Poison–readily available in traditional domestic settings and requiring little brute force to use effectively–has long been considered a woman’s weapon. While most poisonings are committed by men–only 39.5 percent are committed by the fairer sex–if a woman kills, she’s most likely to have used poison as her method. At The Hairpin, Meredith Haggerty wrote a piece detailing some of history’s most famous–and horrifying–female poisoners, including Lucrezia Borgia (who was said to possess a ring filled with poison that she’d use at parties), pictured above.
Everyone always says that chocolate is like poison for dogs. Given this sex toy review that Mallory Ortberg reposted on The Toast, it seems that the same could be said for vibrators:
Definitely read the reviews before purchasing.
Punch continues its wonderful coverage of the essential world of libations with a story about the best bars that never existed. Most of our favorite characters had somewhere they’d cool off–spots known as “third places,” semi-public places that are neither work nor home, where they’d congregate and contribute to a broader sense of community. George Orwell had the fictional Moon Under Water; in Casablanca, characters frequented a bar and restaurant known as Rick’s Cafe Americain. A good bar is as necessary in a good story as it is in a good life.
New York Magazine, as part of the “pop-up” blog Seen at Vulture, has a post today about the history of pubic hair in art, inspired by Marilyn Minter’s “shiny, glossy, four-color” new art book, Plush. Chelsea G. Summers writes:
If you could epitomize the art world’s consensus on female pubic hair in art into a phrase you could paint on a wall, it’d go like this: RUSKIN LIVES! Like Frodo, like Morrison, like Che, Ruskin breathes life long after his expiration date. His long arm reaches from the grave, and in his hand, he clutches a fat hank of pubic hair.
If you’ve never wondered about the artistic depiction of pubic hair–or even if you, um, think about it often–definitely give Summers’ excellent piece a read.