This Week on PSFK: Culture Trends You Need to Know, October 9-14

In this edition of PSFK's Culture Trends You Need to Know, the way we as a culture percieve and interact with women and girls takes precedence here.

From more suspect items like Disney's re-branding of their iconic princesses, Japanese cuddle cafes, and gimmicky nude model vodka to the more thoughtful --  like Scary Beautiful exploration of beauty ideals with some freaky Alexander McQueen-esque heels, and social media site Cowbird's innovation in strategy for sharing stories, there's certainly a wide spectrum of cultural gaze represented.

Take a step through the looking glass:

Disney Rebrands Their Princesses to Encourage Girls to Achieve Their Goals

The company has released a new video called 'I Am a Princess' that celebrates what the term means today and promotes bravery, trust, generosity, and compassion.

Disney has released an inspirational new video to celebrate the Princess inside every young girl. It rebrands "princess" by framing it in terms of bravery, trust, loyalty, kindness, generosity, compassion, standing up for oneself...[read more here].

Reverse Stilletto Shoe Has Heel At The Front

Scary Beautiful explores the ideals of fashion and what lies beyond perfection.

Artist Leanie van der Vyver collaborated with Dutch shoe designer René van den Berg to create the conceptual shoe called ‘Scary Beautiful.' The pair of extremely high leather shoes is reversed in design where it leads with the heel. In order to walk, the wearer must place their weight on a the ‘shin' part of the shoe, which in turn contorts their body to change our perception....[read more here].

Vodka Made From Filtering The Liquor Over Nude Models

Spirits company pushes boundaries with special edition liquor.

There's no doubt that G Spirits liquor company is powered by men - and their special German vodka certainly isn't being filtered for purity. The spirits company released a collection of limited edition spirits that have been ‘filtered' by being poured down the nude bodies of models. The women hired include...[read more here].

Japanese Cuddle Cafe Lets Patrons Spoon With A Stranger

'Soine-ya' offers its members the chance to sleep next to someone for a price, with additional extras like patting or gazing into their eyes.

If you're desperate for a cuddle, head to the newly opened ‘Soine-ya‘ (‘sleeping together-shop') in Akihabara, Japan. Kotaku reports that the business is the first of its kind in the country. Customers must first pay a membership fee of ¥3,000 ($39), and are then charged for the amount of time they spend sleeping next to a woman...[read more here]

Jonathan Harris: A Better Way To Tell Stories Online

New media artist explains the redesign and simplification of his popular multimedia narrative sharing site Cowbird.

It has been a real joy to witness our community evolve over the past ten months, from a small gathering of personal friends to the global family of storytellers...[read more here].

Check back each week for a new installment of This Week on PSFK.