The Oscar Curse and She-Ra the Princess of Power

Hello my lovelies!
The Oscars are this Sunday and as I was tooling around on the internet looking for clues that would help me with my office Oscar pool, I ran across some very interesting information...

According to a new study evaluating the longevity of marriages and relationships of Best Actress Oscar Winners and Best Actor Oscar Winners, the relationships of the actresses fall apart much more often and sooner than their male counterparts. Apparently, this trend is about the suddenly more potent power, prestige, influence and possible earning power of the female Oscar winner and their partner's struggle with that power.

According to an article on The Huffington Post, researchers have seen this surprising pattern:

"Researchers compared actresses who won Best Actress statuettes from 1936 to 2010 to those who were nominated but didn't win, and found that winners were, indeed, 1.68 times as likely to divorce as non-winners. Of the 265 married nominees, 159 eventually divorced--a whopping 60 percent. The same was not true for men--there was no significant difference in divorce risk for Best Actor winners and Best Actor nominees." Click here to read the whole article and see the research.

Is it possible that a female's success and respect in her field serves as an effective weed-out tool exposing men who have archaic and ass-backward ideas about gender roles? That seems to be the case. (Okay, I'll admit that I secretly believe that Halle Berry probably became an insufferable diva when she won her Oscar. I can't give her the benefit of the doubt anymore. The stories about her nuttiness are ubiquitous and unrelenting. Where there's smoke there's fire.)

Of course, in defense of the men, women seem to also have low tolerance for a man who's not able to bring as much to the table as she can. Remember that song by Destiny's Child called "Bills, Bills, Bills"? That shit is real. In the video, Beyonce's country ass called that dude 'trifling' and 'good for nothing' REPEATEDLY throughout that entire song...and the women are dancing and smiling as they sing it. (Not to mention, wearing wack ass Tina Knowles original "fashions"). The fellas get very strong messages from women on a daily basis that reinforce traditional gender roles. It's a vicious cycle.

Remember Erykah Badu's "Call Tyrone"? The very first two lines are, "I'm gettin' tired of yo' shit. You don't neva buy me nothin." (I still love that bratty song!)

I think the Oscar Curse probably comes from a combination of these two dynamics. The tensions in the homes of those celebrity couples (and the insecurities of both the man and the woman) probably quietly bubbled up when the Oscar nominations were announced. It was probably much worse for couples with existing problems.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for Natalie Portman for more than just the Best Actress nod.

On another note...

Esteemed CBS journalist, Lara Logan was brutally beaten and sexually assaulted in Cairo, Egypt on January 11, 2011.
It was the day Hosni Mubarak stepped down. The crowd was celebrating and she was in the middle of it with her crew, covering the story.
Suddenly, they were surrounded by a large crowd of angry men and somehow Lara got separated from her crew. The men viciously beat her and she endured what the news media called "sustained sexual assault." That's code for gang rape. Those disgusting cowards.
I cannot fucking imagine the kind of pain and fear she must have felt. Those men reduced her to an object symbolizing everything they hate about the West. Hey assholes? You do realize that rape makes you a low life piece of shit right? You're no hero. You're lower than dog shit.
But she will still have a BIG fucking microphone and a voice that has a WORLD-WIDE reach.

 This won't silence her or anyone like her. For every Daniel Pearl taken down, three more will come up in his place. For every Anderson Cooper punched in the face, ten more will stand up. So fuck you.

I believe that women are extremely powerful beings...part of that power is sexual power. And all too often, sexual assault or sexual coercion are used to thwart that power.
This type of shit needs to stop. Keep your head up, Lara. I can't wait to see you back on the job.

Until next time, take care ya'll.   Shaun.sexycasualcool@gmail.com