formerlyhot.com

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Insane. Hilarious. I’ve never had haters before. OK, maybe in junior high because I did finally convince my mom to spring for the overpriced Sassoon jeans and those, naturally, inspired jealousy. I can’t say that I love the rage or the trolls sitting in their basements commenting that I need a nose job, but I suppose it’s the cost of doing business. I do love the many valid points people have been raising and the debate the articles about the book have been inspiring. There’s also quite a bit of love, and for that, I thank you.

Still, though, everyone might want to simmer down, at least until the book comes out (nine days from now, August 17.) All the noise is about what people think I’ve written (based on The New York Times piece, along with the excerpt in SELF), and opinions are flying fast and furious. Jezebel did a post yesterday about how there’s something “defeatist” about my alleged message, in which I am “waving the white flag” at society’s obsession with youthful beauty being the only kind of beauty there is.

Yeah, no, that’s not what I’m saying. To clear up that and other misconceptions about what this whole Formerly Hot thing is all about, I’ve complied a list of FAQs. Feel free to submit more. I will try to answer the ones that don’t comment on my nose.

1. Am I saying older women aren’t and cannot be hot.

No. I am mocking myself for caring that I don’t look as I once did now that I’m 43, and questioning the idea that hot and youth are inextricably linked. (more…)

My friend Sara and I had a running gag back when I worked at Self. Whenever one of us would come across a study that proved something that was so patently obvious we couldn’t believe anyone would fund the research, we’d send the link to each other with a comment like, “From the Your Tax Dollars at Work department: Turns out, having sex makes a couple feel closer! Whew, glad that hotly debated issue is finally put to rest.” Or “Wait, did you know that women who eat store-bought baked goods and then sit on their asses all day everyday tended to weigh more than those who do not? Stop the presses.” Well, it cracked us up, anyway. You’d be shocked at how many of those kinds of studies are published each month. (more…)

A few of you have asked if I watched the debut of ABC’s Cougar Town last night. Yes, of course. I watched it as if it were homework, which for me it kind of was.

My verdict is that it could have been far more awful than it was, but it was still pretty awful. (more…)