Brown bag speed dating, in which participants wear brown paper grocery bags over their heads during the speed dating event, has made its way from London to New York City. Loveflutter, a dating app that matches people based on personality criteria, is hosting the first of such speed dating events for 60 people in the Big Apple. Participants are charged $25 to attend the event, and the cost includes a brown paper grocery bag and a decorating kit with which to personalize the bags. The bags will have cut-outs for eyes, nose, and mouth so participants can breathe and talk. The idea behind this unusual form of speed dating is that participants get to know people as they are without physical appearances getting in the way. Participants will remove the bags at the end of the event to reveal their physical selves to other participants. Sources: ABC News and bigappled.com
Sprout Pharmaceuticals, a Raleigh, North Carolina-based company, is locked in a battle with the Food and Drug Administration over the company’s drug Flibanserin. The latter wants more data on how Flibanserin interacts with other medications prior to approving the new drug. If approved, Flibanserin will be the country’s first prescription medication for the treatment of female sexual dysfunction. In contrast, there are 25 drugs on the market for the treatment of male sexual dysfunction. Sprout has been trying for three years to bring Flibanserin to market as a treatment for Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder (HSDD), in which a woman has no thoughts about sex and lacks desire for sex and is distressed or upset about her lack of desire. The International Journal of Women’s Health estimates that one in ten women suffer from HSDD. There are currently no medical treatment options for the disorder. Flibanserin targets key chemicals in the brain where male sexual dysfunction drugs, such as Viagra and Cialis, target specific physical functions in the body. Sources: ABC News and The Washington Post
A recent Victoria’s Secret’s advertising campaign came under fire for using the tagline, “The Perfect “Body.” The ad features ten female models who are all tallish, thin, small of thigh, and large-breasted. A Change.org petition, which contained over 33,000 signatures, requested that Victoria’s Secret apologize and change its ad campaign. The petition argued that the ad campaign, “contributes to a culture that encourages serious health problems such as negative body image and eating disorders.” Underwear brand Dear Kate released its own version of “The Perfect Body” ad, which depicted women of all sizes posing in almost the same way as the Victoria’s Secret ad models in that company’s ad. The pushback from customers and critics seems to have worked as Victoria’s Secret has since changed “The Perfect Body” tagline to “A Body for Every Body” on its website and took down store posters containing the original wording. The company has yet to issue a public apology for “The Perfect Body” campaign. Sources: The Huffington Post and Change.org
Recently, Apple and Facebook announced plans to pay for female employees to freeze their eggs so they can pursue careers now and have children later in life. Egg freezing parties, similar in design to in-home sex toy parties, have popped up on both the East and West Coasts since those announcements. The first of these parties took place in New York City and was “sponsored by a company called Eggbanxx, which is cutting the cost of egg freezing and marketing the service to young go-getters,” reported the New York Post. At these parties, attendees pay an admission fee, drink cocktails, and eat appetizers while listening to a corporate talk about the egg freezing process. Women are sometimes encouraged to book their own parties in which they invite their female friends to attend in exchange for a discount on egg freezing services from the presenting company. Egg freezing parties have since been held in San Francisco. Sources: Deseret News National, New York Post, and Good Morning America
Gene Simmons, a member of Kiss, is famous for his tongue action. Recently, he published a book called Me, Inc., which includes common sense advise on how to succeed in marriage, careers, and parenting. Simmons appeared on the Fox News television show Outnumbered. During an interview with the all-female cast, Simmons stated his opinion that “women should not marry young men because they don’t have money yet, and they cannot support you.” Simmons encouraged young women to marry older men in the name of financial security without using the phrase “gold digging.” Source: Fox News
XOXO,
