Culture Briefs

**FILE** Sarah Palin (Associated Press)

Story Topics

• Other
• Jen Doll
• Ramadan
• University Of Minnesota
• School Of Management

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Monthly clothes

“According to new research at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, women who are ovulating ‘unconsciously choose clothes and other items that enhance their appearance.’ They don’t do this to snag men, per se, but because of some ancient biological cutthroatedness that makes them want to stomp (sexily) on the other ladies around them. …

“Said research was conducted by showing ovulating women pictures of ‘attractive local women’ and asking them to choose clothes and accessories to purchase. Think that’s weird? It gets weirder. Most of the women in that group chose sexier products than those who had been shown photographs of unattractive local women or women who lived more than 1,000 miles away. …

“Still, this may have important practical implications for marketers! Ready the focus groups, quick! Ovulating ladies may be the new tween demographic, or something. I mean, if Forever 21 is any indication. Meanwhile, we’ll stick to wearing those same old baggy gym shorts and sweat-stained tees, cause you know what? That way we won’t scare off all those dudes who think we’re ‘ovulating’ based on our tube top and hot pants. Smarts, here.”

— Jen Doll, writing on “Study: Ovulating Ladies, Possessed by Their Demon Hormones, Must Be Sexy” on Aug. 5 at the Village Voice blog Running Scared

Alaskans to core

“While I agree with [Sarah] Palin on almost nothing and would never vote for her, she is in many ways the quintessential Alaskan woman. There’s a popular T-shirt line in that says, ‘Alaskan Women Kick Ass,’ which pretty much sums up how Alaskans view their women. Alaskans are very independent, self confident, nonconformist and anti-elitism. Traditional gender lines also aren’t really honored there. Women do pretty much everything men do: they fish, hunt, camp, ride snow machines. …

“It’s also not surprising to me that she is so unaffected by what people say about her. Until fairly recently, Alaska was completely isolated from the rest of the world, including the ‘Lower 48’ and there has always been a sense that people who aren’t from Alaska are kind of wussy. … I see this attitude emanate from her in terms of how she just dismissed the Beltway crowd and East Coast elites.”

— Kirsten Powers, in an interview with Matt Lewis of AOL Politics Daily, on Aug. 16

Muslim football

“A Michigan high school football team is holding preseason practices in the middle of the night to help its Muslim players practice both faith and football. The predominantly Muslim squad from Dearborn says the nocturnal regimen is a way for players to eat and drink while observing the holy month of daytime fasting known as Ramadan that started last week.

“The August heat also played a factor in Fordson High coach Fouad Zaban’s proposal to reverse the clock for a week of two-a-day practices. Cutting practice wasn’t an option at football-crazy Fordson, which is coming off a one-loss season and has won four state titles and three runner-up seasons since it was established in 1928.

“But nobody wanted to lessen the significance of Ramadan in the Detroit suburb widely known as the capital of Arab-America. … Zaban proposed the late practices after realizing the rotating Ramadan would fall squarely during the start of a two-a-day practice schedule that launches football season. … When Ramadan falls during football season, the players practice during daylight hours. But with August’s heat and doubled practice schedule, concerns grew about players’ health, particularly the high risk of heat stroke.”

— From “Mich. school practices 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.,” on Aug. 16 at ESPN.com