As you may know, sample just aired the annual Hip-Hop Honors Awards Special, and BET is set to air their own award show on Oct. 23. You may also have heard that neither has nominated a single female rapper for anything.

The absence of women from these award shows is disappointing, but hardly shocking; female emcees no longer have a high profile. Lil' Kim, Foxy Brown and Remy Ma are better known for their tabloid troubles than their music these days. Long-awaited records by Eve and Shawnna have yet to materialize, and while hip-hop groups in the '90s from Flipmode Squad to The Firm often included a token woman, crews these days are almost always no-girls-allowed boys’ clubs.

Many of the great emcees of yesteryear have gone MIA and not many new artists of any prominence have come to take their place. Still, while obvious go-to awards show favorite Missy Elliott wasn't up to much this year, she did have that single from Step Up 2: The Streets, and both Trina and Li'l Mama had relatively well-received new albums. As I've written about before, Jean Grae finally released Jeanius, and it was one of the best records of the year, period. You'd think BET could have scraped together something. And VH1's show honors artists who've made historic contributions to the genre, so they were definitely allowed to dig into the past.

This problem is way bigger than hip-hop; because we live in a racist and sexist culture, there are limited spaces for black women in pop culture across the board. It's unsurprising that the music industry is not clamoring for female rappers — hip-hop as a genre prizes aggression and a quick wit. Put these qualities together in a black woman and it's way too threatening to a white supremacist patriarchy. Black women have and will continue to push through anyway, but it's not for lack of obstacles. … continue reading

Last night’s Teen Choice Awards could have been called the More Evidence That High School Musical Is Taking Over the Universe Awards. But I guess that would be too long to fit on the trophies. While South of Nowhere lost the Choice Breakout TV show award to Heroes, fellow AfterEllen.com reader favorite Degrassi won the Choice Summer TV award. See the complete list of winners here. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll admit that I did not watch the show. I’m so far out of the teen demographic that to tune in would have been mildly creepy. However, I have no problem scanning the pictures afterward. Voyeurism, journalism — it’s a thin line. And with that, I give you my completely unprofessional, randomly snarky thoughts on the stars of the Teen Choice Awards.

Hilary Duff and Eve: Is this too much back and front for these ladies to be showing at a show for teenagers, or am I just a being a prude?

Ashley Jensen and America Ferrera: These two are causing me to have some decidedly R-rated thoughts during an entirely PG-rated show.

… continue reading

by Dorothy Snarker

The tattooed lady has been turning heads since long before Groucho Marx made Lydia the most famous one around. Before the lower back tattoo became the calling card of a generation of wannabe wild children, lesbians were rocking the ink with defiant flare. The tattoo even made No. 3 on the definitive list of Top 11 Lesbian Fashion Accessories (beaten only by the white ribbed tank top and the tie). But before we start a discourse on the geopolitical and sociological significance of tattoos on women, let's be honest with ourselves: They just look hot. Really, really hot. And on these ladies, they look even hotter.

With that, I give you my completely unscientific, but totally smoking, list of the Top 10 Tattooed Ladies.

10. Helen Mirren: The queen's got ink. The tattoo -- a small, interlaced symbol on her left hand -- is a remnant from her bad girl 20s when she "got very drunk on brandy and woke up with it the next day." I couldn't love her more.

9. Drew Barrymore: Doesn't part of you miss the old Drew? Sure, she is America's sweetheart now, but sometimes I long for the girl who would flash her tats — not to mention David Letterman — with pride.

8. Lena Headey: After Imagine Me & You made her every lesbian's favorite florist, fans were left wondering whether those tattoos were real. Turns out, yes. Yay for flower girls.

7. Eve: Placement is everything.

6. Amy Winehouse: Girl's got soul. And girl's also got naked girls tattooed onto her body. Works for me.

(Click "read more" to read the top 5.) … continue reading