Blog Posts by Beth Greenfield, Shine Staff

Red Robin's snarky ad offended vegetarians. Photo: Red RobinAre vegetarians humorless? It’s the question being asked this week after a Red Robin television ad offended herbivores by touting its 24 types of burgers and then noting, with an implied eye roll and mock whisper, “We even have a Gardenburger—just in case your teenage daughter is going through a phase.”

More on Shine: Mountain Dew Under Fire For 'Most Racist Commercial in History'

The commercial, part of a new campaign ad series, aired for about a week before being rotated out, as was planned from the start. But it prompted outrage among activists and on social media outlets, with a slew of horrified vegetarians taking the eatery to task for its condescending approach.

“Though I applaud any fast food chain that offers a veggie burger, and I hope that more do, the idea that not eating animals is reserved solely for teenage girls going through a phase is obviously meant to insult both vegans and girls,” Jasmin Singer, executive director of Our Hen House, a New York-based multimedia vegan Read More »from Red Robin Ad Mocks Vegetarians With 'Teen Phase' Joke. Guess Who's Not Laughing?

Alexa and her mom, Tori Hensley. Photo: Courtesy of Tori Hensley.Pop quiz: After admitting on national TV to plying her 2-year-old daughter with frequent cups of coffee, as well as a pre-pageant “tinker tea” concoction of Mountain Dew, sweet tea and Pixie Stix, “Toddlers & Tiaras” mom Tori Hensley has received:

A.)   Angry hate mail

B.)    An offer to develop her very own brand of energy drink for children

C.) All of the above

Yep, you guessed it: The answer is C.

“We’re just in the negotiation stages,” Hensley confirmed to Yahoo! Shine, following a report about the impending product by Radar Online. She said she’s currently working with the unnamed, “big” company to create the drink, which would be marketed to children involved in pageants or dance, as well as—get this—to kids with hyperactivity disorders.

“Caffeine actually reverses it in some children, not all, and can calm them down, instead of putting them on all these pills,” explained Hensley, adding that “of course we’re going to have different doctors, lawyers, everything like that,” involved

Read More »from 'Toddlers & Tiaras'–Inspired Energy Drink? God Save the Pageant Queens

Frauenfelder's daughter in the outfit that apparently offended a TSA officer. Photo: Courtesy Mark Frauenfelder/Twitter.The Transportation Security Administration (TSA)  is investigating a report that one of its officers allegedly humiliated a 15-year-old girl wearing leggings, a tank top, and a button-down, telling her she should cover up as she went through an ID-check line in the Los Angeles Airport Sunday. 

More on Shine: Dying Woman Humiliated at Sea-Tac Airport by Security Search

“She said the officer was ‘glaring’ at her and mumbling. She said, ‘Excuse me?’ and he said, ‘You're only 15, cover yourself!’ in a hostile tone,” the girl's father, Mark Frauenfelder, told Yahoo! Shine, echoing what he had written in a Boing Boing blog post describing the incident. “It shook her up," he added.

More at Yahoo!: New TSA Rules on Knives Draw Fire From 9/11 Kin

Frauenfelder, who is editor in chief of Make magazine and the founder of Boing Boing, told Shine that his daughter, Sarina, was with a group of high school peers, on their way to visit colleges. He said that she began a rapid-fire series of texts to him Read More »from TSA Officer Accused of Shaming Teen for Wearing Leggings. Dad's Got This.

Um, yeah, whatever. Don't worry about it. Photo: Getty Images/Ethan MillerNext time you wake up in a sea of sweat—either from a hot flash or a dream about the hot flash (and chin hairs and memory lapses and a particularly disturbing dryness) you’re sure to suffer through eventually—don’t curse your womanhood. Curse men. And not just for the fun of it.

You’d actually be justified in blaming them completely, according to a new scientific hypothesis that puts the onus of menopause squarely on men’s collective preference for younger ladies.

In the study, “Mate Choice and the Origin of Menopause,” published Thursday in the journal PLOS Computational Biology, researchers posit that, over many thousands of years, a lack of reproduction among older women has led to menopause, now an accidental result of evolution and natural selection.

“It’s a very simple theory. What it does is it demystifies menopause. ... It becomes a simple age-related disease, if you can call it that,” researcher Rama Singh told CTV News in Canada. “That’s just like all the mutations that affect

Read More »from Guys Gave Us Menopause, Says Study. We're Not Mad, Just Hurt.

Murdoch and Deng, in happier times. Photo: Getty Images/David LivingstonMedia reports about Wendi Deng—Rupert Murdoch’s wife of 14 years, from whom he filed for divorce this week—have offered sparse details about the brilliant and glamorous 44-year-old’s life. But many have portrayed her as a gold digger and husband stealer who slept her way to the top, faulting her both for being an independent businesswoman and someone who has relied on her husband’s connections.

More on Shine: What We Can Learn From Celebrity Divorces

“It’s as if she’s in a no-win situation,” Gloria Allred, the high-profile civil-rights attorney and defender of women’s rights, told Yahoo! Shine. “The press wants to speculate, and they will speculate at the expense of the less powerful person in the relationship,” she said. “And that is almost always the woman.”

There have been both gender and ethnic stereotypes in Deng’s portrayals, damning her for everything from hobnobbing with Hollywood to being concerned with the financial interests of her children. Meanwhile, Allred said, “When you

Read More »from Rupert Murdoch Ex Wendi Deng: The Woman Behind Media's Biggest Divorce

Kate Middleton may have some groovy plans for childbirth. Photo: Getty Images EntertainmentKate Middleton may be royalty, but she’s not too posh to push.

More from Shine: Kate Middleton's Stylish Maternity Looks

The Duchess of Cambridge, whose first child is due in mid-July, is said to be leaning toward birthing her baby in as natural a way as possible. And to make that process easier, according to reports, she might be planning to use a calming technique known as HypnoBirthing.

The duchess was rumored to use hypnosis to overcome her acute morning sickness so this technique would be “second nature for her,” noted Alisha Tamburri, a Los Angeles HypnoBirthing practitioner whose clients have included Jessica Alba, Bridget Fonda, Melissa Joan Hart, Alanis Morisette, and Emily Deschanel.

More from Yahoo!: Kate Middleton Beats Kate Moss to Be Most Inspirational Beauty Icon

The method, popular both in Hollywood and outside of it, has “kind of replaced what Lamaze was years ago,” Tamburri said. It was founded in 1989 by New Hampshire hypnotherapist Marie Mongan, and essentially

Read More »from Kate Middleton Sparks Interest in HypnoBirthing. What's It All About?

"I'm not proud to admit it, but once I had a kid, I realized that I had been judging other moms," Michelle Noehren, founder of the online community CT Working Moms and mother to a 2-year-old daughter told Yahoo! Shine. It was this realization--which mirrored that of the many other mamas in the group--that led to their latest project, "End the Mommy Wars," a visual plea for loving sisterhood over judge-laden competition. After last year's effort, a post-baby-body photo shoot, went viral, the women decided they needed a powerful follow-up. "We wanted to move from embracing our bodies to embracing our parenting choices," Noehren said. Behold the empowering result.--Beth Greenfield, Yahoo! Shine Staff

Read More »from Parents Launch Campaign to 'End Mommy Wars.' Amen

After a storm of controversy, Facebook officially changed its policy on the posting of mastectomy photos, making it clear on Wednesday that they are now permitted. And that’s been welcome news to the women behind the once-banned photos, who have called it a victory for their effort to make the truth about breast cancer visual.

More on Shine: Public Demand for Victoria's Secret Post-Mastectomy Bra

“We want the world to know that breast cancer is not a pink ribbon—it is traumatic, it is life-changing, and it urgently needs a cure,” wrote Scorchy Barrington in a special announcement on the Change.org petition she started and which was the force behind Facebook’s updated policy. Barrington (who uses a pseudonym) is a breast cancer survivor who has felt personally empowered by stark images of mastectomy scars. She felt compelled to start the petition after learning that Facebook had removed several of them and banned SCAR Project photographer David Jay for 30 days.

Another woman whose

Read More »from Facebook Allows Mastectomy Photos: Tattooed Model In Controversial Picture Speaks Out