THANK YOU. This always, always seems to mean either "I play fast and loose with science because it's more fun to believe in werewolves and vortices" or "I like being an asshole and I hate it when people call me an asshole, so I hope you're okay with me being an asshole."

I get that. FWIW, I probably wouldn't be ready to move in with anyone after only six months, so that sounds fast to me too. That might have been the issue, more than the fact that it was online dating. The people I know personally who found success all said that they'd met their best friends, and they all seemed to…

I know two couples who met on JDate and are now married, one couple who met on Match and are engaged and another who are married, and my dad & stepmom were together 18 years after she posted a twitter-length personal ad in New York Magazine (in the pre-Match era). The sites do work, and most people I know are trying…

I feel ya. There are some commentors whose opinions I respect tremendously; I'd be shellshocked if one of them replied to me in the way you're describing. FWIW, it sounds like you were unfairly piled onto. :(

So this is my general take on life, but I think it applies to Internet comment wars as much as anything. In any argument, you have to evaluate exactly what you're hoping to achieve and ignore all the other temptations along the way. To wit:

Eh, I've never seen an episode and had no idea there was scientific justification for keeping him male. So maybe that was one too many assumptions for each of us?

Ugh. Because white boys are the ones who need more role models? Cry me a river of male tears.

I hate this question with a fiery passion. Nobody asks it about creating male characters, because the idea of a strong man is natural and credible in our culture, but also because men are allowed to exhibit the full range of human ability/experience and still be interesting. The "strong women" question simultaneously…

I've largely avoided that argument and I'm suddenly very glad, because as you said...yeesh. The point of having a female Doctor is that there's no reason not to have a female Doctor, in much the same way that there's no reason not to have an Asian woman play John/Joan Watson, or a black man play James Bond (make it…

OMG adorable I want them. But not as much as I want Sockness Monster: http://www.artisansocks.com/sock-it-to-me/…

I read a study by David Lisak that put the number as 14% among serial rapists, with 63% of rapists qualifying as serial rather than one-time offenders (link here: http://www2.binghamton.edu/counseling/doc…). Obviously it's incredibly difficult to get an accurate number because it requires self-reporting from rapists,…

Yes! This! Not to mention the assumption by the actual people who pulled me into the meeting that I'm the best person in the (otherwise male) room to operate the slide show of their presentation notes.

You're right, it may very well be tied to your original suggestion, but it could also be so many other things. After a certain point it becomes a chicken-and-egg argument, you know? The unconscious bias we all carry around within us says that power, ego, and confidence are the signs of a good employee and that men are…

I was very lucky that my parents, especially my mom, deliberately sought out picture books depicting every race/culture they could find. Apologies if you already know a bunch of these (you probably do), but I have to share out of deep nostalgia:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pro…

I hated that. I worked in tech (95% male office) and sat near the door in our cube farm, so whenever a non-employee rang the bell, I was one of the ones who routinely got up from my desk to answer the door. Mistaken for a secretary every single time, something that happened to my male coworkers approximately never.…

Have you ever brought up the pay discrepancy to a supervisor? I posted this link on another thread, but I'll add it here: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pro…

I know I'm not the original commenter, but this article might be of interest to you: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/unofficial-pro… According to the study, men and women in hiring positions were equally gender biased.

Can you give snippets of the texts? I mean, is the exchange itself what you want to talk about, or do you just want to vent about the crappy day in general? (Either is obviously fine, just trying to be an outlet if you want to talk about a specific case of the weirds.)

Hummmmmmmina...that is all kinds of distracting.