Meghan McCain used to really bother me. I thought the only reason she had become a well known political commentator was because her father, John McCain, was a prominent politician. It’s obvious that she’s worked hard to brand herself as a new, young voice of the Republican party. I thought that most of her positions on issues were carefully calculated to help her achieve that image. This interview she just did with Playboy is an example of that – she has some good things to say, but she’s trying hard to seem cool and relatable.

But I’m starting to respect her quite a bit. Being very liberal myself, I disagree with Meghan McCain on many issues. But she supports marriage equality, and although she is anti-abortion, she’s very pro-birth control. Recently, she appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to speak out against the Virginia bill that would have required women seeking abortions to have a transvaginal ultrasound first. That’s an unnecessary and invasive procedure. Luckily, that part of the bill was eventually changed. But here’s what Meghan McCain had to say about it:

“I’m pro-life. I’m not pro-vaginal probing. I feel like I have to go on television and delineate between the two things. I’m horrified by the bill as a woman, as a Republican woman, I’m horrified. It scares me that this can go on, it scares me that a woman can be vaginally probed without consent or a doctor’s consent.”

And she also said this about birth control:

“I always say the best way to prevent abortions is supply birth control. I’m pro-birth control, something that alienated me with pro-lifers, but I’m not an extremist.”

I really respect her for taking that stand on women’s issues. The discussions about women’s health this election season have truly scared me. Seeing as almost every single woman I know is on birth control, I never thought we’d be debating whether or not women should be using it. But we are, and not only is it frustrating and insulting, it’s distracting from issues like the economy. So I’m glad that someone is standing up to the creepy boys’ club that the Republican party has become. And I’m especially glad that someone is a young woman.

Meghan McCain has also faced a lot of criticism about her body. Last year, Glenn Beck mimed vomiting on his TV show after watching a skin cancer PSA that McCain did. She also faced attacks from the Twitterverse after tweeting a picture of herself in a tank top. She’s handled all the controversy with class, and admitted that the criticism led her to see a therapist:

“Now I’m very sensitive to any pictures taken of myself at photoshoots and whatever because the Internet has this very weird … especially people in politics … this very weird reaction to my body because I’m not super skinny, I have large breasts, I know, they’re real, I can’t do anything about it, and like the Internet just has this really weird reaction to my body … I’ve seen a therapist about it.”

I think her openness and honesty about the media’s reaction to her body is important. It’s an unfortunate reality that women are often criticized based on their appearance in situations when it shouldn’t matter. It isn’t fair, and it can be seriously damaging. It’s a brave thing to stand up to that, and at the same time admit that it really hurt.

So I’ll be paying more attention to Meghan McCain. I’d feel a lot more comfortable about the future of our country if the Republican presidential candidates sounded more like her and less like… all of the Republican candidates.

Garnet is a student at Columbia University in New York City. She is “that person” who starts dancing at a party when everyone else is standing around, and if there were a Facebook stalking Olympics, she would be a gold medalist. She also loves cheesy 90s music, and almost died of happiness when Vanilla Ice retweeted her. Once. Follow her on Twitter @garnethenderson.

Some celebs design fashion lines. Former Playboy girlfriend Bridget Marquardt, who showed us on E!’s reality show The Girls Next Door that she’s always been a little different from the rest, has launched her own line of Halloween costumes.

It makes sense: Playboy girls are pretty much the queens of playing dress up; it’s part of their job. A few years ago, Bridget modeled a line of licensed Playboy Halloween costumes, alongside Holly and Kendra. This year, “The Queen of Halloween” partnered with Roma Costume to create Bridget by Roma, aka 18 outfits that hope to put Party City to shame.

But it’s not just your average, sexed up set of crop tops, miniskirts and animal ears (though that is in there, of course). There’s also the “Peachick” (yes, a sexy peacock), “Secretary” (which looks like a Forever 21 attempt at a business suit over a generous push-up bra) and “Fruit Cup” (watch out for when others mistake your boobs for real food—it will happen).

The best of the costume collection? “The Smoking Bachelor,” a female version of Hugh Hefner himself. We say take the costume to the next level by carrying a pack of Viagra around with you all night. You know, as a prop.

Click through all the costumes online or watch the short film below, complete with every single costume, absolutely no lines and an attempt at authentic creepiness:

With Halloween just over a week away, are Bridget’s costumes worth the rush shipping? And would it be super tacky if I reused that “Ringmaster” costume for a New Year’s Eve outfit at the club? No? Awesome.

The importance of bedding in a college dorm is pretty obvious. Considering most colleges think a jail-cell sized space is fitting for us students to sleep, drink, cry and sometimes study in (no, thank you college- you really know how to make us feel at home), bedding is one of the only ways to express your self. Unless you’re a poster-lover in which case, don’t invite me over because I don’t want to see your Phoenix poster…we get it, you and every other knitted-beanie-wearing-creative-writing-major is their number one fan…I digress.

Below are some classic college beddings, and what they really mean about the person dreaming in them!

initiating the gallery...

Frat boys rejoice, Playboy has just released its 2011 top picks for Best Party Schools in America (and Canada?)

Looking at the list, the West-Coast and Southern schools are owning everyone else in social activity, and this East-coast girl is more than disappointed. Out of ten schools, only Penn State is representing us in the league of beer-pong, keg stands and flip cup. Thank you, Happy Valley for showing up. Personally, for the school that invented State Patty’s Day, I think these kids deserve top billing, but there’s always next year.

Never to be forgotten, we have the lovely institution of Arizona State, which always makes the list thanks to their Sun Devils dedication. I think the fact that their beloved “Pitchfork” resembles “The Shocker” says all about how these kids get down. Whatever you’re into, right? Who cares if your diploma holds less value than a GED, when you’re surrounded by the best parties and a college bar town that cannot be rivaled in all of America?

But while many schools on this list make total sense (UC-Santa Barbara, obviously; being that close to the beach just isn’t fair. Anyone can make the list of best party school when you live Spring Break not one week a year, but every week, for four years!) I can’t help but wonder what the guys over at Playboy were thinking when they made their top picks. Really, how can Playboy truly judge a school’s party potential without personally taking body shots off the school President and drunk eating with some frat boys? (Sidenote: that would make a year of completely awesome hands-on research. Where can I sign up?)

I mean, how does the University of Western Ontario, which, newsflash, isn’t in America, beat out my state school? And what is it about Wisconsin that makes it more “party school” than any other state school in the country? Are they playing beer pong in Psych lecture? Ripping shots in review sessions? We party plenty hard at UMD, so I can’t imagine what these kids could be doing to get ahead in the rankings (without getting their stomachs pumped weekly).

And really, why is Playboy the party school expert, anyway? Shouldn’t they be ranking schools based on boob size and the number of potential bunnies? Or maybe they did….. That’s really the only reason I can imagine Maryland was left off the list. Again.

What do you think about Playboy’s rankings? And why does YOUR school deserve to be on the list?

So I don’t know if you ladies have heard or not, but everyone’s favorite heart-throb Hugh Hefner is settling down…again. And this time with 24-year-old Crystal Harris. PopEater tells us that two are getting closer and closer to making it official now that they’ve set a date for the big day. (Read more about that here!) And while Hugh’s ex, Holly Madison, worries about what would happen to Hugh if the two were to divorce I can’t help but wonder what will happen to Crystal if they don’t!

Think about it. Hugh is 84 years old. Crystal is 24 years old. The are 60 years apart! How could this possibly work? Crystal may be thinking of all the things (read: money) she’ll be gaining by marrying Hugh, but maybe she should stop to consider all she’ll be giving up. Marrying an 84-year-old means her life will not be like the average 24-year-old girl’s life, and here’s why.

Maybe in an attempt to make up for all the cheating and divorcing that went on this past year, half of Hollywood seemed to get engaged over the holidays. I guess they really let the Christmas spirit get to them. Either way, congrats celebs. I only hope that at least one of these couples will still be around come 2012.

Poppin’ Champage, New Years Eve VIP Style

1. Natalie Portman is knocked up. And she’s getting married! Hey, at least they’re doing this the right way. Natalie got engaged to her choreographer from Black Swan, Benjamin Millepied, over the holidays. The announcement was a total surprise to everyone since we were too busy being psychologically warped by her movie to even care about her personal life.

2. Elton John became a happy daddy. Sir Elton John and his partner David Furnish are now proud daddies to a little baby boy. He was born from a surrogate mother on Christmas Day, and his name is Zachary Jackson Levon Furnish-John. Whew, that’s a long name – but at least it’s normal-ish. This is a super cute Christmas story, so congrats guys!

3. Reese Witherspoon is also engaged. To continue with this string of new engagements are Reese Witherspoon and Jim Toth, who recently confirmed that they’re getting married. I can’t help but be jealous of Reese’s romantic life, which includes Ryan Phillippe and Jake Gyllenhaal, but I don’t know about this guy… I mean, I guess he’s kind of hot. Either way, congratulations are in order.

4. 84-year-old Hugh Hefner gets engaged… to a 24-year-old. To which I can only say… ewwww. Hugh Hefner proposed to his girlfriend, Playboy Playmate Crystal Harris, over the holidays. Hugh tweeted the news, saying, “A truly memorable Christmas Eve.” Yeah I would say so. I vommed all over my grandmother when this news forced me to picture Hugh naked.

5. Kelly Osbourne went a little bit crazy. Back to the insane celeb stories we’re a little more used to. Kelly’s boyfriend Luke Worrall, who she’s been dating for the last two years, has apparently been cheating on her – something Kelly unfortunately found out about over the holidays. Aw, sucks girl. But Kelly obviously isn’t about to let him get away with it without trying to embarrass him a little – which is exactly why she let the world know how much of a dirtbag he is through Twitter. She tweeted, “All he did was use me. All girls, beware of @Luke_worral he is a using c*nt! He used me for my money a free ride.” Everyone’s talking about how insane Kelly is but, hey, can you really blame her?

NYE Spent At Home Watching The Ball Drop

1. Amber Portwood goes to jail. I know that as a gossip blogger, I’m supposed to care about these things… but I can honestly say that I really don’t care at all about MTV’s Teen Mom OR Amber Portwood. Unfortunately, I still have to read about her. And after all of the physical and emotional abuse she laid on her baby-daddy, she definitely deserves to go to jail – and definitely does NOT deserve to see her baby girl any more.

2. Rihanna and her BF Matt Kemp supposedly split. I guess love didn’t come to everyone during the holidays – Rihanna and her cute boyfriend Matt Kemp have allegedly broken up. According to Us Weekly, neither one of them are really that upset about the split. I really wonder who she’s gonna be with next…

3. Someone named Ke$ha the worst dressed of 2010. Okay, so this isn’t really news, but I just really wanted to add it because I completely agree with it. Ke$ha’s outfits are just not okay. Ever. And I know she’s trying to be as edgy and out-there as Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj, but she’s just not. Celeb stylist Phillip Bloch tells her to call him, because “what you’re doing is just not working!” HA.

4. I know you didn’t think it could be possible, but even more celebs announced their engagement. Lily Allen and her boyfriend are going to get married, which is cute news…and then LeAnn Rimes and Eddie Cibriani also announced they’re getting married, which is just not as cute. And I say that because we all know that LeAnn totally stole Eddie right under his wife’s nose.

5. Someone wants to make a movie out of Lindsay Lohan’s life. I don’t know, this could be good, or it could be epically bad. You would think that Lindsay would be thrilled by any kind of publicity at this point, but no. Her and Dina are furious. Anyway, one screenwriter wants to take on the task of making a Lindsay Lohan biopic – and I have to say, I’d definitely buy tickets.

Um….do you wanna see Justin Bieber’s mom naked?

Get beautiful, sandal-ready feet in 4 easy steps.

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Have you tried 8 Body products yet? You should.

How to look fancy without going broke.

I love the way I look. I’m confident and generally pleased with my body in a bikini. Well, at least I am now… after my breast enhancement. That’s right, I have implants and I’m not ashamed of it.

I’ll give you a moment to get all your thoughts and comments out of the way:

“I can’t believe you succumbed to breast implants just to fill some ignorant societal notion that ‘bigger is better.’”
“Getting implants is so slutty.”
“You’re an embarrassment to women and should be ashamed for fueling the fire for women to attain an impossible body image.”

Trust me. I’ve heard it all. But maybe it’s time for you to hear my side of the story. I’m not giving you the stink eye for going all natural (or spending all your money on Victoria’s Secret’s latest push-up), so hear me out.

I never was extraordinarily flat-chested, but I couldn’t fill out my prom dress the way most girls could. I had perky ta-tas, but they never drew any attention. I was unhappy with my chest, which left me rather unhappy with myself. I envied girls with bigger chests; I often felt they were more worthy than me. And why not? The guys who were walking right past me and fawning all over them and their cleavage-y ways seemed to think so.  I even resorted to stuffing my bra a couple times; particularly embarrassing when I had bits of Kleenex poking out of my Gap tank top after gym class one day in high school. Boarding school kids show no mercy.

The point is, I wasn’t happy with my body and I wanted to do something about it. I can work out and get a flat tummy, throw some cover-up under my eyes when I’ve downed too many dirty martinis at Pure and guess what? I can go to my doctor and get him to boost my, errr, confidence.

I know the taboos and I knew all the risks going into the surgery, but I’m thrilled with my choice. I feel better about ME. It’s not about pleasing others and it doesn’t mean I’m going to run out and pose for Playboy (at least not yet) or hop onto a pole (although I am a big fan of Carmen Electra’s strip tease excercise DVDs); it was a personal choice and I feel my life has improved significantly in more ways than one because of it.

No one says anything to the girl who works out six days a week and starts eating healthy when she feels self-conscious about her weight. Same for the millions of girls who dye their hair or layer on the makeup every day. We all have our insecurities and, let’s be honest, we’d all do just about anything to fix them and make ourselves feel better.

My boobs were my insecurity and my implants make me feel better. In fact, they make me feel great.

And really, what’s so different between what I did and, say, that water bra you picked up last week?

I’m a resolution maker. I think January 1 is a great time to stop, think about the things you want to do better for yourself, and start the improvement process. And while I’ve set a few for myself this year (thanks to that post-holiday trip to the scale), what I’m most excited for are the resolutions I’ve set for my relationship.

Matt and I have made it through our first whole calendar year together and we have a lot to look back on and think about. Seeing where we went wrong and discussing what we can do to make it better in the new year can help our relationship (pssst. this can help yours, too!) become strong and help us become more aware of each other. Now that we both know each other better than anyone else in this world, we should have a better sense of what we should and can do to make our relationship even better.

So here are just a few little things I will be working on in my relationship in 2010. No relationship is perfect – perhaps a few of these will help you and yours.

1. I will fight fair. This means no name calling, low blows, or bringing up old history

2 I will make him know that he is appreciated and needed. Every guy needs this, yet most women have a hard time showing it.

3 I won’t assume. Just because he doesn’t want to cuddle before we go to bed doesn’t mean he doesn’t love me anymore. No more jumping to conclusions

4 I won’t use sex as a weapon. This is just unfair. And bitchy. As tempting as it may be.

5 I will share the remote. If I make Matt sit through Project Runway, it won’t kill me to watch NCAA basketball.

Take some time and think about some changes you want to see with your boyfriend/girlfriend. You can set your own resolutions (“I will not yell at him when he wants to watch football all day”), or set resolutions together (“We will have date night at least one night every week”). If you make some resolutions that you each can hold each other to, it can seriously take pressure off of the relationship. Just be sure to share your resolutions and make sure they’re actually helpful. You’re not going to get anywhere if you have “throw out his Playboys while he’s in class.”

Also, if you or your boyfriend breaks a resolution and falls back into old habits, don’t immediately fly off the handle! Starting fresh with resolutions should also be paired with starting fresh if one of you makes a mistake. Always try your hardest to forgive.

So what are your relationship resolutions?

Today was an unfortunate day. While perusing the internet, I ran across a teaser of Levi Johnston’s Playgirl magazine photo shoot. My curiosity got the best of me, and to say it killed the cat is an understatement. I think “made the cat look at a whole lot of nasty testicles…and then killed it” is more accurate.

I followed the link to Playgirl.com and was immediately overwhelmed by peen. (Note: I am not including the link here to spare your eyes.) Never have I ever seen so many schlongs in my entire life. All shapes, sizes and pube lengths; it was like my eyes were under attack by penis-shaped daggers.

This experience did more than force me to fight my natural gag reflex/delete the browsing history on the university computer I was using in the computer lab; it got me thinking about the presence of Playgirl at all.

Who in their right mind ever thought this magazine (now strictly online, thank god) was a good idea? Seriously. Do you know a single girl with Playgirl magazines hidden under her mattress? Have you ever sat around with your girlfriends and said, “you know, I really enjoy the sight of a good-looking penis from time to time”? (Ok, I take that back. I’ve probably said that once in my life.) Honestly, give me abs, give me back muscles, and give me a great smile, but keep the package under wraps, please.

Let’s be real, ladies; a flaccid penis is not a pretty thing. I don’t know about you, but I do everything short of remaining celibate (because that’s just unfortunate) to avoid the sight of one at all costs in real life – why would I spent $18.99 a month to load up on those images online?

Personally, the longest I’ve ever looked at a male member was in my anatomy book in high school. And I have to admit I once did extensive research on the uncircumcised penis. Fascinating topic, really. But since then, I’ll take a quick peek, assure myself that there is indeed something dangling down there, shut my eyes and then get to business. I certainly do not get my jollies by perusing photo galleries of men in the nude.

You can only stare at a man’s balls for so long before they start resembling your grandpa.

As far as I’m concerned, Title IX does not need to extend this far. Men can keep their Playboy, I’ll be fine over here with my copy of Cosmo.