Sari with Julie Bowen ABCs Modern Family, Kate White Editor Cosmo.

On CNN HLN, I discussed both sides of the issue of her firing. Carlie has every right to pose nude, if that’s what she wants to do. She seemingly tried to separate her high school coaching from her nude modeling, since she used a different last name to pose — Carlie Christine — and the nude pictures are only available with a credit card. On the other hand, teens must be taught to not pose for risqué or nude photos, and that anything they put online can have serious consequences. So, their cheerleading coach obviously was sending the wrong message to her cheerleaders. Also, since one of the cheerleaders knew about the pictures and told the principal, then Carlie must have told that cheerleader about it. It is highly unlike that one of her students would have just happened onto the photos, because they were posted on an interior page of the site amid dozens of 1 inch square images of other nude women.  So if Carlie told the students where to look that would have been inappropriate.  

The moral of the story, however, is not about whether her firing was right or wrong. It’s that the firing made her “famous.” Instead of illustrating how nude pictures can hurt someone’s life, now Carlie gets exactly what she wants. She wanted to be a well-known model, which is why she posed nude. If she hadn’t been fired, then no one would have noticed her nude pictures in the sea of other pictorials of attractive nude 20 year olds. Now she’ll be the girl of the month, instead of just the girl of the week. All her dreams are coming true, thanks to the scorned cheerleader who precipitated her firing.  If she gets her way, then by next year, she may even get into the actual Playboy magazine! Maybe she’ll aim even higher and strive to be the next “Girl Next Door,” and move in with Hef. Wonder what message that would give the girls she used to coach.

My appearance yesterday, as seen from the control room …

Today at 5:15pm EST, I’ll be on CNN Headline News talking about this news story…

Teen girls sent naked pics and now parents are suing school

By Jessica Blanchard, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

“Parents of two Bothell High School cheerleaders have sued the Northshore School District, alleging school officials erred when they suspended the girls from the team this year after nude photos of them circulated throughout the student body via text message.  School officials learned of the photos in August after receiving copies from a source they have not named, according to the lawsuits. In early September, the two teens were suspended from the cheer squad — one for 30 days and the other for the entire school year. Both lawsuits, filed Monday in King County Superior Court, accuse school administrators of violating the girls’ due process rights, needlessly sharing the photos with other school staff members and failing to promptly report the matter to police as possible child pornography.  Attorney Matthew King, who represents both families, said it also was troubling that the teens were punished, but football players and other students at the school who sent or received the texts were not.”  This is the link to the full story.

Most often when a teen girl or college women identifies herself as heterosexual, but chooses to kiss another girl or women, it is because she feels attracted to the other person, because she is striving to define her sexual orientation for herself, because she is curious, or because of any number of other personal reasons. Could they be pressured by a pop song? It’s possible, but unlikely. Possibly, and stereotypically, IF a woman feels any pressure to kiss someone of the same gender, then that pressure could be coming from a guy and alcohol could be involved – as depicted in Katy Perry’s song. Her catchy besong is not so troubling to me, but it’s the video that I find offensive. It’s anti-woman and anti-feminist. Katy Perry’s album is called “One of the Boys,” and that’s exactly what the “I Kissed a Girl” video is about. She is pandering to a male heterosexual fantasy to sell CDs. The video is not all bad. Some of it is sexy and sensual, and some images simply allude to sex, including Katy on a bed stroking a pussy cat. But the disturbing images are those in which her harem of black-lace clad women are depicted not as whole people, but rather in pieces – a shoulder, a leg, a neck — seemingly dismembered women. The still shot below is taken from the video.  The image is shown in the video just as it is here, with no context. She is not seen going under the couch, nor does she leave the couch. Is it a sexual joke that I’m missing? Are they just trying to come up with something “edgy” and unusual? Or is it solely intended to degrade women? Drop me a note if you have any thoughts on this image.