Essays on why we engage with certain pieces of pop culture at certain periods of our lives, and how we relate to them and their flaws in later periods of our lives are a whole genre, that in the right hands, can be quite compelling. Much more compelling than the “bad book still bad” salad bowl full of low-hanging…

Such a person might have something interesting to say about its appeal: more interesting, at least, than the news that a book that was famously schlocky when it was published is, 30 years later, still schlocky.

um - teach me your ways?
that’s a lot of relationship experience for 37!
I’m soon 31 and still waiting on any sort of torrid affair. They say it’s never too late.

It’d be interesting to have commissioned a writer now in her 50s to take a second look at this novel. Molly’s take is pretty much what you’d expect from someone much younger. Her critical criteria are all the shibboleths of current young feminism, so there’s not really much surprising or even that personal in them. It…

What? Details? Context? Omitted facts? Mitigating circumstances? A solid argument for equanimity? How dare you interrupt the preconceived narrative.

Misleading is being nice. This is fanfiction.

They had a lot of options short of bashing in his door. For example, actually interviewing him.

Thanks for the added detail. Not mentioning that she was suicidal is a pretty big omission in the story, especially given the clickbaity headline.

Man here. I’ve had the displeasure of knowing a few dudes who went to the dark side. In my experience, they’re some of the most insecure people on the planet. They start in with their MRA bullshit, hit em with low (verbal) blows and watch them crumple. 

If you were looking around today and you felt radicalized by the lack of sexual opportunity you had

I’ve always thought most MRA followers and adherents were simply immature. There are plenty of men and women who are supreme assholes. I think when you’re a grown-up, you see good people and bad people (and in-between people), but rarely is it because they’re a man or because they’re a woman.

My boy Buddy squeaks his displeasure at being left in the house when I go out to do lawn/garden work, about once every 30 seconds I hear a squeaky yelp. Does that count? Also stays on his side of bed, does not hog remote. 

Thank you for bringing this up!

I’m one of these left-wing hippies who doesn’t use hormonal birth control. Now, I of course believe women should have access to it if they want it. I also don’t think it’s creation was a mistake, I know it changed women’s lives and women’s history dramatically. My mom still tears up when she thinks about what her life…

“Divorce is regarded as a personal failure, rather than as a remedy for one’s life,”

My mother’s Chinese and for decades flat out refused to divorce my shouty, domineering father who controlled all our finances and kept us purposefully in poverty. In Western terms I came to define her as a passive codependent enabler. To me, she was just my mom. I had no self-confidence because of all the mad shouting…

Ugh. I do wish there were more viable options outside of hormonal birth control. I am one of those women who developed side effects. At one point, I was thinking about the copper IUD, even though the insertion process makes me so nervous. Unfortunately, for other health reasons, I’m not a good candidate for an IUD. So…

Bayer settled over 1,000 lawsuits related to its brand of combination pill, Yaz.

How are we not just using wearables to determine days of fertility? Get a whoop strap or similar, an app that collects data, feed it into a machine learning algorithm and the AI gods can tell you when you can have sex

I think there is a case to be made for condoms being the default on a societal level. And then the pill or other contraception that works solely on the female body being another possible option *if the woman actively chooses it.* But even in a long-term relationship, it shouldn’t be treated societally as some huge…