I find Bust so hit and miss. Sometimes, it’s chock full of new ideas and interesting women. Other times, a bit blah. Sadly, this ish was on the blah side—which is why I’m glad a friend paid for it, and not me.

Best piece was on vaginoplasty—you know, cooch reconstruction surgery. Achieving a perfect oval (cause uh, that’s a meaningful goal) through laser and scalpel, most often wielded by a man. Aside from the shudder factor—there’s an interview with a 24 year-old who voluntarily had her inner labia removed—there was some good research here. I didn’t know that American, Australian and New Zealander doctors’ associations have openly denounced the surgery as dangerous and unregulated. And, duh, just like breast augmentation (and the pill, since you asked), vaginoplastys often leave women with less sexual response, which is an oxymoron of infuriating proportions. The accompanying survey tacked on some mood-lightening LOLs: readers were asked about their relationships with their vadges, including opinions on visual aesthetic. My favourite answer: Mick Jagger. It’s funny cause it’s true.

It’s amusing to me that Bust (and the BBC, and many others) got scooped on the Gulabi Gang story years ago by Vice, of all publications. (It’s actually pretty awesome that Vice does these kinds of pieces, but their whole “white guy who is so beyond oppression and privilege that his use of pejorative slang is provocative and hilarious” thing still annoys me). Still, if you haven’t read about the Pink Sari women before, this story covers the bases: basically a group of women in Uttar Pradesh, India, got sick of police and government non-response to domestic violence. So, they donned some pink saris and began to use violence themselves to help women escape bad marriages, or just to teach the husbands how to behave. They’ve added fighting anti-poor corruption onto their list of tasks of late, too. Pretty courageous and awesome, considering that these are low-caste, uneducated women in one of India’s poorest, most rural areas.

Other than that, the mag was pretty blah, blah blah. The Thurston Moore interview with the Yeah Yeah Yeahs was kind of disjointed—did he really only talk to them for like three minutes each?—but I love him and them so you know, it was good enough, but not amazing. I’m going to check out the new women’s porn site Liger Beat, I just don’t care about Kathy Griffin, none of those bathing suits is made for bosomy girls, an egg salad recipe is weak and sorry that Peaches was tired but a good writer would call her back and save the piece. Oh, decent travel roundup on Chicago, but maybe that’s just cause I’m planning a visit this summer. Sorry, Bust. It’s just my opinion. And hey, remember when I sent you a pitch on this like six months ago? And followed up like three times? I’m a big girl, I can take a no. But not replying at all is just bad manners.