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One year in middle school, I remember that it suddenly became really cool to wear panties with words on them. You know, a brand name (Victoria’s Secret PINK or American Eagle, of course), or a cutesy little slogan. Bonus points if it was a thong that you were hiding from your mom. It was also very cool in my middle school to wear a skirt on top of pants, just to give you an idea of what I was working with here.

At some point, I decided that it was definitely not cool to wear “statement panties.” And that if a guy took off my pants and my underwear had a cheesy slogan on them it would be kind of embarrassing. But judging by the number of statement panties available online, lots of women must still wear them. So I put the question to you, CC readers. Statement panties: hot or not? Here are a few examples to help you decide.

It’s time to pour out your plastic surgery piggy banks ladies because scientists say a better bra is all you need.

Scientists from Manchester University have finally proven what Stacey and Clinton taught me years ago—there is a connection between what you wear and how you feel. In a video study of 60 women aged 20 to 55, the women were filmed wearing push up bras and then their own, everyday bras.

The researchers monitored three behaviors that indicate confidence. When giving their girls an extra lift, women smiled at least 73 percent more, avoided eye contact less, and also touched their face less. The study showed that the participants acted more confident with more cleavage.

Gossard, a lingerie company, independently commissioned the study, for the launch of it’s latest boosting bra. The companies head designer said, “It just shows that you don’t have to go under the knife to achieve confidence-boosting killer cleavage.”

So there you have it. For the cost of one operation you could buy a life’s supply of cleavage boosting bras. If you’re worried some guy will complain when you take it off, I fully encourage using said bra to slingshot water balloons, tomatoes, or some other soft object at his head.

I’m going to give you a clue for anyone who’s ever wondered what my secret identity really is: I’m not Josh Hartnett. I’m not even a fan of his, but I am a fan of 40 Days/40 Nights and since Ash Wednesday was oh, so, recent, I felt inspired to re-watch that rom-com romp. In case you’ve never seen it, it’s about a heartbroken Hartnett who is socially and emotionally crippled from being dumped by his long-term girlfriend that he takes a vow: no sexual gratification for Lent and thus freeing himself from her…influence? I don’t know, the logic takes some selling, I’m sure Sarah Palin could make sense of it. Being as this is the season of Lent, when good Catholic boys and girls are sacrificing one of their favorite luxuries for 40 days, I started to wonder, how productive an idea is this for the 21st century? I’m all for penance, don’t get me wrong, love me some BDSM, but while you can give up certain things, are their ones that you shouldn’t give up? I mean, Josh Hartnett becomes unable to work, have friendships, or eat pancakes. Is that healthy? Isn’t that going a bit too far? So, after some extensive research, I’ve come up with a list of 11 things that women should not give up for Lent, for the good of mankind.

initiating the gallery...

There you have it, ladies. 11 things you shouldn’t sacrifice for Lent. Some of these might be shocking. Some of these might be bewildering. But that’s the way it goes sometimes. What did I miss? What couldn’t you live without for 40 days and 40 nights? Before you even ask in the comments, don’t worry, this is just part one. Next time, we’re going to tackle the boys…figuratively speaking.

Fire in the hole!

The Dude

When I was a kid, my friends and I would make jokes about Victoria’s Secret: the bra cups are infused with chemicals that will permanently make your boobs bigger, any male who buys gifts there actually gets an amazing discount, the mysterious “Victoria” is actually a man who is selling his personal lingerie collection.

Well, earlier this week, Victoria’s Secret finally got out. It’s not pretty, it has nothing to do with being sexy, and it’s not even the least bit funny.

On Wednesday, Bloomberg Markets Magazine released an investigative report linking the lingerie company to child labor practices in West Africa: Victoria’s Secret manufactures its cotton underwear in Sri Lanka, using textiles made in factories in India; a portion of those fabrics use cotton picked in the country of Burkina Faso, a landlocked country that was supposed to produce organic, fair trade cotton. Victoria’s Secret originally entered into the production deal in 2007 with the goal of ”improving the lives of some of the world’s poorest women and children through the responsible sourcing of cotton,” yet was unknowingly exploiting children and endorsing the practices they aimed to fight.

The article follows Clarisse, a 13-year-old child laborer who was pulled out of school to work in cotton fields, doing everything from carving plots that span the size of four football fields to fighting away harmful bugs usually controlled by inorganic pesticides, all while barefoot and susceptible to 100-degree heat during the summer planting season. And what happens if Clarisse gets tired and slows down? Let the farmer himself share his genius technique: “I sometimes beat her…This is when I give her work and she doesn’t deliver.”

The parent company Limited Brands released a statement:

“If this allegation is true, it describes behavior that is contrary to our company’s values and the code of labor and sourcing standards that we require all of our suppliers to meet,” the statement said. “These standards expressly prohibit child labor.” CNN reported that the company claimed to have immediately “began working with key stakeholders internally and externally to fully investigate this matter…we are prepared to take swift action to prevent the illegal use of child labor in the fields where we source Fairtrade-certified organic cotton in Burkina Faso.”

Though the news is shocking to those at VS headquarters, the practices are nothing new to farmers and regulators in Burkina Faso. The U.S. Labor Department has repeatedly cited the country for the worst forms of child labor, while the State Department has done the same regarding child trafficking to conventional cotton fields there. Somehow, this flew under the radar; even Fairtrade International, the world’s largest group of its kind, certified that Burkina Faso’s organic crop met its standards.

Some people are saying that though not all of VS’ cotton supply comes from Burkina Faso, the company should be boycotted; Victoria’s Secret should’ve been more aware of their own contracted labor practices, even if fair trade officials weren’t. However, others argue that it’s just another part of American consumerism that we customers blindly support.

For example, if you wear jeans, use eye shadow, or own a pair of gold earrings, you have at least 8.3 slaves working for you — according to Slavery Footprint, a new online campaign launched in collaboration with the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, created to raise awareness of modern day slavery. Here’s another not-so-fun fact: there are more slaves in the world today – an estimated 27 million people – than at any other time in history.

After taking the interactive, online lifestyle survey, it’s clear that it isn’t just our overpriced cotton underwear that’s supporting modern day slavery: it’s everything. Daily essentials like cars and coffee, college staples like smartphones and laptops. Oranges, cocktail shrimp, mascara and mouthwash, the list goes on.

Find out your Slavery Footprint now — college students can enter the Slavery Footprint Campus Challenge for a chance to win a trip for two to the 2012 mtvU Woodie Awards!

Read the full Bloomberg article here and watch the video coverage online.

What’s your Slavery Footprint? Will you continue to shop at Victoria’s Secret? What companies are endorsing these practices, unknowingly or otherwise?

Ashley is a UC San Diego grad who is holding on way too tightly to a potential career in magazines and goes to Vegas all too often. She’s fascinated with celebrities and strawberry beer and doubles as a pathological texter/emailer/blogger. Feed the addiction with tweets @cashleelee. Thanks in advance.

I have this new philosophy. You can take it with a grain of salt…or just a dainty little tea cup filled to the brim with Earl Grey. Yep, my philosophy has to do with acting like the fabulous french women do. We all feel it. When we bounce out of college we all suddenly want to be crazy classy and successful in the dating world. For me to conquer those two goals, I need a diagram or a list. In a happy hour epiphany, a girlfriend and I were discussing dating, stressful job situations and fashion. Then…it came out:

“I want to live like french women do.”

Fine, I’ll admit it. I got the idea from a recent Cosmopolitan article, sue me. But also, please nod in approval for me finding the only semi-classy article in Cosmo. The article inspired my heart strings. French women live fabulously, non-apologetically, mysteriously, seductively….I couldn’t pull my eyes away from it and obvi I have to share it with you. So aside from never shaving our armpits and being ‘totally natural’ let us live like the french women do.

French women are all about revealing less about themselves. You don’t have to close up like a clam whenever you meet someone new or clean out your desk at work…but keep things minimal. Dispense of personal information slowly. Professionals will respect you and the men you are dating will remain inquisitive and tuned in to your life because they want to know more, more, more.

Holding back about exposing too much information in text messages, in conversation — it doesn’t swallow who you are inside. If you tend to talk a lot and send super dirty text messages to boys, I’m not about to tell you to stop. But what I find mesmerizing is how French women keep their personality more exciting by slowly revealing information, being slightly playful and a little risque.

Also, did you know French women spend an estimated 20 percent of their income on lingerie?? This blows my mind. First of all, because I usually spend an estimated 25 dollars on lingerie in the Victoria’s Secret 5 for $25 underwear bin a year. Instead of saving sexy extras for special times, I vow to spend more on totally saucy lingerie. Set aside $20 a paycheck and buy a bomb diggity bra every once and a while. (Don’t use the word bomb diggity when describing it to your man, but whatever.) When we feel completely sexified under our clothing, how much sexier will we feel on the outside? Not to mention feeling insanely confident. Ugh, I’m in.

If you think this post sounds totally superficial, that’s fine. But I think it’s empowering. In a sense, women are punished for being too sexy (AKA slutty), but look — we’ve found a way to be tantalizing and seductive without the over-the-top fishnets. All we need to do is spritz on some musky perfume, wear more sexy lingerie (our little secret) and play with an air of French-like mystery that no man can ignore.

And, of course, combine your own personality into all of that. Which in my case, may mean wearing musky perfume and a hot pink lacy bra underwear set under a huge t-shirt and man sweatpants. On my couch. On a Wednesday afternoon.

I’m working on living like a seductive French woman, OK!

This week’s WTF is brought to you on behalf of Jours Après Lunes, a French lingerie design house that has just launched a couple new lines- one for tweens (!!) and one for girls in the 3-36 month age range (!!!).

While the toddler line is pretty tame, the tween collection leaves little to the imagination. From sexed up hair and long string pearls to creepily playful poses and too much makeup (one little girl even has a fake tattoo on her back), this isn’t your standard Hanes underwear.

What eight year-old needs a fancy bra? What toddler needs to have undies “just like mom’s”? Something is seriously wrong here. Let’s get these girls some underoos, stat!

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It’s the end of the year and as you start packing up your stuff to head home for the summer, you might notice the effect the dryer has had on your undies. Yes, after a year of industrial dryers your delicates are probably looking a little frayed and a lot tattered.

What better way to refresh your spring wardrobe than with some pretty new underthings?

Underwear is an easy way to incorporate new trends into your wardrobe with minimal expense. You can add stripes and florals, and lots of colors and patterns without breaking the bank. While you might not be showing off your undies to the world, knowing you have pretty things underneath will make you feel prettier, sexier, and overall just better. (And chances are, you are showing them off to somebody, so don’t you want to put your best….ahem….’foot’ forward?)

If I’ve got you convinced that you need to refresh your collection of underwear, I’ve got 15 items to get you thinking, each more beautiful than the one before!

[Click on any item to shop!]