“Commoner” doesn’t mean poor. It just means that your ancestors weren’t anointed by the state hundreds of years ago.  In the British caste system, they are commoners whether they make 20k or 2million pounds a year.

Is carpet really desirable in the UK? I watched some British design show on Netflix when I was sick and the “expert” kept telling home sellers to cover their tile and hardwood floors with beige carpet to make it cosy.  In the US we would rip that beige carpet off the floor of the 2million flat in a nanosecond.  I…

Ikea used to have higher quality furniture so that bed set from 24 years ago is probably solid wood, not particle board. I had some great wood Ikea pieces from the early 90s. Now it’s all cheap particle board and falls apart. I have a friend who was a designer at Ikea and she told me this is true.  It’s the…

Well it will never happen.  But it should.

I’m not a fan of the church. Half of my family is Catholic, but I’m not. However, I do know some really awesome nuns who do social justice work. They actually take the vows of poverty seriously and work really hard. Francis should just turn the church over to the nuns and let them run it for a change.  

I didn’t know that. I heard that San Jose has a lot of theft, but the areas I went to seemed really safe. However, there is a strange disjunction between the wealthy American or European ex-pats and tourists and the locals, who are relatively poor. My family friend built a house there and had to hire people from the…

I agree.  Also, there may indeed be some cultural differences between professional royal workers and Meghan and she may have to search to find the right people to work with.  And she probably is totally different from Kate who has  been in training for this job since college and never had any other career.  I’m…

Oh there are some stupid rumors that Meghan and Kate are fighting and she's mean to her staff or works too hard.  Its all based on the fact that Meghan and Harry are moving to Windsor and some of their staff quit.  Who knows if any of it is true.  Negative rumors are inevitable because they sell more tabloids.…

Okay, but if she had disappeared in Cleveland it wouldn’t be in the national news. It would be a local story.  Sensational stories of pretty girls being killed or kidnapped, especially in exotic locations, make better headlines.

I’m sorry for her and her family, but this is extremely rare and could happen anywhere. I’ve traveled in Costa Rica and had nothing but positive experiences with kind people. Bad things can happen to good people anywhere, even (and especially) in their own home. It really bothers me to see these stories…

I love the way the narrator seriously intones, “Swedish crime thriller.” Are crime thrillers the biggest exports of Scandinavia these days? I swear there must be no one left in Sweden or Norway except serial killers, dead girls, and attractive detectives with psychological complexes from childhood.

I have followed Karina since the beginning of her podcast because we have a mutual friend who told me about her episodes on silent film. I love her take on early Hollywood. She has a unique voice and a great way of telling a story. I highly recommend her entire podcast.  Many hours of interesting cultural analysis!

As the honorary aunt of several little boys, I give this a firm “nope.” No way is it amusing to contemplate my friends’ kids sending me dic pics. That’s child porn, for one thing!  I’d call their moms immediately and insist on an emergency child psychologist visit. Yuck.

Huh? I “own my physical capital” in the sense that I only have sex with the man I love. I don’t need him to pay me for sex. I fully support myself and I really don’t need a man in my life for anything other than pleasure and companionship. I don’t need to reduce sex to a monetary transaction any more than I need to…

Yes, thank you. I tried to make this point, but less eloquently. I just can’t separate this rare seemingly willing *(who knows?) affluent white woman engaging in prostitution from the global exploitation of girls, women, and young boys. I don’t think prostitution is fun and edgy when it means thousands of children…

Thanks for the reference.  I wish you the best in whatever direction you want to go in your career.  

I’m open to learning how sex work can be separated from oppression. I just don’t see it. I guess I come from a perspective of having been approached multiple times as an underage child by pornographers wanting to lure me into the trade. I’m just lucky I never had the economic necessity. There but for the grace of…

I hear you. Many kinds of labor are physically difficult or even demeaning. I just have a gut instinct that there is something special about sex that makes it different than, say, carpentry or waitressing. Sex is a vital part of most people’s intimate lives. It’s how most people express love and create a family. …

I’m not sure statistics will back you up on that. Yes, women are at risk from domestic violence.  Have there been any blind studies comparing pregnant prostitutes with pregnant women who have another means of supporting their family?

No, I am not against celebrating women (or men) in service industries. I think there is something different about selling your body for the sexual pleasure of others. If sex workers genuinely get fulfillment and have meaningful lives from prostitution: fine. I’m happy for them.  I am just very hesitant about…