Marie Claire

For years, pop culture hyped "hooking up" as fun, easy and largely without consequences. Teens and young adults bought into the hype, much to the chagrin of educators and parents, but some young women who experienced the consequences of these casual sexual encounters are now rejecting the "hook up" culture. 

CNN took notice of the changing behavior among college women - and some pop stars like Lady Gaga - in an April 19 article and attributed the shift to "the emotional devastation of many college students, particularly girls whose hearts are broken by the hook up scene."

"Hooking up" refers to anything from kissing to sexual intercourse with a stranger, an acquaintance or a friend. No matter what the activities or with whom, a lack of commitment is the defining trademark of a hook up. Studies have shown that 75 percent of women have "hooked up" with another person while in college. As CNN noted, "the number is usually higher for men."

Did the photo editors of Marie Claire and Maxim switch places for a day?

It sure seems that way, considering the picture of a lip-locked Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page that accompanied their joint, profanity-laced interview in the October issue of Marie Claire. [Photo after the jump.]

Conducted by writer Jessica Henderson, Page and Barrymore promoted their new movie, "Whip It," and attempted to blur the lines of friendship and girl-on-girl romance in the interview.

While Elle magazine hyped Miley Cyrus' entrée into womanhood with another sexualized photo shoot, Marie Claire's current issue gave a nod to a promising trend among tween and teen girls: modest fashion.

Writer Amanda Robb detailed the efforts of the faith-based Pure Fashion program, a program she labeled "Barbizon Modeling Schools for Sandra Dee types." According to the Pure Fashion Web site, it seeks to "help young girls develop into young ladies." Pure Fashion consists of seven monthly training sessions and concludes with a fashion show that highlights modest clothing.

Of the program as a whole, Robb conceded, "In the era of sexting and ‘Gossip Girl'-esque man-eating, there's something intriguing about Pure Fashion, which teaches its young charges that self-esteem isn't measured in terms of inches above the knee."

But fashion magazines lean liberal, and Robb tempered her praise of the program with an obligatory and brainless dig at the idea of Christian modesty: "Faith-based efforts to promote primness can be worrisome; one need only look to Tehran, Kabul and Jerusalem to find the disturbing phenomenon of ‘modesty police.'"

Did you know that if you have a negative view of Michelle Obama, it's all Fox News's fault?

Such seems to be the opinion of Barack Obama who told the magazine Marie Claire, "I think that if you've been watching Fox News then probably she's misunderstood, because I do think there's been a fairly systematic attempt by the conservative press to paint her in a completely false way."

Fox News's Greta Van Susteren heard about this statement by Obama, and took issue with it during an interview she did Monday with the magazine's editor (video embedded right, h/t NBer Thomas Stewart):

In Spring of 2007, magazines such as Vanity Fair and Elle offered readers ways to "green" their lives and help the environment. Now, the April issue of Glamour brings readers another "57 Little Ways to Save the Planet."

Announcing "Mother Earth needs our help," the article begins by accusing "we use too much fuel (which causes pollution), chop down too many trees, conserve too little water; toss too much waste into landfills."

Glamour tells readers it has consulted its "panel of experts" and come up with the best small ways to fight "these major problems." Of course, Glamour's "panel of experts" is comprised mostly of members of radical left-wing environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Mirror, mirror on the wall. Who's got the lowest carbon footprint of them all? The "eco-conscious" one, says Marie Claire magazine.

An "urban hipster," a "mountain maven" and a "globe-trotter" competed to see who "[was] earth-friendly and whose carbon footprint [was] to blame for drowning polar bears and worse" in the September 2007 issue of Marie Claire.

The article, entitled, "Whose Carbon Footprint is the Smallest," found that globe-trotter "Josie," who "considers herself more eco-conscious than most people," had the largest carbon footprint.

 When Marie Claire magazine isn't busy making women feel like they are too old or too fat, they are telling women who drive SUVs they'll be heading to "carbon emissions hell."

The September 2007 issue of Marie Claire features a sidebar in their "McBulletin" section entitled "Highway to Heaven."

"Consult our quick guide to fuel-efficient cars, then cruise through the tollbooth at the pearly green gates," the tag line explained, nestled between a scale of "good" and "evil" signs.

According to the piece, if you drive a Toyota Prius Hybrid or a Honda Civic Hybrid, you are pious and your reward is "Dinner in heaven with Leonardo DiCaprio."