friday, while testifying about his passion — protecting the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from drilling, Dr. Brinkley met a strong critic on the House Resources Committee.

Chairman Don Young, a congressman from Alaska, called Dr. Brinkley “Dr. Rice” and used the word “garbage” to describe part of Dr. Brinkley’s testimony. The professor responded saying, “It’s Doctor Brinkley. Rice is a university. I know you went to Yuba College and didn’t graduate.”

—

Young, who is visibly angry in the video of the exchange, shouted back, “I’ll call you anything I want to call you when you’re in that chair. You just be quiet.”

Brinkley, of course, didn’t take those comments lightly or back off.

“You don’t own me,” the professor said. “I pay your salary. I work for the private sector and you work for the taxpayer.”

From KHOU and Chron

If you’re interested in the full back-story the MinnPost has a good write-up.

The making of an Oscar statuette: molding, buffing, and electroplating

There is an awesome video by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences that takes you inside the factory in Chicago that makes the actual statue.

It’s really well done and worth watching. To watch it you will have to visit the YouTube site because for some reason they disabled sharing on websites.

The Making of Oscar Statuette

Favorite Podcasts: Hardcore History by Dan Carlin

A new episode of the best history podcast ever is out. This one is about the radical thoughts and ideology of the French Revolution and the American Communist Scares:

Using the two 20th Century “Red Scare” eras as case studies, Dan looks at the fear that can be generated by potentially dangerous ideas and examines the way such powerful mass emotions can cloud human judgment.

I highly recommend this show, Hardcore History by Dan Carlin. It is raw and in-your-face quite unlike many of the other stuffy, made-for-family history shows out there.

Episode 40 – Radical Thoughts

Price comparison of Thanksgiving turkeys: supermarket vs humanely raised

I hate to say it, but the cost of a supermarket turkey is cheaper than ever. Here are two ads from Safeway showing that they will guarantee the lowest price.

Depending on where you sit this either the best or worst thing ever. To me it means that thousands of turkeys are created in a lab and then hormone and drug injected to survive adulthood while living in a tiny torture-cell with tens of thousands of other birds.

The next best alternative to this is the same breed of turkey but grown in humane conditions and without all the drugs. This is called free range and drug-free (hormone free, antibiotic free).

The price of these birds at Whole Foods is nearly four times more at $2.50 per pound. Instead of $7 we paid $35.

That’s quite a premium for the doing the right thing. There is definitely something wrong with a system that so heavily rewards us for doing the wrong thing.

Steve Jobs is a tweaker, according to his flawed biography

I’m hating the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson. It’s like an art novice trying to explain Monet’s brushstrokes.

I’m not convinced that Mr. Isaacson understands the topic all that well. It almost seems that he rushed the book out after Steve’s passing.

Finally, somebody respectable agrees with me, John Gruber of Daring Fireball, who calls the biography flawed:

Exhibit A in the case against Walter Isaacson’s flawed Jobs biography: Malcolm Gladwell in last week’s New Yorker, arguing that Jobs was “a tweaker”.

Gladwell, alas, takes Isaacson’s portrait of Jobs at face value:

“In the eulogies that followed Jobs’s death, last month, he was repeatedly referred to as a large-scale visionary and inventor. But Isaacson’s biography suggests that he was much more of a tweaker. He borrowed the characteristic features of the Macintosh — the mouse and the icons on the screen — from the engineers at Xerox PARC, after his famous visit there, in 1979.”

I suggest reading John’s full piece: Getting Steve Jobs Wrong

For me, it’s just a sign that my own feelings are justified. Anyone else out there feeling the same way?

Twilight Screenwriter To Women In Hollywood: We Need Some Fighters

melissa rosenberg amy senger 300x224 Twilight Screenwriter On Women In Hollywood: We Need Some Fighters

Twilight Screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg with Amy Senger

When screenwriter Melissa Rosenberg, previously known for her work on the television series Dexter and The O.C., was offered the chance to adapt the vampire series, Twilight, she was promptly informed she’d have only five weeks to write it. “Five weeks? You can’t write a screenplay in five weeks!” she replied, to which the studio asked her, “Well, you want to get it made?” She did, and as a consequence, all she did for five weeks was write: “You don’t shower, you don’t pet the dog, you don’t eat.”

At the recent Future of Film Summit, where she participated in a panel discussion on why women matter in Hollywood, I sat down with Melissa and asked what her biggest challenge was in adapting the Twilight series. Her answer? Meeting the expectations of the fans. In order to have the experience of the viewer, she refused to read ahead, wanting each installment to stand on its own.

With the fourth movie Breaking Dawn Part 1 opening to a $139.5 million domestic gross this weekend and touting a wedding, a honeymoon and a birthing scene, Rosenberg says Part 2 still leaves lots to anticipate: “The thing I’m looking forward to is seeing Bella as a vampire. It’s a very different character. The fidgeting, the stuttering, the insecurity, the awkwardness- it’s gone. I’m looking forward to that. I’m also looking forward to seeing vampire sex versus human sex [laughing].”

When asked what advice she had for women looking to succeed in Tinseltown, Rosenberg had this to say: “Be prepared to compete. Be prepared to take a hit. Pick yourself back up, and get in there. It’s not an easy field to get into but we need you…we need some fighters.”

Here’s my talk with Melissa and, yes, Robert Pattinson is just as lovely and charming in person as he is on screen.