#ThrowbackThursday

#ThrowbackThursday: Chinese One-Child Policy Propaganda Poster, 1986

Chinese One-Child Policy poster (The Galloping Beaver)

As of Jan. 1, China’s one-child policy is officially history. Married couples are now allowed to have up to two children for the first time since 1979.

I’ve always thought propaganda posters were interesting, and here’s a great one for the one-child policy. It’s from 1986, and titled, “Carry out family planning, implement the basic national policy.” The image carries that can-do attitude made popular by Rosie the Riveter, and it’s easy to get swept up in the sentiment. Not to mention, the overall poster design’s pretty great too.

#ThrowbackThursday: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, “I Love Lucy”

Ricky (Desi Arnaz) and Lucy Ricardo (Lucille Ball) in ‘I Love Lucy’ (Bestwalle)

“I Love Lucy” premiered on Oct. 15, 1951 and ran for almost six years. The iconic series followed Lucy (Lucille Ball) as she got into lovable scrapes and exasperated her husband Ricky (Desi Arnaz). Arnaz frequently played the straight man to heighten Ball’s screwball antics.

The show broke a barrier in a notable way: It was the first to feature an interracial couple, since Ball was white and Arnaz was Cuban. CBS initially was hesitant to cast them together, since they didn’t think America would believe that a white woman would marry a Hispanic man. But Ball put her foot down, and she and Arnaz created one of the most beloved couples in sitcom history.

#ThrowbackThursday: Paid Maternity Leave Around the World

Paid Maternity Leave Around the World (Blogspot)

Yeah, this is a #TBT, but it’s relevant to today. In fact, it’s still happening today. The United States is one of the few countries left in the world that doesn’t pay for maternity leave. Crazy, right?!

This map just lays it out. I hope the U.S. comes to its senses soon, and enacts paid maternity leave for all new (and reoccurring) mothers.

#ThrowbackThursday: TLC at the MTV VMAs, 1995

TLC at the 1995 MTV VMAs (NY Daily News)

In 1995 (twenty years ago!), pop sensation TLC won the Video of the Year Award at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs). This was pretty special for a couple of reasons: Not only were T-Boz, Left Eye, and Chili the first all-women group to win the award, they were also the first women of color to do so.

They’re still the only all women-of-color group to win the coveted award. (The next closest group was the “Lady Marmalade” quintet from 2001, whose three out of five members were women of color.)

When the Video of the Year nominations came out earlier this year, star rapper Nicki Minaj rightly called out the nominations for their lack of diversity. (Beyoncé was the only woman of color nominated this year, up for her “7/11” video.) Let’s hope the music industry heeds her call, and ups the diversity quotient in the future. It’s absurd that it’s two decades from TLC’s historic win, and we still have to have this conversation.

#ThrowbackThursday: Planned Parenthood’s Site Outage, 2015

Planned Parenthood site outage (Planned Parenthood)

Today, I’m throwing it all the way back to…yesterday. But for good reason: Planned Parenthood kept its site offline yesterday to a cyberattack. And it’s actually the second cyberattack within four days for them. What a week!

This is important because Planned Parenthood is a trusted resource for people to get access to reproductive healthcare, especially those who might otherwise go without it. It’s very scary that anti-abortion extremists are targeting the site, and that our very rights are under attack. I just hope that the real “social justice warriors” are coming out in full force for this fight.

#ThrowbackThursday: Lauren Anderson in the Houston Ballet’s “Don Quixote,” 2006

Lauren Anderson, with Carlos Acosta, in Houston Ballet’s ‘Don-Quixote’ (DanseTrack)

Misty Copeland may be the most recognizable Black almost-principal ballet dancer right now. But she’s not the first.

Lauren Anderson danced with the Houston Ballet from 1983 until her retirement in 2006. Born and bred in Houston, she began training at the company’s Ben Stevenson Academy (named for the company’s artistic director, now emeritus) before joining the company itself.

In 1990, Anderson was named principal dancer. She was the Black woman to achieve the rank within the Houston Ballet, but also became one of the most visible Black classical ballet principal dancers within a major company.

The above photo shows Anderson dancing with Carlos Acosta in the Houston Ballet’s 2006 production of “Don Quixote.”

#ThrowbackThursday: Luise Ranier in “The Good Earth,” 1937

Luise Ranier, ‘The Good Earth’ (Rotten Tomatoes)

In 1937, actress Luise Ranier starred in a film adaptation of Pearl S. Buck’s novel “The Good Earth.” The plot centers on the rise and fall of a Chinese family’s fortunes. Ranier played O-Lan, the family matriarch.

Ranier, who was born and spent her childhood in Germany, was Caucasian.

She became one of the first instances of Hollywood’s whitewashing: casting a white actor in a non-white role. Thus began the film industry’s troubled history with diversity on screen. But I guess it worked out for Ranier: she won an Oscar for Best Actress.

#ThrowbackThursday: Angelina Jolie and Jenny Shimizu, 1996

Angelina Jolie and Jenny Shimizu (The Daily Mail UK)

Long before she become a well-known humanitarian with perfect bone structure and Mrs. Brad Pitt, Oscar-winning actress Angelina Jolie was kind of a wild child. But before wearing Billy Bob Thornton’s blood in a vial around her neck, she did something that (rightfully) now seems like no big deal.

Jolie began dating actress/model Jenny Shimizu on the set of their 1996 film “Foxfire.” Jolie claims that she fell in love with Shimizu “the first second [she] saw her,” and would’ve married Shimizu if she wasn’t already married to actor Jonny Lee Miller.

Reports put the definitive end of the relationship around 2005 (coincidentally the same year she starred in “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” opposite Pitt), but imagine an alternate universe where Jolie and Shimizu are the ultimate Hollywood bisexual power couple. Intriguing, right? Too bad it’ll only happen in our minds.

#ThrowbackThursday: Ultrasound, 1963

Ultrasound, 1963 (University of Cambridge)

The first obstetric ultrasound was developed in 1956 in Scotland by Ian Donald and Tom Brown, using a prototype based off detecting flaws in industrial ships. It began to be used regularly within the country, and later spread to the U.K. and America in the 1970s.

Ultrasounds use ultrasonic waves to determine features of the fetus. Early on, this couldn’t be done, as the technology wasn’t nearly as advanced. It’s fascinating to see how it’s caught up.

#ThrowbackThursday: “Don’t Look Now,” 1973

‘Don’t Look Now’ sex scene, 1973 (Film Strategy)

Last week, “The Hollywood Reporter” reported that StudioCanal is remaking “Don’t Look Now,” the 1973 occult thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie. The movie follows a married couple (Sutherland and Christie) as they travel to Venice and meet with clairvoyants to try and connect with their recently deceased daughter.

The film immediately became notorious for an explicit sex scene between Sutherland and Christie. Debates exists today as to whether the actors actually had sex during the scene. But it did blaze the way for female pleasure: It’s one of the first depictions of cunnilingus on film.

“Don’t Look Now” received an R rating in the U.S. and an X rating in Britain.

Sex & Stats: Where Numbers Come to Bang

Statistics. Economics. Sex.