Page 5 of the New York Magazine article addresses this sans snark.

That was hardly kind or fair, that is for sure. I am sure she was referring, however glibly, to the many genetic disorders, including some chromosomal abnormalities, that occur specifically in ultra-orthodox populations. Some Amish communities and Jain communities that do not marry outside their group have also have…

OK, here is the case that set the precedent for the Amish not having to attend school beyond 8th grade: Wisconsin v. Yoder. I wonder if the ultra-orthodox will do something similar?

I'm wondering about that, too. The Amish are allowed around the rule the children attend school at least until 16; with rare exception, they attend school to only 8th grade. I thought that even the most conservative religion school is required to conform to some minimum standards.

I was always taught that the rule of thumbs was to dress your best when you go abroad. Don't try to dress to match the locals, but wear what would be your best in your home country. This prevents you from being the guy in the tracksuit at the Vatican.

Yes. This. As much as many of us are told in church that missionary work is good, and initially have no reason to think otherwise, it is often condescending and comes with a colonial attitude. There are ways to help people while still treating them like people, but not everyone wants to be white and cornfed.

I want signs at the entrance of every metro station that say, "stand right, walk left." I missed trains because of this problem.

Amen. If you go to DC, the dress code is conservative. That's how it is. You don't have to dress like you are going to church or even to the office, but you don't stop by your senator's office dressed like you just came from the gym.

I think it's sort of two sides of the same coin: categorizing Westerners (usually read as white women, though black women abroad are stereotyped abroad, too) as sexually promiscuous and "easy," while putting Asian women up on a pedestal based on virginity or other ideas about sexual purity can go hand-in-hand. That…

The person who has given me the most "Americans are horrible and America is horrible. I don't know how you live there. Let me mansplain George W. Bush to you because you are obviously a very stupid woman and must have voted for him," abroad was a multi-millionare who had several foreign cars, had sent his kids to…

And we need candy for infants, why?

That link is kind of weird—it suggests that "western vegetarians consume liberal amounts of fish and chicken," which is wholly untrue—but the other stuff seems on the up and up.

I'm a vegetarian. I have great numbers. I could stand to lose 5-10 lbs, but I am within the so-called healthy weight range. This is not the case with my extended family, especially those in India, a land of many fat vegetarians. A vegetarian diet CAN be great for keeping cholesterol in check and generally eating…

I think perhaps the first step, not just for dudes but for everyone, is confronting casual sexism and misogyny when you see it or hear it. If you see people posting sexist things on FB (I'm reminded of a video that went around of a little baby babbling in baby talk that people were posting with the words, "Women! They…

I think I need a support group of women who used to belong to conservative churches so I don't end up relapsing into that kind of thinking. Direct quote from my mother: "Well, there's a new pope, so now you can go back to church." Yeah, uh huh, mom, that's all that needed to change.

Sometimes having a garage sale record collection comes in handy.

Hate to be that asshole, but given my username, I think I am allowed to point out that those look like yellow flag irises, not daffodils.

Yeah. They have stores throughout the midwest and some on the east coast (not sure where else). They sell in-house brands of several items and you generally have fewer options. It is incredibly cheap, though and you need to bring your own bags. I actually miss it where I am now.

Oooh, the shirt is also available on Amazon! Time to write some user reviews!

B-b-b-but, you can't call it sexism because those roles were ordained by God! Now, go pray to God that you can learn not to be so selfish and be more content with your role as a virgin or a mother.