Shut up. Five second rule 4EVA.

+1 for the 90210 reference. That was a good episode.

Now that we're calling it that, I kind of want one.

Slightly off-topic, but yeah, Judy Blume is the greatest.

Seriously.

No! I too was scratching my head, like "is the chloroform supposed to be in the box. . . or. . . ?"

I just picked up Blackout from the library. They didn't have To Say Nothing of the Dog, so I hope Blackout is ok as an intro.

Oh, never mind. I just clicked on your user name and clearly there is no point to this.

Huh?

I know a couple who each kept their own name and gave their kids a last name that is an unhyphenated mashup of their two names. Their names happen to work beautifully in this way, but that's not going to be a solution for most people.

ooh! ooh! I know one. It's awesome. He took her name because she didn't want to change hers and he wanted their family to have the same name.

Haha yeah. The part too where she's all "you can be just as capable as your man, but dear lord, don't let him KNOW that!". All this bullshit should be offensive to everyone. I know that most men I know would feel the same way.

We Have Always Lived in the Castle is one of my all time favorite books! It definitely has humor in it, but mostly for me it was just delightfully creepy. I love how it functions as a backstory or prequel to every mysterious-witch-in-an-old-house story. Also love Kelly Link, so given your excellent taste in things I…

OK, maybe not the entire hugging thing, but the back slap part. Mostly I just think that bit was poorly written, though not entirely off-base. You are completely right about the homophobia/misogyny connection.

No one calls them corsages.

I'm with you on the back slap. The whole hugging thing was stupid. But check out the Tumblr that Jen Kirman set up for men to speak up and condemn misogyny. I spent a long time there reading essays and it seems like a wonderful project. No one is asking men to protect us, just to join us.

Good point. I'd been trying to get to something like that, but couldn't find the right phrasing. You did. Thank you.

Yeah, I thought that was very well put.

I agree. I wish the article had slanted more towards what I said above. It's easy to deride, and while I can't say I wouldn't make fun of "oh, the poor, beleaguered white male" people in my own head, I think a more useful discussion would be the way this is used to derail discussions of sexism or racism. I did think…

I get what you mean, but sticking to the metaphor here: I think the issue for me, is how often the discussion of cancer gets hijacked by someone complaining about their runny nose as though it is just as bad. The discussion is hijacked by those saying that all of us talking about cancer are wrong about cancer being an…