Halle Berry Says Women Should ‘Be Prepared’ with Fabulous Lingerie

According to Halle Berry, who is hawking a new lingerie line at Target, women need to be prepared “in that area” because you never know who’s going to see it.

Style.com reports that Berry told reporters at a preview of her new Scandale lingerie line,

I have some friends—who will remain nameless—that wear the same janky bras for, like, five years straight. As Americans, we can go there, but what I learned about the Frenchwomen is that they’re always updating their lingerie. … They’re not going to get caught in the emergency room not prepared. If they have to cut their clothes off, they’re going to be fabulous under there.

Lingerie marketing schemes aside, Halle (I can call her by her first name because we went to high school together and I put shaving cream in her hair during band camp hazing initiation) does have a really good point. While I wish that I could have the freedom that men enjoy — I guarantee you that my husband has spent zero time in the last decade thinking about how ER personnel might be judging him on his undergarment choices — the truth is that because of science (having something to do with the Y chromosome, I think) I am forced to think about what would happen if someone had to cut my clothes off in the emergency room. (In fact, that did happen to me when I broke my leg skiing in the 9th grade and it is every bit as mortifying as you might imagine.)

Last week I was telling a friend about my son’s wedding in September, sharing the events of the morning of The Big Day as we all got ready for the afternoon ceremony. I didn’t realize how early we were going to get our hair done in the morning and as a result, I didn’t end up getting a shower before we all headed out to the beauty shop. So I had to settle for schlepping together a sponge bath and shaving my legs in the bathroom sink before slipping into my formal gown, a memory which, as I’m sitting here more than a month later, still horrifies me.

And it’s no better when it’s not a formal occasion. Last night, my husband had a late meeting, so I decided to run out and grab some carry-out food. Before heading out, I changed my clothes, put on some eyeliner and put lipstick on –as if the fast food workers were going to notice!

Honestly, I wish I could be free from this vanity and narcissism. I have friends who don’t give a hoot about how they look when they leave the house and they own it. Beauty is on the inside, they say, daring people to reject them for the way they look. They seem happy.

The problem is, of course, that our culture screams at women constantly that we must look a certain way, dress a certain way, wear this makeup, weigh this much.

People judge us, we judge others, we judge ourselves. Are we doing it mostly for ourselves — because we’re narcissists — or to impress others? I wrestle with that sometimes.

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AOL.com Article – Fla. House race about partisanship … and lingerie

PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Republicans who flipped a Democratic seat in Congress during the 2010 tea party movement could now lose it in part because of a snarky comment about a lingerie party.

Yes, lingerie.

That’s because of the way U.S. Rep. Steve Southerland defended an all-male fundraiser that encouraged donors to “tell the Misses (sic) not to wait up” as the men joined in a time-honored tradition of talking policy and politics without women in the room. After Democrat Gwen Graham, the daughter of former Gov. and U.S. Sen. Bob Graham, took issue with the way the invitation was worded, Southerland asked a Tampa Bay Times reporter: “Has Gwen Graham ever been to a lingerie shower? Ask her. And how many men were there?”

The race for Florida’s 2nd Congressional District is focused on the partisanship in Washington, and it’s one of the few places where Democrats have a chance of beating a Republican incumbent. Graham, a 51-year-old lawyer who has worked for Tallahassee public schools, says that Congress is broken and that Southerland is part of the problem. Southerland says Graham would just be another vote for House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Regardless of who wins, Republicans are expected to maintain control of the House.

The race in a district where the candidates have attended a worm gruntin’ festival – an event that honors the art of attracting earthworms from the ground – and shaken opossums by the tail has at times been ugly. Graham has attacked Southerland for claiming in an ad that he supported the Violence Against Women Act when he actually voted against the final version that became law.

And Southerland has criticized Graham, saying she was hand-picked by Pelosi and is a former Washington lobbyist, a claim that isn’t true.

Southerland, 49, of Panama City, also says Graham is running on her father’s fame.

“She’s royalty in politics. She was groomed for this. This is the Graham way. Bob Graham is everywhere she goes,” Southerland said. “I can’t imagine the pressure to win and how disappointing and humiliating it will be when they lose. I imagine she’s walking the floor at night and not sleeping so well.”

Graham said Southerland’s claim is insulting.

“If I was my dad’s son, he wouldn’t be saying the same thing,” she said. “I would never, ever ask people to support me and vote for me unless I knew that I had the skill sets to serve them well. What I have learned from my father is be informed, don’t be partisan and work together with others to make the right decisions.”

It’s clear, though, that Southerland has had to defend himself on women’s issues. After the all-male fundraiser and lingerie comment, he held a women for Southerland rally in Panama City Beach. For nearly an hour, six women, including Republican U.S. Reps. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Martha Roby of Alabama, took turns addressing a crowd of about 150 people and defending Southerland.

Southerland ended the event by singing “Stand By Me” to the crowd.

“It’s not an issue with the women in our district. It’s an issue for Gwen,” Southerland said afterward. “They’ve got to have a diversion from the real issues that face the American people. I wouldn’t want to have the record of the D.C. Democrats to run on, either.”

Graham, though, is quick to point out both parties are to blame for the gridlock in Washington. And she says Southerland’s campaign tactics reflect the partisan divide.

“This is what we need to change. The fact that either party feels that they need to dehumanize one another and be negative about one another is wrong, and people are so tired of it,” she said. “People want to get back to a point where you feel OK about caring about one another regardless of what party you’re in.”

And yes, Graham also answered Southerland’s questions. She has been to a lingerie shower. Once, when she was 21. And there were men there. The fact Southerland would even ask is a statement about his judgment, Graham said.

“The comparison is an offensive comparison because what his invitation indicated was that men get together and talk policy, and his response was that women get together and talk underwear,” Graham said. “I’ll let that speak for itself.”

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