Snow White Doesn't Live Here Anymore

Laughter, Pleasure, Malice, and the Pursuit of Adult Fun

Gina Barreca, Ph.D. is Professor of English at UConn, and author of It's Not That I'm Bitter: How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World. See full bio

October 9, 2009

My Father's Impatience

During my father's illness I learned that the noun "patient" and the adjective "patient" are --no surprise -- not merely etymologically bred from the same root (the Latin present participle pati, to suffer): they also hold within them the seeds of what's necessary when dealing with death.

When someone you love is a patient, meaning that he is suffering, enduring pain, indignity, and helplessness, the only thing that you can do is find patience in yourself. Read More

October 5, 2009

Get Your Grabby Hands Off My Free Gift

Just picture a man going to a hardware store and buying drill bits. Attached to the main set of drill bits is a small set of "extra" drill bits, maybe with a bow, and a card suggesting the purchaser experience the pleasure of friendship and the warmth of sharing by "gifting" the drill bits to a pal.

Most guys would choose a term other than "gifting" to say what they'd like to do to the manufacturer.

September 28, 2009

REVENGE is SWEET!!!

“I felt like a fairy tale character in a state of suspended animation who suddenly realizes that the clocks in the kingdom are working again.” Read More

September 21, 2009

“’Will This Shroud Make Me Look Fat?'”

What are some last lines you'd bet have NEVER been uttered on a deathbed? Here are my suggestions, and I'd like to hear yours:

1. I'm really, really sorry I had all that passionate sex when I was young and beautiful.

2.  Why didn't I ever learn how to floss properly?

3. I wish there had been many more opportunities to watch Pimp My Ride.

4. If only I'd carefully read every issue of SHAPE Magazine....

5. Why, oh why, didn't I organize my closet according to color and texture of garment? Read More

September 12, 2009

Being Bad and Singing Worse

I'm going to play fabulously tacky music in my car and sing along even--no, let's change that--especially when the windows are open. I'm going to sing my heart out to "Society's Child" by Janis Ian; I'm going to croon along with "Better Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes; and I'm going to shout, off-key, every line to every song by Bonnie Tyler. Yes, it's time for me to belt out my version of Laura Brannigan's "Gloria." Let the rest of the world stick its fingers in its ears; I've kept quiet long enough. Read More

September 9, 2009

Defining Madness: Examining Agnes's Jacket and Alias Grace

Some recipients of mainstream psychiatric treatment are rebelling against the idea that a person is primarily and essentially defined by his or her illness; as Hornstein says, "A person can have arthritis but you are depressed. You can have diabetes, but you are bipolar." Read More

September 2, 2009

She-Wolf, Schmee-Wolf: She's Still Dancing Naked in a Cage

The hot new video that my students are showing me features a sexy undulating woman in a cage. She is wearing a flesh-colored body stocking; it looks as if she's naked, except for the black leather belt and requisite black high heels. In this video, particularly during the cage sequence, there is a lot of dyed-blonde hair-flipping. In addition there is panting and growling. Fifty years of the women's movement, and this is what we've got: a girl on her belly in a cage in a sort of "Girls Gone Wild" meets "Animal Planet" scenario. I'm so proud. Read More

August 25, 2009

In Three Lines Only, Describe the Perfect Man...

Bad boy
Sweet inside
Unconditional love
Strong eager
Fixer-upper
Quick learner
He has
Eyes for
Only me Read More

August 21, 2009

Bad Skin and Emotional Scars

A beautiful face is la creme de la creme -- it is at once the most essential and it is the most valued element of loveliness. You can, after all, get a body double; there is no face double to be used for the closeups. You are your face. And when you hate your face, it's a pretty short step to hating yourself.

August 16, 2009

Men, TLC, Love, and '57 Chevys

I'm not claiming that men are incapable of deep emotions--please don't misunderstand--but I honestly do know men who can remember the year of an important event in their lives only by remembering what car they were driving when this event occurred. For example, I ask my friend Joe how long he's been living in Madison. Joe, an otherwise bright individual, muses "Let's see. . .I was driving the robin's egg blue VW wagon. . .18 years." Read More

Books by Regina Barreca, Ph.D.

It's Not That I'm Bitter . . .: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying About Visible Panty Lines and Conquered the World

I'm with Stupid: One Man. One Woman. 10,000 Years of Misunderstanding Between the Sexes Cleared Right Up

Babes in Boyland: A Personal History of Co-Education in the Ivy League

Don't Tell Mama!: The Penguin Book of Italian American Writing

Personality Basics

Questions of personality have vexed mankind from the dawn of personhood: can people change? How do others perceive me? What is the difference between normal and pathological behavior? One's personality is so pervasive and all-important that it presents a clinical paradox of sorts: it is hard to assess our own personality, impossible to overlook that of others.

Go to the Personality Basics page for more on Personality including:

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Books by Regina Barreca, Ph.D.

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