Benjamin Millepied And Philip Glass Pay Tribute To One Of Ballet's Most Prolific Choreographers

In April 1967, famed choreographer George Balanchine, founder of the New York City Ballet, created a ballet inspired by jewels.

The piece, aptly titled “Jewels,” was divided into three parts, “Emeralds,” “Rubies,” and “Diamonds,” and featured music by composers Gabriel Fauré, Igor Stravinsky, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, respectively. The work was widely considered the first abstract ballet, given that it lacked a concrete narrative, and was made in collaboration with Claude Arpels, nephew of Louis Arpels — yes, of French jewelry house Van Cleef & Arpels.

balanchine jewels ballet
Carlos Molina and Erica Cornejo dance Emeralds during the first act as the Boston Ballet rehearses a performance of Balanchine’s ‘Jewels’ in Boston, Mass. on Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009. (Photo by John Bohn/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Almost fifty years later, another collaboration between the brightest minds in ballet and jewelry is brewing. This time, it’s called “GEMS,” and is choreographed by dancer, choreographer and founder of L.A. Dance Project Benjamin Millepied. “When we were inspired to revisit the concept and idea of Balanchine’s Jewels, it was very natural for us to work with Benjamin and commissioned him to create ‘GEMS,'” Nicolas Bos, the President of Van Cleef & Arpels explained to The Huffington Post.

“Not only was this a work that he was familiar with, on a personal and artistic level, but creatively he has a vision of dance that beautifully balances the tradition and classicism of ballet with a new, contemporary style.”

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Photo of dancers in “Hearts and Arrows,” the second ballet in the “GEMS” series.

“Van Cleef & Arpels has a relationship with dance that dates back to the 1940s and has remained a permanent source of inspiration and fascination for the Maison,” Bos continued. “The world of ballet, in particular, was a great inspiration to our jewelers, who wanted to replicate the grace and movement of the dancers in their creations.”

gems
Photo of dancers in “Hearts and Arrows,” the second ballet in the “GEMS” series.

The second part of Millepied’s three-part ballet series is titled “Hearts & Arrows,” and in lieu of Stravinsky he’s enlisted Philip Glass to compose the score. English conceptual artist and stage designer Liam Gillick created the set. “I think that for Balanchine, ‘Jewels’ was very much about creating a narrative to express different emotions,” Millepied added, in an interview with The Huffington Post.

“This is something that I wanted to maintain in the creation of ‘GEMS.’ It was not so much about updating the work, but revisiting the concept and structure through a contemporary lens.”

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Photo of dancers in “Hearts and Arrows,” the second ballet in the “GEMS” series.

Millepied’s first ballet of the series, titled “Reflections,” premiered May 2013 in Paris and was performed earlier this year during L.A. Dance Project’s residency at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles. “For the first part, ‘Reflections,’ artist Barbara Kruger created a set that captured, the emotion of rubies through its red color,” Millepied said. This time around diamonds are the gem of choice.

“I wanted to create something with more complex structures that would capture both the architecture and radiance of the stones.”

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Photo of dancers in “Hearts and Arrows,” the second ballet in the “GEMS” series.

A select crowd was able to witness the international premiere of “Hearts & Arrows” on the heels of Miami Art Basel at the Olympia Theater in Miami’s Gusman Center. Its next stop will be Paris in April 2015, and it will continue touring around the world after that. Ballet buffs, stay tuned for future performances of ballet’s most luminescent new work. Until then, enjoy this preview of the images below.

Women in Business Q&A: Brianne O'Neill, VapeXhale Marketing Manager

Being the first female on the VapeXhale team and utilizing her strong communications skillset, Brianne brings a completely different perspective to the male dominated cannabis industry.

Considered a Jane of all trades, Brianne is responsible for developing and implementing well-integrated strategic marketing campaigns for, providing extensive research and data on industry trends, as well as effective marketing materials that are vital in driving product sales and overall growth as a company. Brianne is instrumental in building and maintaining VapeXhale’s reputation as a leader in vaporizer technology.

Brianna received a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Psychology from Temple University. Prior to joining VapeXhale, she worked as an associate producer for television network “Sprout,” where she supervised production and brand development for the network.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
There are a few life experiences that I would attest to making me the person I am today.

Growing up as a competitive gymnast taught me self-discipline and the importance of mastering a skill. I have since taken that energy and parlayed it into my career and career choices.

Secondly, as a seasoned student I exceled scholastically. This taught me the importance of knowledge and opened up more doors for me professionally. If you apply yourself, you will be noticed and have more opportunities than you ordinarily would.

Lastly, my love for traveling taught me the importance of being open and adaptive, yet cautious and analytical. These are important traits that really come in handy in the professional environment. I am happy that I was able to recognize this and leverage them accordingly.

How did your previous employment experience aid your position at VapeXhale?
I worked at a TV network where I learned the importance of content creation and customer engagement. It’s was a very fast pace environment and a constantly evolving industry. VapeXhale is also in an industry which is continually evolving. Keeping up, staying ahead of trends, it’s all part of being in a growing environment.

Before this, I was in freelance marketing for local businesses, in which I learned about customer service and building brand awareness.

Being a musician on the side, helps me with self-discipline and perseverance.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
Having a work/life balance is hard for any professional or executive. I have found that if you try to set time restraints on how many hours are worked in a day, take weekends OFF with very few exceptions (tradeshows, demos) and make work fun, you can get everything accomplished that you set out to. Networking is also a big part of my job so I can get a little social time in, while still technically “working.”

What have the highlights and challenges been during your time at VapeXhale?
Highlights include: Winning Best Product at the High Times Cannabis Cup, exponentially growing our social media, meeting with advocacy groups, and watching the cannabis industry grow so fast!
Challenges include: Working with a startup company that has very few employees, you have to learn to wear a lot of hats and deal well with trial and error.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
In general, I’d say the biggest issue is walking that line between being “bitchy” or a “badass.”

What are your thoughts on Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In book and movement?
I am all about it! Women are just as competent as men and need to embrace success as natural progression from their hard work! I love the “Sit at the table” mentality.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
Having someone who has made me feel comfortable asking any question, no matter how silly I think it might be, has done wonders! If you have someone you admire and can model, as either a moral compass or for career decision, it helps tremendously. I constantly think “What would so-and-so do?”

Reverse mentorship is also helpful – learning from others and having them learn from you. You can better determine what you want and don’t want the outcome to be.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
Dolly Parton for one! What a go-getter! She honed her skills, then marketed herself to the top. She has such a positive, caring outlook on life. She never let personal drama get in the way of her success. The way she talks to men always cracks me up, she’s definitely the alpha in the room- whether anyone wants to admit it or not.

Meg Sanders: CEO of Gaia Plant-Based Medicines. In this industry there are not many female CEOs and her involvement in the advocacy sector of the industry is very inspiring. She seems like a powerful woman, yet fun and down to earth.

Oprah: How can I not mention Oprah?? She is successful, generous and inspiring. I drive by where she grew up in Nashville, TN all the time and it just amazes me how she not only got herself out of poverty, but became the richest woman in the world.

What are your hopes for the future of VapeXhale?
My hopes for VapeXhale: to become one of the top leaders in the cannabis industry, not only for its superior vaporizer technology, but as a lifestyle company. I want VapeXhale to be THE household name when it comes to the best, healthiest way to consume cannabis, as well as a hub for the latest industry news including advocacy, health, science, etc. I also want celebrity endorsement!

Julius' 'Sandstorm' Gives Pop Music A Much Needed Classical Spin

A lot of artists blend a variety of genres in order to create a more unique sound within the mainstream. Some put hip-hop and rock together, others try electronic and rock or even country and hip-hop, but very few work to incorporate elements of classical composition like newcomer Julius. The Huffington Post is proud to exclusively premiere Julius’ third release, “Sandstorm.”

It was John Williams’ score for “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” that first caught Julius’ attention. Determined to one day write his own scores for films, he taught himself piano, eventually taking composition lessons with teachers that steered him toward crafting contemporary, avant-garde classical music, the last of which was Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang. From the age of 16, Julius was commissioned to write for groups such as the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, and has been involved with the New York City-based Bang on a Can festival.

“What’s weird is I didn’t really know anything about pop or hip-hop music at all growing up,” Julius told HuffPost. “I barely heard the radio ever and didn’t know any of the big artists or even indie ones. It was only after someone started making me listen to Kanye West’s ‘My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy’ that I even realized how much you could do, on a symphonic scale, within that more pop medium.”

It is now Julius’ goal to create music that takes listeners on a journey resting within a pop framework. While there’s a pop sensibility to his vocals and songwriting, he avoids any distinct hook, opting for production that takes listeners on a “much bigger emotional and visual trip.” It’s just what he would prefer to hear blaring through his car stereo.

Combining distorted trombone blasts and Justin Vernon-styled vocal melodies, “Sandstorm” sounds like an old Western movie soundtrack that got transported through the Stargate, something one might listen to while cruising through the canyons of Mars.

“I worked with Benny Cassette on this, who’s a producer over at Kanye’s G.O.O.D. Music,” Julius said. “It was our first of a bunch of songs together, and I was just really inspired by his sound. I wanted something huge. We started with a beat he had pitched to ‘Ye, but we made it completely different. I laid down that keyboard part, finding synths and distorted cello sounds that evoked my orchestral tastes but have a grittier more angry sound behind them.”

Julius continued: “Lyrically I was thinking about how sometimes you feel like you have to put on a facade for people, and how we have to get back to the real part of ourselves if we wanna actually be happy. So, the song is about that, although it’s all a metaphor. You’re in this sandstorm of fake people and bullshit and you have to get back to the river of your own soul and truth.”

The rising artist also recently released a mashup and re-imagination of Drake’s “Heat of the Moment” and ILoveMakonnen’s “Tuesday.” Julius definitely has collaboration in his mind, currently working with Boston rappers OG Swaggerdick and Michael Christmas, where Julius started out. He’d also love to work with Raury and Azealia Banks.

“I think a track that takes you through multiple different artists’ features has a lot of more potential to give you that kind of journey I’m really after,” Julius said. “Like, you hear one rapper over one type of production, then all of a sudden the song opens and up and a verse starts, then a hook by a different artist, then after the song’s done it actually goes on for another two minutes and towards the end there’s another rap feature. More people can say more shit. That’s the journey I’m after.”

Behold, 'Meat Joy' For The Twerking Generation (NSFW)

In 1964, artist Carolee Schneeman stripped down to her undies with a bunch of similarly dressed individuals and engaged in what can only be referred to as a meat orgy. The piece, called “Meat Joy,” was excessive, erotic, joyful and grotesque. Naked flesh cavorted with raw fish, chickens, sausages with wild abandon. The piece was, for many, a revelation in sexual liberation.

In 2014, we have “Meat Beat.” It’s a YouTube video in which an unidentified woman clad in lingerie proceeds to go all “STOMP” on her body parts with the help of some raw butchery. It’s as impressive as it is horrifying.

We’re not sure when or how exactly one stumbles upon such a talent, and we can’t exactly say we want to know either. But we can’t help but think this bizarre YouTube gem may be the “Meat Joy” of the internet age, or something. Take a look at the video above and let us know if you’re moved to tears or slightly nauseated in the comments. You’re welcome — or we’re sorry — depending on your reaction.

h/t Styleite

Maybe Humans <em>Didn't</em> Drive Mastodons To Extinction

Maybe humans weren’t to blame for the demise of the American mastodon after all.

For years, conventional wisdom held that mastodons were hunted to extinction in North America some 10,000 years ago. But a new study echoes previous research indicating that mastodons and most of the other big animals that once lived on the continent, known as megafauna, may have already died out before humans migrated to North America from Asia.

“We’re not saying that humans were uninvolved in the megafauna’s last stand 10,000 years ago. But by that time, whatever the mastodon population was down to, their range had shrunken mostly to the Great Lakes region,” study co-author Dr. Ross MacPhee, a curator in the mammalogy department at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, said in a written statement. “That’s a very different scenario from saying the human depredations caused universal loss of mastodons across their entire range within the space of a few hundred years, which is the conventional view.”

For the study, which was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on December 1, 2014, the researchers used two types of radiocarbon dating on 36 fossilized mastodon teeth and bones that had been unearthed in Alaska and the Yukon.

What did the research reveal about North America’s mastodons?

“We learned that they weren’t even here by the time people showed up,” Dr. Grant Zazula, a paleontologist with Canada’s Yukon Palaeontology Program and the study’s lead author, told CBC News.

In fact, the fossils are far older than previously thought, with most surpassing 50,000 years old. And archaeologists estimate that humans started moving to North America no earlier than about 25,000 years ago.

(Story continues below photo.)
mastodon extinction
Zazula cutting samples of American mastodon bones for radiocarbon dating.

“There was a massive [mastodon] die-off of a good part of their population in the northern part of the continent around 75,000 years ago,” Zazula told the Los Angeles Times. “We suspect that once the northern group died off, the species was already heading toward trouble… What ultimately pushed them over the edge, though–hunters picking off the last of them or climate change at the end of the ice age being just too much for them–is an unanswered question. There isn’t a smoking gun.”

Women in Business Q&A: Danielle Sheer, vice president and general counsel, Carbonite

Danielle Sheer manages Carbonite’s worldwide corporate development and legal affairs, including technology partnerships, data security and privacy compliance, management of Carbonite’s intellectual property portfolio, and advising the Company’s management and board of directors on legal, strategic and corporate governance matters. She speaks and writes frequently about the effects of patent trolls in the technology industry. Danielle also co-founded SaaSy, a Carbonite initiative dedicated to the advancement and empowerment of women in the technology industry.

In 2012, Danielle was named to the Boston Business Journal’s “40 under 40” list of emerging business leaders; honored by the Massachusetts Bar Association and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly as an “Emerging Leader”; and received the “Maverick of the Year” Stevie award for Women in Business. In 2014, the Boston Business Journal honored her as an “Advancing Women” leader.

Prior to joining Carbonite in 2009, Danielle practiced corporate and securities law at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, where she specialized in technology-related corporate matters, private equity financings, public securities offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Danielle received her J.D. from Georgetown University and B.A. with honors from George Washington University. She serves on the board of directors of The Boston Club and the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts.

How has your life experience made you the leader you are today?
With every experience, big or small, I get more comfortable in my own skin. When I started speaking in front of large audiences, I acknowledged how nervous I was right from the start. I told the group not to worry if my voice started shaking, if I began pacing back and forth or if all of a sudden I seemed really out of breath. I promised that if I tried to imagine everyone in their underwear it would only be worse for me (and for them). I got a warm reception as a result of that kind of honesty and it relaxed me. I don’t have to do that anymore because I’m more comfortable with public speaking, but I’m always honest with the audience – it helps me make that important connection. I have discovered that being authentic is key to being able to lead people.

How has your previous employment experience aided your position at Carbonite?
I’ve been working since my teen years and each job has prepared me for the role I’m currently in. Most recently, I received an excellent foundation in business and law at a top-tier law firm. The more junior jobs I had climbing the ranks helped me learn how to work with all different kinds of people and fine-tune the interpersonal skills that make me unique.

Tell us more about SaaSy and how it is empowering women in the technology industry.
SaaSy is a terrific initiative we founded at Carbonite to empower women to take hold of leadership positions in the tech industry. So many women are great #2’s – what’s holding them back from being great #1’s as well? At SaaSy, our goal is to do three things well: (1) Give up-and-comers a chance to learn business ropes in a low-risk environment, like learning how to manage a budget or come up with the vision for a sponsorship opportunity, or execute a training workshop from soup to nuts, (2) Sponsor local tech events which we feel support the mission of SaaSy, and (3) Provide hands-on professional training opportunities, like negotiations or public speaking. We believe that as a result of our efforts, more women are promoting themselves (and getting promoted). We recently added another woman to our executive team, marking three in total. We are not each other’s competition; we are each other’s assets.

What advice can you offer women who want to follow a similar career path?
Don’t wait until you’re completely qualified to launch the career you want. Do something you’re not ready to do – you’ll be challenged, work hard to deserve it and work even harder to keep it.

How do you maintain a work/life balance?
I’m not sure I have much of a work/life balance. I love my work and so I spend a lot of time doing it. I know it is important to unplug, which I make sure to do a few times a year. Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Thanksgiving – I give those to my family. My birthday, that’s a day for me even if I spend the entire day in bed binging on bad TV. I also complete one destination vacation per year, usually near the ocean.

What do you think is the biggest issue for women in the workplace?
Don’t let the voice in your head hold you back as she will be your harshest critic. Work hard, produce results, be a team player and ask for what you want. When you slip, forgive yourself and keep going. Be an asset to your team and a source of positive momentum. Write down a positive thought on a slip of paper and wake up and read it every day if you need to, until your perspective naturally evolves.

How has mentorship made a difference in your professional and personal life?
I’m the type of person who wants to see the formula for how something… anything, gets done. If there’s no formula, I’ll build it myself. Mentorship has been my cliff notes – it’s important to have all different kinds of people, professionally and personally, that you can call up or take out to coffee and ask how they handled a situation. If you ask enough people the same question, you might get similar answers and that opens up an opportunity to learn something in a smarter way.

Which other female leaders do you admire and why?
I admire all sorts of people as you can learn from anyone. I gravitate toward leaders that are genuine and who are willing to talk about their missteps and explain how those missteps were necessary for their success. A great example is Marissa Mayer. I’ve never met her personally, but I have a Newsweek article pinned in my office titled, “Marissa Mayer on the day she ‘broke’ the Internet” and the article describes her “favorite mistake.” I find that short write-up motivating and it reminds me to be courageous.

What are your hopes for the future of Carbonite?
Carbonite is comprised of bright, hard-working people and I’m excited every day to get into the office to see what we’ll do next.

You Are What You Wear<br><small>The Dangerous Lessons Kids Learn From Sexist T-Shirts</small>

future
Art by Damon Scheleur

Mike Adamick was shopping at Target with his daughter when she saw a retro Superman shirt in the boys’ section. She wanted to look for the shirt in her size over in the girls’ section.

“But of course there’s no Superman shirt in the girls’ section,” Adamick told The Huffington Post. So they continued to shop where his daughter could find T-shirts that showcased her interests in Superman, Minecraft, sports and college gear — the department labeled “Boys.”

Adamick does most of the shopping for his family, and in the last few years, the disparities between clothing offered for boys and for girls have become very apparent to him. “Boys are supposed to like sports and superheroes and the idea of going to college. Girls are supposed to love peace and harmony and cupcakes; they’re supposed to be cute and sweet,” he said, summing up the messages on shirts he sees.

When a photo (below) of a T-shirt for young girls that read “Training to Be Batman’s Wife” went viral, with critics slamming the shirt as sexist and offensive, Adamick wrote on his blog: “Boys can be heroes. Girls can marry them.”

batmans wife

Commenting on a related HuffPost article, some readers were equally outraged by the shirt’s overt sexism. But several vocal commenters took no issue with the message. They argued that “just one shirt” is “no big deal.”

In a poll conducted by YouGov and The Huffington Post, a majority of adults surveyed came closer to that second viewpoint. Only 12 percent of respondents said the shirt was sexist and shouldn’t be sold in stores. Forty-eight percent thought that the slogan was sexist but that people should be free to buy it if they wished. Forty percent found no problem with the shirt.

The majority’s core argument is obviously true: No one is being forced to buy anything — it’s a free country. But multiple researchers and sociologists contend that gendered clothing is too problematic to toss off with a “free speech” shrug.

One big reason is that children can’t simply ignore what they see. A 2004 study from Arizona State University and New York University researchers described children as “gender detectives” who seek out information about the differences between girls and boys, attempt to draw inferences about gender and then apply their conclusions to themselves. Even subtle messaging about girls’ and boys’ roles — in the media, in society and on clothing — affects the way kids see themselves.

Lisa Wade, associate professor of sociology at Occidental College, said that young kids tend to be rigid about gender stereotypes. “They learn their gender identities are very relevant and they learn that there’s a lot of very complicated rules about how to be a girl or a boy, and they’re at that stage of life where they’re trying to learn the rules,” she said.

For several years now, Peggy Orenstein, author of Cinderella Ate My Daughter, has been explaining how T-shirts like the Batman example influence how children perceive themselves.

“I can’t say one shirt, one Barbie doll … that one thing is not going to be a tipping point of making a difference, but it’s the culture they grow up in that, of course, socializes them,” Orenstein told HuffPost. “There is such a large subset of messages that remind girls that they are not supposed to be assertive or they’re not supposed to be good at science or math or reinforce the idea that how you look is more important than who you are.”

And those messages are displayed on children’s clothing over and over again.

In defense of the Batman shirt, some HuffPost commenters asked: “What’s wrong with wanting to be a wife?” Nothing, Wade said. The problem, she explained, is that we “live in a world that defines women by their relationships with men, but not men [by their] relationships to women. … In this context, it is reminding people what the expectations are for women, and the expectation is not just that she will be a wife, but that she’ll be somebody important’s wife, and her identity will be defined by his importance.”

A similar Internet uproar erupted when Marvel sold a set of shirts that read “I Need a Hero” for girls and “Be a Hero” for boys. The message was all too clear: that girls need rescuing and boys are the ones for the job.

Statistics show that in real life, women don’t need to be rescued by men. In 1960, only 11 percent of mothers were the breadwinners in their homes; in 2013, 40 percent held that title. With 63 percent of female high school graduates now enrolling in college -– compared to 61 percent of male grads -– women are doing just fine as their own heroes.

Yet kids start hearing the opposite message very young. Baby girls are labeled as a “Future Bride” on their onesies, while their male counterparts declare, “Parental Advisory: Lock Up Your Daughters.”

“A person has an identity beyond their marital status, and we are defining girls as having their goal be their marital status. That is a problem,” Orenstein said.

In 2011, JCPenney pulled from its shelves a shirt that read, “I’m too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me,” after protests on the Internet. Again, the message was apparent: Being smart and being pretty are mutually exclusive, but being pretty is more important if you’re a girl. Also, boys do better on their homework.

The latter concept is not just insulting to girls. Perpetuating the idea that boys are inherently more competent — especially in subjects like science and math — has effects far beyond hurt feelings.

A 2012 study from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Sun Yat-sen University researchers found that believing you possess innate qualities that make you good (or bad) at something affects how you perform that task. In other words, telling girls that they are bad at math increases the chances that they will perform poorly on math puzzles.

There’s no denying that girls draw away from science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) as they grow up. Studies show that girls and boys don’t differ significantly in their math and science abilities during their early schooling, but that big gaps develop in their expressed interest in those subjects and their confidence in their ability to perform well. In college, less than 20 percent of female undergraduates earn degrees in STEM fields. And once in the workforce, only a quarter of STEM positions are occupied by women.

Orenstein sees in such statistics the ruinous influence of gender stereotypes on vulnerable minds. A Forever 21 shirt from 2011 that declared, “Allergic to algebra,” is just one of the culprits.

Society’s message that being attractive is better than being smart can be highly detrimental to young girls, according to Rebecca Bigler, professor of psychology and women’s and gender studies at the University of Texas at Austin, who has studied the internalized sexualization of girls ages 10-15. She found that girls who believe being sexually attractive is an important part of their identity have less academic success and less motivation to succeed in school.

Speaking to HuffPost, Bigler cited earlier studies that also found those girls to have lower self-esteem and fewer peer relations.

For their research, Bigler and her colleagues first tested girls to find out where they fell on an internalized sexualization scale: Girls who indicated, for example, that they preferred to wear sexy clothing scored higher; girls who preferred modest clothing scored lower. Then, the researchers had the girls prepare to shoot a newscast on which they were told they would be evaluated. The girls were secretly filmed as they got ready for their segments. The group who had scored high on internalized sexualization spent more time putting on makeup and less time reading the script than the group who had scored low.

“That suggests to me there are real consequences to internalizing the idea that our appearance is what’s important. There are real consequences for academic performance,” Bigler said.

Wade made a similar point about the impact of labeling girls as pretty — on shirts or otherwise.

“Young girls do learn that what they look like is very, very important and that does have impact in what they value and what kind of decisions they make and who they think they are,” she said, adding, “Little girls are constantly told how pretty they are, and they learn very quickly that being pretty is important.”

Boys are picking up cues from these T-shirts too, said Wade. They’re learning that “they should expect women to defer — to defer to their authorities, their careers, their aspirations.”

Gendered clothing teaches boys that they’re supposed to be tough, strong and smart like their dads, while girls are reduced to glitter-loving princesses who are pretty like their moms. Compare those two sets of traits, and you can see why boys might conclude that girls are lesser, Orenstein said. That’s why doing something “like a girl” is the classic insult that little boys hurl at each other.

“Because ‘girl’ means secondary, ‘girl’ means physically unskilled, ‘girl’ means weak,” said Orenstein.

The result? Boys begin distancing themselves from girls and “girl” behavior at a young age, which affects how they treat women later in life. A 2013 study from Arizona State University found that boys and girls growing up “separately” from each other have a “lack of understanding” about the other gender that can carry into male-female relationships in adulthood.

What should parents do with this information?

“Don’t walk through the aisles of Target,” Orenstein suggested sarcastically.

What can help, she said, is to give young girls a better framework for analyzing what they see.

“I’m always up for asking questions like, ‘Gosh, I wonder why the boys have a shirt that says Batman and the girls have a shirt that says Batman’s wife? That’s funny, isn’t it? I wonder why all the dolls have giant lips and huge breasts,’ or whatever. Asking wondering questions with little kids is very effective,” said Orenstein.

Teaching children to be critical thinkers about media, pop culture and what’s for sale in the marketplace is what Orenstein calls the biggest challenge for the current generation of parents.

Adamick, too, sees his shopping trips with his daughter as conversation starters. After she was unable to find the Superman shirt in the girls’ section –- as her dad suspected would happen -– the two talked about society’s ideas of what kids are supposed to be like.

He’s hopeful that today’s children will have the power to make changes. “Kids are raised with this discussion that all men and all women are equal. … I think we are onto something good here,” Adamick said.

As for his daughter, she walked out of the store with a brand-new Minecraft shirt and the next day reveled in the compliments she received for it at school.

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The HuffPost/YouGov poll was conducted Oct. 14-15 among 1,000 U.S. adults using a sample selected from YouGov’s opt-in online panel to match the demographics and other characteristics of the adult U.S. population. Factors considered include age, race, gender, education, employment, income, marital status, number of children, voter registration, time and location of Internet access, interest in politics, religion and church attendance.

The Huffington Post has teamed up with YouGov to conduct daily opinion polls. You can learn more about this project and take part in YouGov’s nationally representative opinion polling. Data from all HuffPost/YouGov polls can be found here. More details on the poll’s methodology are available here.

Former Democratic Staffer Donny Ray Williams Pleads Guilty To Sexual Assault

A former Democratic staffer plead guilty on Tuesday to sexually assaulting two colleagues in 2010, the Washington Post reported.

Donny Ray Williams, Jr., a former staff director for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs subcommittee, was originally indicted in 2012 on 10 counts of sexual assault for allegedly assaulting two women after spiking their drinks. At the time, Williams called the allegations “absolutely and completely false.”

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Prosecutors say that on July 22, 2010, Williams invited a female congressional colleague to his Capitol Hill apartment and promised to introduce her to Senate employees. At the house, prosecutors said, Williams spiked a drink with Ambien. The woman, according to court documents, fell into a “deep sleep,” at which point Williams raped her.

A month later, prosecutors said, Williams invited another woman to his home and gave her alcoholic beverages. They said he had sexual contact with her when she was too intoxicated to give her consent.

In a plea deal reached Tuesday, Williams agreed to plead guilty to only four charges: third degree sexual abuse, two misdemeanor charges of sexual abuse, and one charge of threats to do bodily harm, per Roll Call.

Prosecutors said that they would seek a “suspended prison term and five years of supervised probation. Williams also would have to register as a sex offender for 10 years.”

The former aide is scheduled to appear in D.C. Superior Court for a March 6 sentencing hearing.

Williams began his career on the Hill in 1999 and worked for several Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Herb Kohl (Wis.), Mary Landrieu (La.), Reps. Elijah Cummings (Md.), and Jan Schakowsky (Ill.).

Pictures Of Selena Gomez Through The Years

Selena Gomez has created such a huge name for herself as a singer, big-screen actress, and style star that it’s easy to forget that she got her start on the Disney Channel, playing the lead role of Alex Russo on “Wizards of Waverly Place” from 2008 to 2012.

Artist David Catá Sows Real Plants Into The Palm Of His Hand

Artist David Catá, like many a contemporary artist, employs his body as an artistic medium. Catá, however, falls into a far smaller category of artists who transform their physical person into a mobile garden. For his series “Raíces aladas,” which translates to “Winged roots,” Catá sows real plants in the palm of his hand, allowing new life to sprout and blossom from the cracks and crevices of his own flesh.

“This particular project was developed right after deciding to move to Berlin, after several years living in Viveiro, my small hometown in Galicia, Spain,” Catá explained in an email to The Huffington Post Arts. “This determination was an important step in my life, seeing myself forced to leave many things behind to start a new life in an unknown place with new people and a completely different language. I felt like my feet slowly lifted off the ground, leaving their estate to begin flying.”

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This move inspired Catá to meditate on fractured narratives and new beginnings, as his life transformed completely before his eyes. His “Winged roots” series explores how one can take flight into unexplored territory when rooted somewhere else. “These performances, which I document through photography and video, allow me to think about memories, forgetfulness and how people who surround us leave a mark, as their lives become part of ours.”

A superficial pocket has been peeled away from the epidermis, soil inserted, and vegetation tucked within,” designboom recounted, “transforming the human hand into a source of life for the natural growth.”

The series was also ignited in part by the poem “Raíces y alas” by Juan Andrés Zúñiga, which, according to the artist, “forms a metaphor between the shedding of the skin and the organic process of a seed becoming a plant.” Catá’s visual interpretation of Zúñiga’s words makes this shedding of skin more visceral than ever. In Catá’s words, his is a project “that speaks of comings and goings, traveling and new adventures, leaving home behind, discarding [one’s] own roots to start a new life.”

Surprisingly, this is hardly the first time Catá has inserted art in the palm of his hand. Cata began working with his body as a canvas while studying for his Master’s Degree of Conceptual Photography at Escuela de Fotografía y Centro de Imagen (EFTI) in Madrid. For his palm portrait series, “Overexposed Emotions,” he superficially stitched the faces of family and friends into his skin, pulling the threads away to reveal the faint scars such an exercise leaves behind. You can see more on that series here.