How 2000s pop culture taught us that sex is a currency
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CBS News
34 minutes ago
- CBS News
New public plaza, La Placita, coming to Belmont Cragin
A new outdoor space for culture and entertainment is coming to the Belmont Cragin neighborhood on Chicago's Northwest Side. Officials broke ground Tuesday on La Placita, a project to transform the plaza at Grand and Fullerton avenues. "We're finally going to activate this corner," Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) said. Villegas said the project to renovate the plaza is four years in the making. The underutilized lot will be transformed into a vibrant neighborhood gathering space. "There really isn't like an epicenter in our neighborhood where people can go to and know that things are happening. So, this is really that go-to," said Jason Estremera, executive director of the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation. Estremera said the new space will provide a pergola, raised stage for cultural programming, and grassy area for people to enjoy. "One of the things about Belmont Cragin is we have the lowest green space per individual in the city. So that's really burdensome, when you're talking about a population of a little over 80,000 folks," he said. Officials said the space also will provide access to food trucks and street vendors. The organization worked closely with Villegas' office to identify the site and develop a vision to activate and maintain it as a gateway to the Belmont Cragin community. "There's so much rich cultural tradition and talent, musically and artistically, that we're hoping the plaza will be a gathering space to share all those different cultural traditions," said Kelly Pyzik, grants and communication manager at the Northwest Side Community Development Corporation. La Placita in Belmont Cragin is the first of three new plaza improvement projects for the Chicago Department of Transportation. Construction will begin this year. It's part of the city's efforts to expand and enhance public spaces across Chicago. "A lot of the work here that you're going to see in construction coming in the forward months are going to echo the symbols and meaningful elements of the community culture," said CDOT managing deputy commissioner Vig Krishnamurthy. La Placita is expected to be finished in the spring of 2026. In addition to La Placita, CDOT will soon begin construction on plaza improvement projects in the Pilsen and Wicker Park neighborhoods.
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
"Perhaps We Did Need Feminism In The 2000s": This Early 2000s Howard Stern Clip Just Reminded Everyone How Brutal Pop Culture Was Towards Women
Content warning: Discussions of rape. Note: This post is an Op-Ed and shares the author's personal views. When we look back at culture, it sometimes feels like the '90s and early aughts were some of the most particularly cruel times towards women. Between the rise of relentless paparazzi, tabloids, and early reality TV, women were dissected and picked apart in new and pervasive ways (which often meant being objectified or turned into the punchline in the name of "entertainment"). Magazine covers sensationalized mental health struggles, reality shows pitted women against each other, and talk shows openly mocked women's bodies — all mostly without an ounce of shame. As if we needed any more proof of it all, a resurfaced clip from a 2004 "ButtaFace Competition" (as in, "everything but her face") is reminding the internet just how bad it really was. The contest, designed to find the "ugliest" woman with the best body, was hosted in Las Vegas by, unsurprisingly, Howard Stern. Stern's career has practically been built on making offensive remarks, especially towards women and minorities, under the guise of being "provocative" and a "shock jock." The clip begins with Stern prompting a woman to take a paper bag off her head and reveal her face. When she does, a crowd erupts into boos and shock. The camera pans to a woman who sticks her tongue out in disgust. The judges laugh. One dude pretends to throw up. Sad music overlays the clip as the audience reaction gets progessively more hurtful and humilating. Stern asks the woman if it's hard to witness the crowd's negative reaction after taking the bag off her head. She quietly replies, "No, not really." Stern then asks if "some guy" entered her into the competition, and she replies that no, a friend told her about the competition. The resurfaced clip has since gone viral across multiple social media platforms, and people are collectively horrified at just how awful it is. "If you endured the early 2000s as a woman, you may be entitled to financial compensation," one post alongside the clip said on Reddit. "Jesus Christ this just made me sad," another comment said. "this was the worst time to go through puberty. the scars persist," this person wrote. "Perhaps we did need feminism in the 2000s," another viral tweet said. E! Entertainment Television After seeing the clip, I had the unfortunate displeasure of watching the full episode, and the bigotry goes even farther. For context, the show begins with a table of mostly men, including Stern and Rob Schneider as a guest judge — former Deuce Bigalow actor and now very outspoken MAGA supporter — gathering to "find" Ms. ButtaFace. There's a $25,000 cash prize. "Nothing in life is more rewarding than evaluating chicks," Stern began. White, thin waitresses in heels bring the men shots before they begin rating (yes, they did this drunk). E! Entertainment Television / Via The competition kicks off with one woman at a time walking out with a paper bag on their head. Then, "judges" score the woman's body on a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the "best body." They'd then rate the woman with the paper bag off, with "10 being the worst face." As contestants each walked out with paper bags on their heads, a voiceover played in which the woman shared insecurities about their looks and gave herself her own rating. The "judges" laughed and made crude jokes as the camera panned up and down her body, giving their opinions and ratings. Between judges asking women to "turn around to look at their ass," another asking if a contestant "can take her top off," speculating about their pubic hair and sex lives, and labeling them "sluts" and "broads," the whole thing was essentially a master class in objectification. I truly didn't think it could get any worse until they panned to Daniel Carver, a former KKK leader. As judge Artie Lange made an insensitive joke using the n-word, Stern asked Carver how he was doing, to which he said, "They're hot. They're white." Later, after a woman disclosed that she had "lost" her virginity "unwillingly" at age 11, Artie Lange responded by making a joke that he was "the guy who took her virginity." I was disgusted, humiliated for these women, and sad. We like to think this was "so long ago" and could never happen again, but this was only 2004. For many of us, this was the culture we came of age in. I wonder why I carry so many insecurities, why my friends and I say we never feel entirely safe around straight, white men, and then I see a clip like this and remember why. When jokes about race and rape are played for laughs, when women are paraded onstage for sport and a cash prize, and when whiteness is openly celebrated by a former KKK leader without repercussions — it's clear that racism and misogyny weren't just side effects of the culture. They were the culture. Media like this that normalizes objectification, mockery, and humiliation reinforces norms that condone violence against women. Black women specifically face disproportionate rates of violence: over 40% experience physical violence from an intimate partner, more than 20% experience sexual assault, and they are 2.5 times more likely to be murdered by men than white women. Early 2000s shows like this one didn't exist in a vacuum — they helped shape a culture where women are seen as objects to hate and hurt. We like to believe we're past all that, but I'm not so sure. If anything, the need to call it out feels more urgent than ever. As one commenter put it, right now, it sometimes feels it wouldn't be surprising if something like this came back today. In a country where a man found liable for sexual abuse can become president, where Howard Stern still has a platform, where our nation's leaders repost ideas that women should submit to their husbands, and where, above all, white, Christian ideals are what are being encouraged, if anything, 2004 doesn't feel so far away. Even in the comments reacting to the clip, I was struck by how many responses still centered the woman's looks, rather than what was done to her. MANY (if not most) of the top comments were some version of, "She's not even ugly." While I get part of the sentiment — beauty standards are ridiculously cruel and impossible — it feels beside the point. What if she were? Would that make her more deserving of the ridicule? When our defense hinges on her appearance, we reinforce the very logic that created a contest like "Ms. ButtaFace" to begin with: that a woman's worth lives and dies in what she looks like. As this person wrote, "Putting aside the fact of whether she's pretty or not. This was a show where an almost-naked woman stands on a stage and an audience boos and hisses about how they dont think she's fuckable or how they wouldn't want to fuck her (or don't want to admit it because their cowards). This was considered entertainment and fine and normal. And people wonder why millennial women are so fuckin' ✨fed up with misogynistic BS like holy shit✨." I'd like to think we're far past a "Ms. ButtaFace" contest reappearing. After all, the clip is recirculating for its cruelty. But I worry that the idea has just shifted more covertly, especially in a culture that more and more perpetuates one ideal of beauty. And unless we actively push back, it will keep finding new ways to reappear. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Fox News
5 days ago
- Fox News
Bigger Than Elvis? What Taylor Swift's Fame Says About America (ft. Julian Epstein, Bill Brown, Patricia Parry & James Dowdell)
Story #1: In 'Quick Takes,' Will and The Crew dig into the absurdity of the political and cultural moment. First, Taylor Swift appears on her boyfriend's podcast, breaking the internet. And Will still doesn't understand how she became this generation's Elvis. Plus, Zohran Mamdani shows his elitist colors, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's tone deaf racial claim about President Donald Trump, and Sen. Chuck Schumer's (D-NY) imaginary friends are exposed by John Oliver. Story #2: Former Chief Counsel for the House Judiciary Committee, Julian Epstein joins Will to break down the major ideological shift underway in the Democratic Party. Why are Democrats leaning harder into woke identity politics, open borders, and unsustainable spending despite voters clearly rejecting it? Will and Julian also debate whether the Democratic establishment is still in control, and if the American center is officially up for grabs. Story #3: Will sits down with Bill Brown, Patricia Parry, and James Dowdell ahead of the annual New York City Navy SEAL Swim across the Hudson River: a 3-mile tribute to America's fallen heroes. They share what motivates them, what the swim represents, and why remembering the cost of freedom and their loved ones are more important than ever. Subscribe to 'Will Cain Country' on YouTube here: Watch Will Cain Country! Follow Will on X: @WillCain Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
