Pacific Standard March-April 2013 Cover

Politics channel

 

Why Pornography Deserves Its Own Academic Journal

May 17, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
porn-keyboard

Routledge recently announced that it will publish the first international, peer-reviewed journal dedicated to the academic study of pornography. Making its debut in spring 2014, with editors Feona Attwood and Clarissa Smith at the helm, the aptly titled Porn Studies will give critical scholarship on pornography a place at the proverbial table. The announcement generated a great deal of media interest (“Porn studies is the new discipline for academics,” declared The Guardian), along with some palpable skepticism (“The world has officially lost its marbles,” wrote one online ... Read More

Why Is China Stealing Cities, Towns, and Buildings?

May 16, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
halstatt-china

Hallstatt, Austria, is in China. So is the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, Christ the Redeemer, and a soon-to-be-completed Manhattan. There are others, too, and it's all part of this weird (at least to us Westerners, or this one Westerner who is writing this) proliferation of what are being called "copy towns." They're villages and buildings and cities in China that are being constructed as replicas of non-Chinese places from around the world—and people are living in them. Hallstatt, China, has an artificial lake, and they imported doves to make it more Hallstatt-like. Much of the awareness ... Read More

Your Addiction to Dots May Be Helping Your Brain (Sort of)

May 16, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
dots-ios

I have an addiction. It’s not to drugs or alcohol, jumping out of airplanes, or even sex. My addiction is to a grid of 36 dots—and to making them disappear as quickly as possible. If you own an iPhone or have a friend who does, you’ve probably heard some version of this admission before. The grid is Dots, a super-addictive iOS game released by New York tech incubator Betaworks just over two weeks ago. Dots was downloaded one million times in the first few days after its release, becoming the top app in eight different countries; users completed 25 million rounds in the first week. ... Read More

The Death-Positive Movement

May 16, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
Caitlin Doughty

At first, it might sound gross or a little bit scary. Ridiculous, even. You wonder if it’s going to hurt. Will it be meaningless? Messy? What if you don’t know what to do—or if it happens too fast or too slow? Relax, man. It’s totally natural. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE. Funny how rarely this seems to come up. Imminent death is the only thing you have in common with every single person you meet. And unlike, say, weddings and weather, the subject of mortality is always interesting. Trying to make small talk about death, though? Well, bring it up at your next business lunch and see ... Read More

Thoughts of Faith and God Decrease Tolerance for Ambiguity

May 16, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
cathedral-post

It’s clear that religious faith confers a variety of benefits. Being part of a community of fellow believers has been shown to boost both mental and physical health. But at what cost? New research suggests one disturbing answer: Thoughts of faith and God apparently spur people to view the world in black-or-white terms. A just-published study finds exposure to Christian concepts or imagery increases one’s intolerance for ambiguity. This dynamic was demonstrated in a variety of experiments conducted in three different countries: Germany, Austria, and the United States. Writing in ... Read More

Who Was Benoit Gysemburgh?

May 15, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
gysem

When he died earlier this month at the sadly premature age of 59 (cancer), the French photojournalist had spent most of his life as a senior photographer with the famous magazine Paris Match. There, he created some of the last century's most iconic images—if you happen to be French. This close-up of an Israeli soldier fighting in the 1982 Lebanon war was among his most recognized. He covered the Rwandan genocide in a way that made it possible to look directly at such an event, and understand it slightly better, which is no easy thing to do. He is credited with tracking down and getting a ... Read More

What a Beautiful Dress You’ve Chosen to Ruin Your Life In

May 15, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
gatsby-film

With the release of Baz Luhrmann’s latest film version of The Great Gatsby, fans and advertisers have gotten really excited about the glitz and glamour of the Jazz Age. Stunning clothes, fancy parties; glorious lifestyles of leisure and sport. Don’t we all wish we could live in West Egg? Americans trip all over themselves to imitate The Great Gatsby, hosting “Gatsby-inspired soirees” on Long Island and trading recipes to bring 1920s food and drink to the average suburban household. But isn’t this a little, well, inappropriate? All of this Great Gatsby party time is making ... Read More

The Changing Face of America

May 14, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
race-in-america

In this 20-minute video, the Pew Research Center’s Paul Taylor discusses trends in the racial/ethnic breakdown of the U.S. population over the last century. Taylor discusses a number of related issues, including the income and wealth gap, perceptions about interracial relations, and the electoral implications of the demographic changes. For instance, while Ronald Reagan once said Hispanics are “Republicans who don’t know it yet,” there’s no evidence that they’re any closer to realizing it. As Hispanics and Asians make up an increasing proportion of the voting population, old ... Read More

Mao’s Granddaughter Is Filthy Rich. Who Cares?

May 13, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
mao-wife

Last week, Kong Dongmei, wife of an auction house boss and insurance magnate in China, appeared with her husband on a widely-followed list of the 500 richest people in China. Kong is the granddaughter of Mao Zedong, who you have to figure wasn't big on insurance company fortunes. Or private fortunes at all. Cue shouts of hypocrisy. Kong is worth five billion yuan or about $815 million. So she's not George Soros-type loaded. But China is not a wealthy country, taken on a per-citizen basis. World Bank statistics from 2011 say China's gross national income per capita is less than $5,000, and ... Read More

The Melting-Pot Gazette

May 13, 2013 • By • Leave a Comment
alhambra

Seventeen people squeeze around a dark wood table in a low, redbrick office building on the outskirts of Los Angeles, picking at a potluck dinner of fried chicken, pad thai, and Cherry Coke. The group is as oddly matched as the menu. There’s Eric Sunada, an engineer who also runs a small environmental non-profit. Kerrie Gutierrez, an instructional aide and mother of five. Joe Soong, an analyst for the Los Angeles Police Department. But they do have one thing in common: They are all newly minted journalists, contributors to a novel kind of local news outlet in the ethnically fractured, ... Read More