I’m a little late on this celebrity gossip:

Actress Sarah Michelle Gellar has changed her famous three-part moniker as a fifth wedding anniversary present to actor Freddie Prinze Jr. The couple was wed September 1, 2002.

A source close to the 30-year-old star tells Us Weekly,”She officially changed her name to Sarah Michelle Prinze” in honor of the occasion.

“On their anniversary, she showed [Freddie] her new driver’s license,” the source tells Us. “It was so sweet.”

I thought it was interesting that Gellar/Prinze made the decision to change her name so late after the fact. I wonder if it has something to do with the state of feminism in this here post-9/11 context - you know, the return to domesticity and traditional gender roles, yadda yadda…

I have noticed (and this could just be me) that more and more women I know are taking their (male) spouses’ names. My co-workers at the feminist organisation I work for, who are life-partnered and a few years older than me, tell me that ten years ago, no one was changing their name.

The whole question of name-changing is pretty much old hat - in the end, I support a women’s right to do whatever the heck she wants with her name. I should admit though, that I was a little demoralised to see the poll published just below the Gellar-to-Prinze news flash:

Do you think women should change their names for their husbands?
Yes 72% (4285 votes)
No 28% (1677 votes)

For those readers who grew up in the early days of Sesame Street, you’ll be happy to know that the golden era of Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and The Count are now available on DVD. There’s one thing you should know, however: according to the New York Times, these DVDs have been branded strictly for adults only:

According to an earnest warning on Volumes 1 and 2, “Sesame Street: Old School” is adults-only: “These early ‘Sesame Street’ episodes are intended for grown-ups, and may not suit the needs of today’s preschool child.”

That’s right, children of the seventies and early eighties. According to modern standards, the pre-Elmo Sesame Street you grew up with is actually unsuitable to grow up with. The various reasons behind this warning may seem absurd, but they speak to an interesting trend, an overall cultural shift in terms of how we raise and subsequently shield our children from reality, and how modern children’s programming is deceptive (and often problematically gendered) “candy-colored animation hopped up on computer tricks.”

Contemporary television shows for children are a far cry from Oscar the Grouch’s depressive tendencies and Big Bird’s constant hallucinations of Snuffeluppagus (in fact, post 1985 everyone else on the street could suddenly see Snuffy too, simply because Big Bird’s imaginary friend got “creepy.”) This from Jezebel.com:

The producers cite an array of reasons (for the warning) including but not nearly limited to Cookie Monster, who was not only a pathological binge eater but also the Muppet who played the character Alistair Cookie, who, explains the New York Times Magazine “used to appear with a pipe, which he later gobbled. According to Parente, ‘That modeled the wrong behavior’ — smoking, eating pipes — ‘so we reshot those scenes without the pipe, and then we dropped the parody altogether.’”

In fact, the golden age of Sesame Street speaks to an era before our culture was paralyzed by a fear of our “neighbours:”

Back then — as on the very first episode, which aired on PBS Nov. 10, 1969 — a pretty, lonely girl like Sally might find herself befriended by an older male stranger who held her hand and took her home. Granted, Gordon just wanted Sally to meet his wife and have some milk and cookies, but … well, he could have wanted anything.

Please excuse me if I say “those were the good ol’ days,” but as our culture becomes increasingly sanitized and conservative, I worry that our children will miss out on gems like this, Sesame Street’s take on the Women’s Liberation movement:

(After the jump, I’ve included Stevie Wonder singing Superstition on Sesame Street, just for some nostalgic “when I was a kid” fun.)(more inside…)

Almost one year ago to the day I wrote a blog posting titled “I love my cervix,” about my own personal experience with a bad pap and the resulting biopsy. After finding myself HPV and cancer free I decided to breath a sigh of relief and write about it, right before Shameless released an issue that covered the new HPV vaccine. Since that day in November, we’ve chatted a lot about HPV, the vaccine and our lovely, lovable cervixes.

Well, it’s that time again and I’m back to the doctor this week to see how my wayward cells are progressing (or rather, hopefully not progressing.) I’ve come a long way from the neurotic, frightened mess I was back then, but honestly the cervical drama can be a tad exhausting and sometimes I just need to laugh at the whole experience.

Thankfully, there’s Teeth. I’m not entirely sure what to think of this, nor have I seen it to judge, but at least the trailer made me feel oddly lighthearted(?) about my ordeal.

Not sure how this one will turn out from a feminist perspective, but here’s to hoping.

Why do they keep cancelling all the shows that portray the lives of young people somewhat accurately, and producing and renewing all of the shows that make young people look like shallow, fashion/boy/money-crazed privledged (all-white) idiots?

And why do I always discover these great shows after they’ve been cancelled?

Post book launch I went into novel postpartum, hiding away in my bedroom with the dog for a few days, which explains my week-long absence from the blog. Under advisment from our outstanding editor (who always has fantastic TV advice) I purchased the first season of Veronica Mars to facilitate my hibernation. Admittedly I’m a little late on the fascination, my only excuse being an obsession with Buffy and a skepitical reluctance to move on to a show described as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Raymond Chandler.” My skepticism was unfounded: the show is brilliant and refreshing, specifically because of its witty and wise teenage heroine and its frank (and painfully disturbing) exploration of teenage sexuality. As LA Weekly sums it up: “the hard-boiled dialogue comes from its teen protagonist’s mouth in a way that stabs any potential cutesiness in the heart with an ice pick.”

Veronica is the daughter of a disgraced sheriff, now private investigator, who has been labelled a social outcast due to the drama surrounding her father’s fall from grace. (more inside…)

I’m loving this New York Times piece about how Hollywood’s animated films often get biology and its related sex roles all wrong:

Well, male honeybees don’t have stingers, for the simple anatomical reason that a bee’s stinger is a modified version of an ovipositor, the distinctly feminine organ through which a female insect lays her eggs…

…Must even obligately female creatures like worker bees and soldier ants be given sex change surgery, too?

I happen to know that Shameless’ Editor recently splurged and bought every season of Buffy on DVD (“Stacey, they were on sale.”) I’m not one to point fingers as I also own the entire collection and have probably seen every season at least three times (by the way, this is my favorite episode.)

For those of us who felt our hearts ripped out when Buffy was no more, it’s time for some good news. According to a story I cried over this morning in Xtra, Joss Whedon is back, and he’s as feminist as ever. This from Dose:

Fox has committed to seven episodes of a new Whedon-penned drama, Dollhouse, which will star Eliza Dushku of Buffy and Angel fame.

To quote Anna, “Smart feminist sci-fi? I think I just wet my pants.”(more inside…)

The NFB and YWCA Present: “Sexy Inc.: Our Children Under Influence”

November 12, 2007 at 7 pm
150 John Street, Toronto, Ont.
NFB Mediatheque

Sexy Inc.
Our Children Under Influence

Directed by Award-Winning Sophie Bissonnette

Don’t miss this opportunity to see a unique and powerful new documentary on a most troubling societal phenomenon: the premature sexualization of children.

Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in partnership with the
YWCA Montreal and UQAM community support as part of the project
“Countering Youth Hypersexualization: Tools for Prevention and Action”

The screening will be followed by discussions with the director and the YWCA specialist in the film.

Free entry!
Space limited so please RSVP ASAP

More info here.

Remember those books, classes and films you had to experience as a kid that explained how your body was soon going to be undergoing some “changes”? How you’d be growing hair in new places, getting flesh where no flesh was before, and feeling “special” feelings you’d never experienced? Oh, and let’s not forget the matter of the blood. All in the name of becoming a woman - if you didn’t know any better, it would sound like a horror movie.

Ginger Snaps is a curious, quirky horror flick that deals with exactly that - how puberty is, in fact, like becoming a werewolf. The film follows Ginger and Brigitte, two outcast, goth-y sisters who are more interested in taking gory photos of each other in death poses than shopping, looking cute, or hooking up with boys. Although they’re 15 and 16, they seem to exist in a state of permanent pre-pubescence - a very snarly, sarcastic pre-pubescence, where they equate “becoming women” with turning into brainless hormone-puddles who’d do anything for a date with some pimply knuckle-dragger on the football team, and thus they swear to each other never to become the sexy, mindless examples of womanhood they see all around them.

(more inside…)

Sorry that my film Fridays post is late, but I wanted to write about a screening I attended last night at the National Film Board. It was a selection of recent animation, part of their World Animation Day festival.

(more inside…)