The XX Factor: What women really think.

The Farrah: A Pre-Bat Mitzvah Salon Experience

For Farrah, A Wing and A Prayer

I was 10 years old when Charlie’s Angels debuted in 1976. This is my school picture from that year, my aggravatingly straight and unstyleable hair awkwardly plastered into the style that was referred to, at least in Texas, as “wings.” Wearing your hair in wings, with a middle part and plenty of hairspray, was near-obligatory in the fifth grade at Helotes Elementary. Even the boys, at least those aspirationally cool enough to have left behind the childish mushroom bowl cut, feathered and sprayed their hair. When the girls played “Angels” at school or at each others’ houses (tossing our wings, pointing imaginary guns and shouting “Freeze!” in breathy voices), I usually took the part of Kate Jackson’s Bree. (She was the "brainy one.” Now there’s a low bar: The brainy Charlie’s Angel.) But the beautiful, athletic, popular girls, the ones who could run fast and had hair that feathered right (and who lacked the pink plastic glasses and epic overbite on view in this photo), got to be Farrah Fawcett's golden and gleaming Jill Munroe ... (Read more at DoubleX.com.) 

Two Pop Icons Lived in Opposite Ways

Would You Rather Be Remembered as Sex Symbol or Sidekick?

This seems to be the week for obituary headlines I hope I never have. On the New York Times homepage now, Farrah Fawcett is called “A Sex Symbol Who Wanted to Be More.” Pretty pathetic, but not quite as bad as the treatment Ed McMahon got on the hompeage on Tuesday: “Quintessential sidekick.” (The headline on the article itself isn't much kinder, calling him the "top second banana.") Sidekick ... who wanted to be more? The headline didn’t specify, but one can only assume that "second banana" is not anyone’s first aspiration.

So in the spirit of Emily Yoffe's excellent poll on whether you'd rather be the wife of Sanford or Spitzer (which is generating some thoughtful replies in the comments section), I’ll offer another “which is worse”: Would you rather your obituary call you a sex symbol who wanted to be more, or a quintessential sidekick? ... (Read more at DoubleX.com.) 

Farrah Creams the Menfolk, American Consumers

A guest post from Double X intern Nicole Allan:

In the wake of Farrah Fawcett's death this morning, thoughts turn to the superficial. Ellen has already focused on her hair—those "feathered bangs, feathered layers, feathers, feathers, feathers"—but what about her teeth? Those shiny, snow-white teeth? Or her endless, hairless legs? All of these assets were duly capitalized upon by America's beauty product industry, leading to a few spectacular TV ads from the '70s ... (Read more at DoubleX.com.) 

Rest in Peace, Jill Munroe

Farrah Fawcett paid dearly for being a beauty queen with great hair and very white teeth. In the beginning it must have been fun to be a contestant on the Dating Game, marry a 6-million-dollar man, become an Angel (then an ex-angel), and have her own personal complicated love story with Oliver Barrett IV. But through it all, she was more of an image than a real person: a one-dimensional cover girl whose real life fell short in so many ways. Being a former sex symbol must have been difficult. Illness and addiction don’t have to follow, but objectification can’t be that great for the soul ...

Send Us Your Farrah Look-Alike Pics

Have you ever feathered? Feathered extravagantly? Feathered desperately, in an effort to give off the Farrah-mone? If so, please e-mail photos of yourself to doublex.slate+farrah@gmail.com, and we will post the best ones on the blog. I’ll offer myself up first for ridicule. Here is me, on what must have been my 12th birthday (I believe there’s a Go-Go’s cassette in that stack). That poor sap with the 'fro is my older brother. Include your own Farrah memories. Here are mine ... (Read more at DoubleX.com.) 

Farrah Fawcett: The Hair That Launched a Thousand Feathers

For a boy growing up in the 1970s and ‘80s, Farrah Fawcett was a dreamgirl; but for a girl growing up then, she was a nightmare. Everyone knew that she was the quintessential Charlie’s angel. She was the prototype. Jaclyn Smith was the brunette. Kate Jackson was the “brainy” one. But Farrah, she was perfect—pretty, blonde, and with a gorgeous body, posterized in a bathing suit and adorning every teenage boy’s bedroom wall. I remember the first time I saw that poster at Spencer Gifts and was shocked on two accounts: that the poster was so overtly sexual, and that a human could actually have a body that looked like that. When Farrah left the show, the producers tried to replace her with a series of other, lesser blondes: Cheryl Ladd, Shelley Hack, but no one compared to Farrah. She even had an unusual and angelic name.

And her hair ... (Read more at DoubleX.com.) 

How to Get on the Cover of People Magazine

Good news for boomer celebrities, People magazine wants you on its cover. The New York Times Generation B column, in which Michael Winerip tracks life trends of 78 million middle-aged people, struck an encouraging note Sunday reporting that relics of the counterculture still appeal as commercial sex symbols, at least from a marketing standpoint. Since magazine readers between 45 and 59 make up 28 percent of People's circulation, over the last 11 years, its editors chose five annual "sexiest man alive" covers from the aging hipster demographic. Famous senior-ish ladies have also called out from checkout lanes for various newsworthy achievements, especially losing or gaining an enormous amount of weight. When Valerie Bertinelli, dropped 50 pounds, she posed in a bikini. Kirstie Alley's extra 83 pounds got her a People cover wearing a hot pink sundress. Some prominent prehistoric persons, especially longtime favorites of the 35-year-old celebrity glossy, such as Farrah Fawcett and Cher, have appeared on People covers multiple times... (To read the rest of this post, visit our new website DoubleX.com!)