Blake Lively Talks Child Pornography, Not Her 'Power Outfit' At Variety's New York Power of Women Luncheon

Blake Lively Talks Child Pornography, Not Her 'Power Outfit' At Variety's New York Power of Women Luncheon

Actor and supermom Blake Lively was not amused at Variety's recent New York Power of Women luncheon when a reporter posing as a journalist asked her about the designer of her outfit. Lively executed a no-nonsense approach to her smackdown, admonishing the reporter.  

Lively was chosen as an honoree for her 'fierce advocacy against child pornography', joining singer-actress Audra McDonald, television personality Gayle King, Viacom media executive Shari Redstone and Chelsea Clinton, the vice-chair of the board at Clinton Foundation.

Lively's comments were focused on her support of Child Rescue Coalition. Given her award by Selma Hayek, Blake's speech was emotional and deeply personal.

A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

A Joke or Not?? Saudi Arabia Awarded Seat on Commission on the Status of Women

In an appalling act of absurdity, The UN Economic and Social Council voted days ago to award Saudi Arabia a four-year term on the Commission on the Status of Women. beginning in 2018 

“Electing Saudi Arabia to protect women’s rights is like making an arsonist into the town fire chief,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch. “It’s absurd.”

“Every Saudi woman,” said Neuer, “must have a male guardian who makes all critical decisions on her behalf, controlling a woman’s life from her birth until death. Saudi Arabia also bans women from driving cars.”

“I wish I could find the words to express how I feel right know. I’m ‘saudi’ and this feels like betrayal,” tweeted a self-described Saudi woman pursuing a doctorate in international human rights law in Australia.

Saudi Arabia was elected by a secret ballot last week of the U.N.’s 54-nation Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). Usually ECOSOC rubber-stamps nominations arranged behind closed doors by regional groups, however this time the US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley  U.S. forced an election, to China’s chagrin.

Filmmaker Erika Lust Brings 'Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On' Pt 2 To Netflix

Filmmaker Erika Lust Brings 'Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On' Pt 2 To Netflix

“Porn today is sex education,” says Erika Lust, a Barcelona-based erotic filmmaker in the first episode of Netflix’s new docuseries, 'Hot Girls Wanted: Turned On'. A spinoff of the 2015 documentary of the same name, this new show explores sex and relationships in the Internet age. 

The six-episode series was produced by Rashida Jones, Jill Bauer, and Ronna Gradus, the team behind the original film. At launch, the project followed a group of teenage girls entering the amateur porn business in Miami. In the new episodes, they expand their content focus from porn into all aspects of human sexuality online. Vogue explains: "One episode revolves around a cam girl and her intimate relationship with one of her customers, whom she’s never met in real life. One chapter explores the question of whether a woman can ever be empowered in the porn industry—the answer is murkier than you might believe. Another centers on a pair of female erotic filmmakers and their efforts to try and challenge the pervasive, and often aggressive, male gaze in pornography."

Givenchy Launches Kids Collection Under Clare Waight Keller

Givenchy Launches Kids Collection Under Clare Waight Keller

Givenchy's new creative director Clare Waight Keller has made an immediate impact on tomorrow's Givenchy brand with the launch of its first children's collection. The line reinterprets the house’s classic designs – from bomber jacket and jogging pants to logo T-shirts -- with two collections per year, each with over 100 pieces. Designed for kids up to age 12, the snaps show a lot of heart in tomorrow's Givenchy under the 21st century woman, motherly eye of Keller. 

Military Issues New Orders Against Using Non-consensual Images As Cyber-bullying & Revenge Porn

Military Issues New Orders Against Using Non-consensual Images As Cyber-bullying & Revenge Porn

The US Navy and Marine Corps took action Wednesday around the recent sharing online of non-consensual photos of military women. Both branches of the military officially barred service members from distributing nude photos without the consent of individuals depicted in the images. 

The change was announced in an all-service message signed by acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley as an interim update to the official book of Navy regulations. When a new edition of the document is printed, the prohibition against photo distribution will be included.

Prohibited behavior now includes physical electronic sharing of intimate photos without legal justification or cause and without knowledge of consent, writes the Military Times. "These photos cannot be distributed with intent to realize personal gain; with the intent to humiliate, harm, harass, threaten, or coerce the subject; or with "reckless disregard" as to whether sharing the photos would have such an effect, the language of the new regulation states."

2017 Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon Doubles Entries Of Women Artists

2017 Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon Doubles Entries Of Women Artists

The fourth annual 2017 Art+Feminism Wikipedia Edit-a-Thon happened in over 200 events held around the world in March 2017. Over 2,500 global participants edited the inclusion of over 6,500 women artists with new or expanded Wiki entries. Created after a 2011 survey confirmed that less than 10 percent of Wikipedia contributors were women, the 2017 events nearly doubled the impact of the 2016 campaign. 

Ultraviolet O'Reilly Protest Hires NYC Plane To Fly “FOX: #DROPOREILLY, THE SEXUAL PREDATOR” Banner

Ultraviolet O'Reilly Protest Hires NYC Plane To Fly “FOX: #DROPOREILLY, THE SEXUAL PREDATOR” Banner

Update: Fox News announced on Wednesday, April 19 that Bill O'Reilly would not be returning to the network. Tucker Carlson will take over the 8pm Fox timeslot. 

India's Bihar Province Women Launch Assault On Alcohol With Dramatic Wins For Families

India's Bihar Province Women Launch Assault On Alcohol With Dramatic Wins For Families

Bihar is a state in East India, bordering Nepal. It is divided by the River Ganges, which floods its fertile plains. Important Buddhist pilgrimage sites include the Bodhi Tree in Bodhgaya's Mahabodhi Temple, under which the Buddha allegedly meditated. In the state capital Patna, Mahavir Mandir temple is revered by Hindus, while Sikhs worship at the domed, riverside Gurdwara of Takht Sri Harmandir Sahib Ji.

It's easy to conjure up images of women taking their drunk-husband lives into their own hands in the image of Carry Nation, the temperance advocate who attacked saloons in America, hatchet in hand.

But the reality of everyday life in Bihar state province is that the majority of per capita income of $600 a year is routinely spent on alcohol, rather than to advance impoverished families. 

Peter Lindbergh: Photoshop and Selfies Are For Losers

WHITE SHIRTS: ESTELLE LÉFEBURE, KAREN ALEXANDER, RACHEL WILLIAMS, LINDA EVANGELISTA, TATJANA PATITZ & CHRISTY TURLINGTON, MALIBU, (1988) ©PETER LINDBERGH. COURTESY OF PETER LINDBERGH, PARIS / GAGOSIAN GALLERY.

'Peter Lindbergh: From Fashion to Reality' opens at the Kunsthalle Munich on April 13, and will be on view until August 27, 2017. The iconic is also one subject of the exhibition “Woman on Street,” along with Garry Winogrand, at the NRW Forum in Dusseldorf, on view until April 30, 2017.

"I think Selfies are actually the most stupid thing ever," Lindbergh said on Tuesday in Munich before the opening of the exhibition "Peter Lindbergh: From Fashion To Reality" in the Kunsthalle. For example, if you want to make a Selfie with a star, you need to clarify what that means about your self-esteem: "This means that you look at yourself as smaller than that person."

Lindbergh, who is known for his cinematic images, also denounced the portrayal of women in the media: "It has now gone to the dog, as women look in magazines," he said - and this is due to image processing programs like Photoshop, which could erase all references to a lived life. "You can reduce every human being to zero." Beauty means something quite different to the photographer: "If you have the courage to be yourself, then you are beautiful." The task of a fashion photographer is to show exactly this beauty. "Even fashion photographers have a form of responsibility," Lindbergh said, explaining that they may not be regarded as artists but they are highly influential in images of women and also how women see ourselves. via

The 'Fearless Girl' vs 'Charging Bull' Faceoff Is About Far More Than Women In US Boardrooms

The 'Fearless Girl' vs 'Charging Bull' Faceoff Is About Far More Than Women In US Boardrooms

Oh wait!! The mayor tweeted: "Men who don't like women taking up space are exactly why we need the 'Fearless Girl'. 

That blast surely got the Arturo di Modica's attention, especially with the Charging Bull artist adamant that he is not sexist and neither is his bull. Perhaps for di Modica; nada for the bull. Christina Cauterucci writes for Slate today that until 'A Fearless Girl' faced off against 'Charging Bull', the sculpture was an "encouraging representation of a booming economy. Now, charging toward a tiny human, it’s a stand-in for the gendered forces that work against women’s success in the workplace. "

I'm not one to quote a woman's age, but Cauterucci got her journalism degree in 2013. That makes her about 15 years old in the midst of America's major financial crisis in 2007/2008. It makes her ready to graduate from high school in the birth of the Occupy Wall Street movement that began on September 17, 2011, in Zuccotti Park, located in New York City's Wall Street financial district. 

No symbol of Wall Street was more directly tied to the Occupy Wall Street movement -- so much so that it was protected for well over a year by the NYPD, wrote the New York Times in September 2012.  For those who believe Occupy accomplished nothing in its core arguments, I refer you to the recent Democratic presidential party between Sanders and Clinton -- and the presidential election itself. 

'A Fearless Girl' stands for far more than making more women executives in business.  In the minds of many, 'A Fearless Girl' is a moral symbol of standing up for the little people as America becomes an increasingly story of the very rich and the rest of us. As defined by Princeton University prof Martin Gilens and Northwestern University prof Benjamin I Page is no longer a democracy and is increasingly an oligarchy. 

Anne of Carversville has written about 'Charging Bull' for years, and always within the context of raging testosterone untempered by estrogen. 

Deana Haggag Leads USA's Fight To Protect The Arts Against Trump's Budget Knife

Deana Haggag Leads USA's Fight To Protect The Arts Against Trump's Budget Knife

Deana Haggag made a strong statement about protecting the arts in America, now under the knife in the Trump administration. The new president and CEO of the philanthropic nonprofit United States Artists until Inauguration day, writes Vogue.com. “It wasn’t lost on me what it means to take on the title of president of an organization whose acronym is USA,” Haggag said recently during an interview in Chicago, her USA home base. 

Less than 100 days later, Haggag is facing Trump's proposed elimination of the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Indeed, Big Bird is under the knife. The arts in America represent about $741 million yearly, or less than one tenth of 1 percent of annual federal spending.

The arts generate $135.2 billion annually in a boost to the US economy -- a fact not lost on a growing list of Republicans in Congress, who are against these cuts. 

Male Supreme Court Justices Mansplain Judicial Law To Female Justices, New Study Concludes

Male Supreme Court Justices Mansplain Judicial Law To Female Justices, New Study Concludes

If you thought America's female supreme court justices are spared the growing epidemic of 'mansplaining', think again. A new study of oral arguments from Northwestern University researchers found that as more women have joined the Supreme Court, "the reaction of the male justices and the male (lawyers) has been to increase their interruptions of the female justices."

Interruptions are often regarded as an assertion of power through verbal dominance, according to the study's authors Tonja Jacobi, a professor at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, and Dylan Schweers, a J.D. candidate at the school. If that's the case, then women in positions of power should be interrupted less. Yet at the pinnacle of legal power, female Supreme Court justices "are just like other women," they write for Scotusblog, "talked over by their male colleagues."

Gal Gadot Auditioned For 'Wonder Woman' Tuned To Beyoncé's 'Girls Rule The World'

Gal Gadot Auditioned For 'Wonder Woman' Tuned To Beyoncé's 'Girls Rule The World'

Actor Gal Gadot covers the May 2017 cover of W Magazine, lensed by Craig McDean. The 'Wonder Woman' star is styled in Gucci, Prada, Diane von Furstenberg and more by new editor-in-chief of British Vogue Edward Enninful. 

NBC's Andrea Mitchell Says She's Never Seen Such A Lying White House In Her Long Career

NBC's Andrea Mitchell Says She's Never Seen Such A Lying White House In Her Long Career

Veteran reporter Andrea Mitchell, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent and host of MSNBC's 'Andrea Mitchell Reports' spares no words in her new interview for The Global Politico weekly podcast on world affairs in the Trump era.

Mitchell has covered every US president since Jimmy Carter and she declares that Trump is the most hostile to the press she's ever seen. Same for telling the truth, says the 70-year-old breast cancer survivor who outpaces reporters half her age. Mitchell is pushing back hard against a White House staff using the briefing room as a daily disinformation machine. Both the president and secretary of state are making every attempt to undermine the ability of reporters to do their job, says Mitchell. 

More 'Nasty Women News'

Jourdan Dunn Talks 'Real Woman' In David Slijper Images For Glamour UK April 2017

Jourdan Dunn Talks 'Real Woman' In David Slijper Images For Glamour UK April 2017

Top model Jourdan Dunn covers the April 2017 issue of Glamour UK. Fashion director Karen Preston mixes dreamy Dior dresses with Lowe, Celine, Alexander Wang and more for images by David Slijper. / Hair by Ben Skervin; makeup by Renee Garnes

Dunn speaks aggressively about the term 'real woman', saying that she doesn't like it. But then -- perhaps unconsciously -- she adds a twist at the moment in American history when the term 'woman' is under redefinition. To be clear, Jourdan is responding to the topic of models vs 'real women'. 

The prevailing argument on today's college campuses is that identifying as a woman triumphs all. Hence, Eve Ensler's iconic play 'The Vagina Monologues' is increasingly banned on campuses, even though Ensler added a transgender voice years ago. It's just a matter of our imaginations and wounded self-identities that the vast majority of people on earth associate certain body parts as being female. Tell that to the millions and millions of women worldwide who undergo genital cutting every year. As for Dunn, she says:

“I don’t really like the term ‘real women’. When you compare ‘real women’ to models, it’s like they are not real, and it’s like, what do you mean? I live on earth. I have breasts, I have a vagina, I am very much real.”

That response can get you sliced, diced and put in Twitter coffin these days where officially in women's studies academia and beyond, having breasts and a vagina has NOTHING to do with being a woman.  I'm not sure why we can't all get along, but watch this space because the term 'woman' is being lost to the half the population who identifies as Jourdan Dunn does. ~ Anne

Karen Elson Enjoys A 'Second Bloom' In Pamela Hanson Images For Porter #20 Spring 2017

Karen Elson Enjoys A 'Second Bloom' In Pamela Hanson Images For Porter #20 Spring 2017

Top model Karen Elson, her twin sister Kate Elson and friend Rachel gather at Karen's Nashville home in 'Second Bloom', styled by Lilli Millhiser. Photographer Pamela Hanson captures the trio for Porter Magazine #20 Summer 2017./ Hair by Reanae Pop; makeup by Janelle Wood

Karen Elson just released her second album 'Double Roses', seven years after her debut album 'The Ghost That Walks'. In a recent interview with Elle, Elson "describes herself as not "your typical model" and "never fitting the grain." It's clear from these analyses that she's been engaged in a process of self-discovery, which has naturally fed her music. The album, Elson explains, is a deep dive into the "tumultuous times" she's gone through, but also her understanding of herself as both an ever-evolving mother and artist. "These things take time," she says. "They really do. I had to get comfortable with my contradictions, and with owning who I am, and owning the woman I've become. And this record is ultimately a real reflection of that."

Bella Hadid Is Lensed By Terry Richardson In 'Being Bella' For Porter Magazine #20 Summer 2017

Bella Hadid Is Lensed By Terry Richardson In 'Being Bella' For Porter Magazine #20 Summer 2017

The rapidly ascending model Bella Hadid is styled by George Cortina in 'Being Bella', lensed by Terry Richardson for Porter Magazine #20 Summer 2017./  Hair by Didier Malige; makeup by Dick Page

In her Porter Magazine interview, Bella speaks about her faith, her sexuality and her love life. Earlier this year both Bella and her sister Gigi protested in New York at the #NoBanNoWall protests in New York, and she told Porter: "My dad was a refugee when he first came to America, so it’s actually very close to home for my sister and brother and me. He was always religious, and he always prayed with us. I am proud to be a Muslim.”

With a Dutch mother, Bella's comfort level with her body and nudity follow the country's norms. “My mom is very European, so our whole life we were very open about that stuff. It was just more casual.”

One can't help wondering if the seemingly sensible Bella would have fallen down the same rabbit hole as her buddy Kendall Jenner did in making the now pulled Pepsi commercial. The big Supermodels -- rather than the newly-crowned social media ones -- were known for sharing an opinion about almost everything. One wonders if they would have gone sheepishly into the night of the Pepsi mess. I think not. Even if it was a quiet "Are you sure you really want to do this?" I think Naomi and Christy and Linda would have spoken their minds. None of these girls can just say "I don't like the script. I'm outta here." After all, a contract was signed, and I doubt it gives the girls that kind of leverage. But the Supers would have raised their eyebrows big-time over the insipid, totally tone-deaf commercial that Jenner produced for Pepsi. Why does she only feel anguish now? Was she as tone-deaf as the folks at Pepsi?

After Greece's Refusal, Gucci Moves Event To Florence With Promise To Restore Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens at the Uffizi Gallery. Image Wikimedia Commons.

After Greece's refusal to allow Gucci to use the Parthenon for a June 2017 runway how -- in exchange for a large donation for restoration of the site, the Italian luxury brand has turned to the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Italy to stage the event at its Galleria Palantina on May 29. 

The $2.13 million allocated for the event space will be used now to restore the Boboli Gardens at the Uffizi Gallery. In announcing the agreement, Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri said sarcastically: "I guess that Greece's fiscal situation is in better shape than Italy's."  Both economies are under siege, but Italy has very successfully turned to Italy's finest luxury brands to restore its most historic sites, with the full understanding that tourism is imperative to Italy's financial future.

Currently, less than 20 of the 33 acres comprising the gardens are accessible to the public. The Gucci funds will open the entire green space.

Of the agreement, Italy’s culture minister, Dario Franceschini, commented:

“Fashion is also part of our cultural heritage and our history. In our country, taste, elegance, and education in what is beautiful are part of our day-to-day lives.”

“The connection between fashion and art has always been a close one, and it has been often conducive to striking and unique occasions, like this one, where a prestigious Italian fashion brand has decided to invest in an important cultural landmark, while appreciating its mission,” he added.

Advertisers Fleeing Bill O'Reilly Top 50, In Spite Of Trump Rallying Boys Club Behind FOX Anchor

Advertisers Fleeing Bill O'Reilly Top 50, In Spite Of Trump Rallying Boys Club Behind FOX Anchor

America's President Donald Trump made it clear to the New York Times Wednesday that he stands with his friend Fox News's Bill O'Reilly, under fire over an expose about previously unknown Fox settlements over sexual harassment and sexual assault claims. 

“I think he’s a person I know well — he is a good person,” said Mr. Trump, who during the interview was surrounded at his desk by a half-dozen of his highest-ranking aides, including the economic adviser Gary Cohn and the chief of staff, Reince Priebus, along with Vice President Mike Pence.

“I think he shouldn’t have settled; personally I think he shouldn’t have settled,” said Mr. Trump. “Because you should have taken it all the way. I don’t think Bill did anything wrong.”

Erin Gloria Ryan responds gloriously for The Daily Beast: "In a life characterized by ideological, financial, and even marital inconsistency, there’s one thing President Donald Trump has remained fairly consistent on: defending men accused of sexual assault or harassment." 

More RedTracker Daily

Dr. Annie Sparrow & Dr. Rola Hallam Speak For Syria At 2017 Women In The World Summit

R. ANNIE SPARROW AND DR. ROLA HALLAM AT THE 2017 WOMEN IN THE WORLD SUMMIT IN NEW YORK CITY.

Dr. Annie Sparrow & Dr. Rola Hallam Speak For Syria At 2017 Women In The World Summit

Two women doctors -- Dr. Annie Sparrow and Dr. Rola Hallam -- shared their Syria experiences in a moving discussion from last night's  April 5, 2017 Women in the World Summit in New York. Dr. Hallam tells a gut-wrenching story about a severely burned child whose flesh was so singed that she knew he would not live, although he said he was doing okay. She gave him a drug -- "so he would slip away."

My heart stopped when she said that -- for fear that the Trump administration would stop all her funding, as they are to all the women's health clinics around the world, even if they have nothing to do with abortion. The pro-life contingent believes that Dr. Hallam is a murderer . . . that she should have let the child suffer until he died naturally -- the flesh singed off his precious body. It's a very sad world on multiple fronts that we are living in, that this thought would pop into my mind. ~ Anne