Weekend reads on politics, gender, media, popular culture, the creative industries and more. 

A shiney new coin graphs who will be Australia’s PM after the next election.

What really goes on behind the scenes of The Biggest Loser. (Fat Lot of Good)

Jacinda Woodhead considers the great paywall of Murdoch:

For some unfathomable reason, media barons are approaching news in the electronic frontier dressed in the same expectations they had of the print medium, even though the information works in a completely different way. (Meanland)

A critique of marriage from a bride to be. (Tiger Beatdown)

Zen Habits lists 11 creative ways to avoid becoming a workaholic.

Or alternatively, Lisa Barone reveals 11 ways she’s increased her work productivity in 2010. (Outspoken Media)

What if yesterday’s teen movie characters had today’s technology? (Jezebel)

News bulletin: men have hearts, too. And sometimes they break. (Pandagon)

Instead of thinking about where you want to be in 5-10 years time, why not think about how the you of 5-10 years ago would feel to wake up in your shoes? (Eat The Damn Cake)

Gay teen blogger/book reviewer takes librarians to task over LGBT lit:

When I set out to find more LGBT titles, I turned to my school’s library. Honestly? It was pathetic. There was not one single LGBT novel. But oh, of course the librarian went out of her way to buy books about gangs, drugs, and teen pregnancy. Like, for real, the people who actually do care about gangs, drugs, and teen sex sure as hell don’t read–they’re too busy (note: gangs, drugs, and teen sex. Yeah, they’re going to interrupt all that fabulous action to sit and read a good novel!). When I asked her about it, she replied, “This is a school library. If you are looking to read inappropriate titles, go to a book store.” Uhm, how in the hell is LGBT YA lit “inappropriate”? (Pinched nerves)

On absence from the blogosphere and what it represents. (Feministe)

How to piss off an introvert. (The Introvert’s Corner)

Ada Calhoun on the reliable hysteria of Little Girls Gone Wild:

Minus the shock of those ridiculous costumes (further Web surfing confirms they are standard dance competition wear), the video just didn’t bother me. But you know what did? The coverage: all those smug puns about “booties.” The 19th-century-esque pleas for temperance. “Can’t we just let little girls be little girls?” wailed nearly every commentator. No, really, almost every article contained that line. (Broadsheet)

The rejection of the future will be silence (and why this is a good thing). (Huffington Post)

When your breast shape goes out of style. (Jezebel)

Define your terms before debating: the social construction of porn and erotica. (Figleaf’s Real Adult Sex)

Emily Gould on online self versus real self. (Emily Magazine)

How to be critical in an industry where everyone knows each other. Ie, the arts. (Lisa Dempster)