Category: News

The concept of virginity is a very loaded issue in American culture. If a woman loses hers when she’s too young she can be slut-shamed. If a man remains a virgin for too long, he can be bullied for not being manly enough.

There is also a whole slew of religious mind games associated with virginity that can give people some serious psychological problems associated with sex.

Losing one’s virginity has also been blown up way beyond proportion. It’s often believed that it’s a magical experience—it’s usually not. Or that after having sex for the first time people can really start to enjoy living life—not the case.

What if we just dropped all of the stigmas surrounding virginity and instead, replaced them with healthy attitudes toward sex and relationships?

Writer Cayce LaCorte is going viral on TikTok for the simple way she’s taught her five daughters to think about virginity. They don’t have to. LaCorte shared her parenting ideas on TikTok in response to mom-influencer Nevada Shareef’s question: “Name something about the way you raised your kids that people think is weird but you think is healthy.”

“I’m gonna get a lot of shit for this, but what are you gonna do?” she said in the video. “I’m raising my five daughters to believe that there is no such thing as virginity.

“It is a patriarchal concept used to control women and serves no purpose other than making women feel bad about ourselves,” she explained. “Just because some guy randomly sticks his penis in you at some point in your life, it does not change your worth. It does not change who you are. It doesn’t do anything other than it happened.”

She also responded to those who may criticize her for encouraging promiscuity.

“Sex is important. It’s a big deal; it should always be a big deal. It has nothing to do with your first time. It’s just ridiculous. The whole concept is ridiculous,” the video explained.

She also believes that sex shouldn’t be so closely associated with one’s moral character.

“I’m raising them to be good people and have solid foundations and make their own choices and make intelligent choices. Not because some book says not to,” she concluded the video.

The video made a lot of people realize that virginity is so ingrained in our society that the concept is rarely questioned.

“I never really thought about this to be honest,” one commenter wrote. “I will absolutely be adopting this!! Thank you for sharing.”

“I have 2 girls, and I think this is how I will teach them when they are older. This would have made me feel more self worth when I was younger,” Samantha wrote.

LaCorte’s comments about women and virginity need to be heard. But there should also be more discussion around how men also fight the stigma associated with virginity.

There’s an unwritten law that says men must lose their virginity by the age of 18 or by at least 21 or that somehow they are less of a man. For men that are virgins into their 20s, “Sex goes from being something to be enjoyed to a giant monolith of titanic proportions that casts a shadow over everything they do and who they are,” dating coach Harris O’Malley writes.

Sex is a tricky issue that everyone should be able to approach in their own way, at their own time. It’s great that LaCorte’s video has gone viral for illustrating the fact that virginity is just another obstacle on the road to sexual maturity that shouldn’t factor into whether we decide to have sex or not.

It took nearly six years for the music world to receive a new project from Adele, but her fourth album 30 was undoubtedly worth the wait. The 12-track release arrived after weeks of anticipation and exciting moments from the singer. There was her well-received lead single, “Easy On Me,” that spent four weeks at No. 1 as well as a beautiful TV special with CBS where she performed new and old songs from her career and spoke about her inspiration behind 30. Now, to the surprise of no one, Adele earns her third consecutive No. 1 album with a monster first week.

30 debuts at the top of the Billboard 200 chart dated December 4 thanks to 839,000 album units sold in its first week. This number is comprised heavily of pure album sales as 692,000 units were sold in its first week. 30 also posted 141,000 streaming equivalent album units thanks to 185.39 million on-demand streams of the album’s songs. When looking at album sales and nothing else, 30 easily takes the title of 2021’s biggest-selling album. Billboard reports that it surpasses the “total sales of any album over the past 11 months combined.”

The first-week number for 30 not only gives it the biggest week in 2021, but the biggest sales week in four years. The last time an album sold more copies in a single week was back in 2017 with Taylor Swift’s Reputation tallied 1.216 million copies sold in its first week on the albums chart. Lastly, 30 also earns the fourth-largest streaming debut by a woman in 2021.

Elsewhere, Taylor Swift’s Red (Taylor’s Version) checks in at No. 2 and Drake’s Certified Lover Boy follows at No. 3.

A calm Sunday turned sad as the entertainment world was informed of Virgil Abloh’s death. The famed designer, DJ, and overall creative mind was known for his work in the music and fashion industries. Some of his contributions came alongside Ye as he helped to design a number of album covers in the rapper’s career. They include Ye’s 2010 and album 2013 albums My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy and Yeezus as well as Watch The Throne Ye’s 2011 joint album with Jay-Z. Ye and Abloh’s friendship carried on for years, so when news of the latter’s death arrived, Ye honored him the best way he could.

Today, Ye dedicated his Sunday Service to Virgil Abloh. A message towards the end of the livestream show read, “In loving memory of Virgil Abloh, the creative director of Donda.” Ye is one of many in the music world affected and shocked by Abloh’s passing as many took to social media to share their condolences. Abloh’s death was announced through a lengthy message shared on his Instagram page.

“For over two years, Virgil valiantly battled a rare, aggressive form of cancer, cardiac angiosarcoma,” the post read. “He chose to endure his battle privately since his diagnosis in 2019, undergoing numerous challenging treatments, all while helming several significant institutions that span fashion, art, and culture.”

You can view a screenshot from the Sunday Service above and the post announcing Abloh’s death above.

Last year during lockdown, Dave Grohl and Greg Kurstin decided to help spread holiday cheer by launching a series of “Hanukkah Sessions,” where they covered other Jewish artists in playful, at-home performances. Among last year’s covers were The Knack, Elastica, and Drake, which shows the range that Grohl and Kurstin truly have. But perhaps nothing illustrates their versatility more than the cover the pair have chosen to kick off this year’s sessions: Lisa Loeb’s iconic “Stay.”

In the Youtube description for this cover, here’s what the guys had to say: “Welcome back to the menorah, y’all. Let’s kick it this year’s Hanukkah sessions with one of Dallas, Texas’s favorite Jewish daughters. So put on your coffee shop spectacles and your Betsey Johnson dress and HAVA listen to this… “Stay” by Lisa Loeb.”

And what could be a better homage to the song’s overt femininity than Grohl doing the honors of donning a dress while he delivers the lines? As Greg begins the clip laying on the couch clutching a guitar, Dave quickly transitions from his loving Loeb cosplay into full-on metal screamed lyrics and hardcore sonics, before swapping back to Loeb, and then back to the hardcore… you get the idea. Eventually, it’s the two aesthetics overlayed, which also, surprisingly, works!

The whole thing is a hilarious juxtaposition made better by the fact that Grohl and Kurstin clearly have respect for the song, and though I love the swapping back and forth, I’d love to get a full version of the angry, screaming version, which happens to capture a whole new level of emotion in the song’s lyrics. Check out the playful cover above and keep your eyes peeled for more all Hannukah season.

Dr. Anthony Fauci has had to put up with no end of grief from the far right, and all because he wants to save lives. The longtime prominent immunologist miraculously managed to keep his job during Trump’s bungled attempts to deal with the pandemic, in part because he found a way to contradict the former president’s incompetent messaging while not getting (too much) on his bad side. But it’s been over 10 months since Trump has been out of office, so the gloves are off. Now when, say, Ted Cruz comes for him, Dr. Fauci has no problem clapping back.

On Sunday, CBS aired a sit-down with Dr. Fauci, he wrote off attacks from Republican congresspeople, notably his frequent sparring partner Senator Rand Paul, whom he has routinely humiliated. He dismissed it all as “theater.” He was also asked about Ted Cruz, who said Attorney General Merrick Garland should look into prosecuting him. And that simply made him laugh.

“I should be prosecuted? What happened on January 6th, senator?” Dr. Fauci responded in the midst of a good chuckle.

Fauci also agreed that such criticisms are, as CBS anchor Margaret Brennan put it, naked attempts from the GOP to make him “a scapegoat to deflect from” Trump’s failings. “Of course!” he said, adding. “That’s okay, I’m just gonna do my job. I’m gonna be saving lives, and [Republican lawmakers] are gonna be lying.”

Cruz, of course, has a long habit of picking fights he can’t win, picking himself up, and doing it again, as though nothing happened. He’s even been owned by the star of his favorite movie, and it doesn’t seem to faze him. In the meantime, Cruz still has his job, despite playing a role in the failed insurrection that endangered the lives of all his colleagues.

(Via The Daily Beast)

The Milwaukee Bucks began the season with a statement, blowing out the Nets on ring night, but injuries derailed things from there as they sputtered to a 6-8 record early on. Since then, they’ve been on a six-game winning streak, coinciding with the return of Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton to the lineup, but they are still without a key starter in Brook Lopez, who has been out with a back injury.

Lopez is hoping to return in due time, but the Bucks’ center situation has been an area of concern without their defensive ace in the middle. As such, Milwaukee appears to want a bit of insurance in the middle for the regular season (and possibly beyond), as they are reportedly inking DeMarcus Cousins to a non-guaranteed one-year deal, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Cousins has been waiting on the right opportunity after playing last year with the Clippers and providing some decent minutes in a pinch, as he is still a talented offensive player in bursts off the bench. Cousins isn’t a needle-mover like he once was thanks to a variety of injuries, but for a Bucks team desperate for some size in the middle when Lopez isn’t playing and the uncertainty of a back injury, Cousins provides some low-risk insurance in the middle and could provide their bench unit with a scoring boost in spots.

Nearly a year after she announced her retirement from music, Teyana Taylor set out on a brief tour to say goodbye. The string of shows, titled The Last Rose Petal… Farewell Tour, began earlier this month and is set to continue until November 30 in Atlanta. Unfortunately, her plans for a smooth tour were disrupted before a recent show. She was set to perform in Connecticut on Saturday alongside Ari Lennox and Sevyn Streeter when she took to Instagram to reveal she was hospitalized for exhaustion

“Thank you for being so understanding,” Teyana wrote under a picture of her in a hospital bed. “Y’all know Petunia don’t miss no shows & most importantly, know I’ve been leaving it all on tha stage for a month straight 1000%. So I am really saddened to have not been able to do the same for you last night.” She continued, “My team & I tried everything down to the very last second to get me out on that stage, but my body simply just gave out, which actually started a few days ago. SHUT DOWN, my body actually low key betrayed me cause ah b*tch was tryna get on that stage.”

“Y’all know I’m with the sh*ts,” she added. “Y’all have seen me with a broken foot and all types of other crazy sh*t but still got on that stage and bodied it… But honestly you have to listen to your body and know when to sit down; or it will definitely sit you down….. in the ER.”

Teyana also said that she would take the next few days to “continue to recover.” She added that a new date for the Connecticut show will be scheduled soon and previously-purchased tickets will be honored.

The 2021 college football season has created absolute carnage in the coaching ranks. A year after a lot of teams seemed willing to give coaches a pass due to the circumstances of playing under COVID restrictions and an odd season, patience has run out this season and some of the biggest jobs in the country have come open.

On Sunday, the University of Florida made the first move of the big schools, landing Billy Napier of Louisiana-Lafayette, the hottest name of the up-and-coming Group of Five coaches. That left USC and LSU as the two potential national powerhouse programs with vacancies, and they were going big name hunting from the Power 5 ranks. Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley has long been coveted by other big programs (and some NFL teams), but he shot down the idea he would be headed to Baton Rouge when asked about it on Sunday.

That apparently wasn’t because he was sticking with the Sooners long term, but because the Trojans had come calling and made him an offer he simply couldn’t refuse. Yahoo’s Pete Thamel brought word on Sunday afternoon that Riley was expected to be announced as USC’s next head coach within the next 24 hours once details on his contract were finalized, bringing a massive shakeup in the coaching carousel.

That report was confirmed by Ryan Kartje of the LA Times.

As is always the case with college football coaching hires, there is nothing guaranteed, but it sure seems like a terrific move by USC to swipe the coach of one of the perennial top programs in the country. That puts more pressure on LSU with its hire, now that the likes of Riley and James Franklin, who just inked a new 10-year deal, seem off the board. It also means Oklahoma is on the market, although it’s possible the Sooners just promote from within and make Alex Grinch the new head coach in Norman, keeping things in the Oklahoma family once again.

Anderson Paak has been on fire lately. His success with Bruno Mars on the duo Silk Sonic notwithstanding, Paak also released not one but two albums in the last three years, putting up Oxnard and Ventura within a year of each other. Like most people, he cooled things down last year during the pandemic, but apparently spent that time constructing a throwback duo with Bruno that kicked off with the hit single “Leave The Door Open” and exploded from there. And given his great taste in collaborators, it’s not surprising that Paak made his way to SoFi Stadium last night to make sure he got some facetime with one of the biggest pop groups in the world, BTS.

Taking a group pic with the beloved boy band and immediately posting that content to Instagram, Paak had the best caption for the moment, too. “@bts.bighitofficial lmk if you need another member! I work well in groups!!!” he wrote. Well, I don’t think anyone would be mad about a collaboration between these two — Paak himself said he’d be down earlier this year — so we can at least start there. Or BTS jumps on a Silk Sonic song? When the supergroups are just every pop star in the ecosystem, we’ll have reached peak internet.

The Houston Rockets have the NBA’s worst record at 3-16, and have played the first quarter of the season without John Wall on the court. The biggest name on the roster has been a healthy scratch each game, sitting on the bench with the team but not a part of the rotation as Houston pivots fully into rebuilding mode.

That was initially a mutual decision between the team and Wall as they try to trade him, but the former All-Star is getting the itch to play again. Wall has made his desire to play clear to the organization, but the two sides apparently cannot agree on what role he would take on and as such he will continue to sit out, even as a trade seems unlikely. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Wall wants to be a starter again, or at the very least have the opportunity to compete and win the starting job. The Rockets, however, are insistent that if he plays it needs to be in a bench role.

Wall spoke to Rockets officials and stated his desire is to play, have a starting role and compete to maintain it, but the franchise informed him that they want him to come off the bench, and not start, in order to play, sources tell The Athletic. The outcome of the conversations is that Wall will continue to sit out games while remaining professional and being around and engaged with the team, sources said. Rockets officials informed Wall in their conversations on Sunday that they were not willing to guarantee him a starting role.

The two sides have reached an apparent impasse, but it seems like it shouldn’t be this difficult to come to an agreement with Wall on a role that can satisfy all parties. The starting role shouldn’t be all that important to either side, but one would think that you could bridge that gap by starting Wall, bringing Kevin Porter Jr. off the bench, but limiting Wall’s minutes and having Porter still playing a bulk of his minutes with the starting unit if the goal is to build continuity with Jalen Green, Christian Wood, and others who might be part of the long-term plan.

The pitch to Wall is that he plays 25-28 minutes a night, technically holding the starting role and getting to show his viability as a player for other teams, while also ceding some minutes to the young guys, including in some big spots. It’d take some finesse to get KPJ on board, but if he’s playing important minutes late in games where that applies, even if not starting, that would seem to be a fair compromise.