What is it about Jennifer Lopez that leads women of New York and beyond with better ways to spend their time to obsess on J. Lo and her larger-than-life existence? Is it her Cinderella story, complete with unbridled ambition and a successful empire of music, movies, clothes, and perfume? Is it her steamy life with fianc? Ben Affleck, or the 6.1-carat pink diamond from that very newly proclaimed ?Sexiest Man Alive?? Or could it be that ?Despite her reign atop the celebrity world, we?re always reminded that, ?She?s real, she?s real and, oh yeah, one other thing: She?s real.? In the words of New York University media studies professor Mark Crispin Miller, ?J. Lo is a hot property primarily because she?s a ?Woman in Control,? an icon of post-feminist autonomy and old-fashioned rags-to-riches elevation.?

A number of women obsessed with J. Lo and her love life, many of whom declined to give their names for Rory Evans? article in The New York Observer, also found themselves enthralled by The Bachelor, and then ?refocused their critical views from one stagy, forced romance to another.? Some speculate that Ben and Jen?s coupling is simply a strategic move ? ?to broaden their individual appeal and to cross class barriers: She makes him street; he makes her white.? Amidst predictions that their upcoming Caribbean wedding will result in a marriage as brief as Lopez?s previous couplings, the ceremony is expected to elevate the celebrity wedding spectacle to new levels. ?They will be so embarrassed when this doesn?t work out,? said one avid J. Lo follower. ?I can?t wait.?

-Erica Sagrans

Go there>> http://www.observer.com/pages/frontpage5.asp