Posts Tagged Business

Detroit considers banning lap dances

Last week the Detroit city council proposed an amendment to more heavily regulate the “adult entertainment” business. Here are the major highlights: it would ban lap dances, require exotic dancers to stand significantly further away from patrons, and require other workers at clubs to be certified in their positions. This proposed amendment just goes to show you that people can sometimes propose laws that trample on people’s personal freedoms without offering concrete solutions to address the root of the problem.

Don’t get me wrong; I am not giving strip clubs a get-out-of-jail-free card. Strip clubs have their issues and can be sites of exploitation especially during economic times like these. And then there’s the sexism inherent in this discussion. I ...

Last week the Detroit city council proposed an amendment to more heavily regulate the “adult entertainment” business. Here are the major highlights: it would ban lap dances, require exotic dancers to stand significantly further away from ...

The Devil Wears Prada, Women Make Better Bosses, and Other Generalizations That Generally Piss Me Off

This article from last week’s NY Times has been inspiring some lively discussion. The article features an interview with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, in which she claims, among other things, that in her experience, “female bosses tend to be better managers, better advisers, mentors, rational thinkers. Men love to hear themselves talk.” In the same article, she goes on to make this gem of a generalization:

“We women take things very personally. We’re constantly playing things over in our head — “What did that mean when they said that?” — when they mean nothing. And I’m certainly not immune to this. So there’s a downside to women.”

Of ...

This article from last week’s NY Times has been inspiring some lively discussion. The article features an interview with Carol Smith, senior vice president and chief brand officer for the Elle Group, in ...

Annette Nellen: About That New Tax Code


Taxes! Don’t know about you, but just seeing the word “taxes” can bring full-on panic. This week, President Obama announced part of his new tax code plan. I decided to get some help understanding it all from tax professor Annette Nellen, director of the Master’s taxation program at San Jose State University.
Hope this helps! Here’s Annette…


Taxes! Don’t know about you, but just seeing the word “taxes” can bring full-on panic. This week, President Obama announced part of his new tax code plan. I decided to get some help understanding it all ...

Courtney on book blurbing

This is kind of an insider conversation on the publishing industry, but Courtney’s opinion is super important–and relevant to all of us young and hopeful writers, This also has a big impact on whose writing gets noticed.
Her piece in Publisher’s Weekly tackles the old and hallowed system of book blurbing–getting a famous someone to write a short (and hopefully glowing) review of your book for the back cover. From Courtney:

Let’s be honest. Rare is the blurb that genuinely evolved from an established writer sitting down with the manuscript of a new writer (not a former student, best friend’s child, or shared agent’s new golden boy) and being inspired to offer a few words on the quality of the ...

This is kind of an insider conversation on the publishing industry, but Courtney’s opinion is super important–and relevant to all of us young and hopeful writers, This also has a big impact on whose writing gets noticed.

Susan Helper: Understanding the U.S. Auto Industry


Last weekend’s post was my attempt to help readers, if they were having a hard time like I felt most folks were, understand what was going on with AIG, bonuses and bailout money. This weekend’s post is my attempt to help folks better understand what’s going on with the auto industry and the auto bailout plans.
Susan Helper is AT&T Professor of Economics at Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management. She is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and MIT’s International Motor Vehicle Program. Here’s Susan…


Last weekend’s post was my attempt to help readers, if they were having a hard time like I felt most folks were, understand what was going on with AIG, bonuses and bailout ...

Plus-size vintage for the win!


So I had the pleasure this past weekend to go to Re-Dress, the newly opened, first ever size 14+ vintage clothing store in the country. It was amazing and I spent money I don’t have, but I felt like I was making up for a lifetime of clothes that never fit right. Conventional wisdom might suggest that I should focus my resources on losing weight, but I am way more into looking fabulous and I love vintage clothing. Which is the concept behind Re-Dress-women that don’t fit the oppressive beauty standards pushed by mainstream media have good style-if not better style than mainstream ‘chic.’
So if you are in NY or you are visiting, please check out Re-Dress. ...


So I had the pleasure this past weekend to go to Re-Dress, the newly opened, first ever size 14+ vintage clothing store in the country. It was amazing and I spent money I don’t have, ...

The Rise of the Gamma Woman

Yesterday the Meredith Corporation-responsible for some of the most gendered marketing on the block (Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Parents, Ladies’ Home Journal, More, Fitness, etc)-released a study discussing a new demographic of women, Gamma women. These are women that are different from alpha women in their desire for success, money and stature. Gamma women thrive on sharing, changing the world around them and social networking, online and off.

The Gamma woman is one of 55 million American women* creating a groundswell in today’s new media and marketing landscape. Using multiple media–both online and off–she shares ideas, information, and recommendations with her vast network. The Gamma woman stands in the center of a web of positive personal connections: she ...

Yesterday the Meredith Corporation-responsible for some of the most gendered marketing on the block (Better Homes and Gardens, Family Circle, Parents, Ladies’ Home Journal, More, Fitness, etc)-released a study discussing a new demographic of women, Gamma ...

Keeping independent feminist publishing alive

Two related calls for help in the feminist publishing world this week.
The first, via Lisa Jervis over at the Bitch Magazine blog, is about South End Press.
If you’re not already familiar with South End, you should get to know them right now. They are, as their letter notes, “the nation’s only unapologetically radical, feminist, mission-driven, and majority women of color publishing collective.” Their list is tremendous: big names like bell hooks, Vandana Shiva, and Howard Zinn, plus less well-known but no less important books from Incite!, Andrea Smith, Kristian Williams, and many more.
And they’re in trouble, because Borders is in trouble, and the unfortunate thing about the publishing business is that the actual producers of actual ...

Two related calls for help in the feminist publishing world this week.
The first, via Lisa Jervis over at the Bitch Magazine blog, is about South End Press.
If you’re not already familiar with South End, ...

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