Am I the only person who thinks 1, 2 and 7 are not crimes in the least? Sure, number 1 is not okay if your 11-year-old is truly an asshole who bullies other children, but at 11 I only had to be home when the streetlights came on. An 11-year-old is perfectly capable of playing at a public playground for 20 minutes,…

Agree 100% that older parents seem to have a lot more anxieties, in general. I joined a "mommy and me" because I'd been given a very generous gift certificate for one eight-week "program." I live in a fairly affluent area, and all the other mommies were 40+ and could not conceive of me, in my late 20s, possibly being…

I've been blessed (touch wood) with a child who had taken four eighteen-hour flights by 10 months with zero tears - not even at takeoff and landing. But I was also blessed with a very kind steward who said "please don't worry if he cries - everyone on this plane was a baby once too." THANK YOU, compassionate steward!…

PREACH. I never, ever trusted my high school's 'counselor' - it was a known fact she would tell parents anything she heard - even tell other students - "oh, you should talk to Casey Smith, she has an eating disorder too" - that kind of thing. I got called into her office once at about 15 - it was known that I had lost…

Oh so true. I will always think of my younger brother (who is now an incredibly mature, self-sufficient and well-traveled 23) as "young" and in need of some protection. I forget that he is 9 years older than I was when I lost the first of multiple friends to suicide in my high school years; and already 2 years older…

My child actor brother-in-law was legally emancipated at age 15. It is extremely common for child stars to become emancipated; they can either escape terrible "momagers" (in my brother's case, his mum was declaring bankruptcy and emancipation protected his assets - things bought with his money, but with her adult…

I kind of want it to be true, but it just doesn't make sense. As a Hollywood native, I know a live-in "housekeeper" (i.e. someone who has access to you when you're sleeping at night) is never, ever called a "housekeeper"... they're your maid. A housekeeper is someone who comes once or twice a week or so to put all…

Yes. You made a very good point, that statement also bothered me in the article. I was not around when the Australian government was forcibly taking aboriginal children from their families during the shameful "Stolen Generation" years, but I still fought - hard - for the "Sorry movement" and aboriginal rights in…

I apparently have a non-degree (my undergrad was in pure economics - a "real" degree - but my grad work was in gender studies.) I have had a very happy history of successful, continuous and lucrative employment related to my passion (I'm a writer, and I specialize mostly in reporting on women's issues around the world…

I don't think that's always the truth. My husband has major issues about trusting women with money, because his mother truly screwed over his father with major fraud (asked for significant sums that went straight to her useless boyfriend, then there were loans taken out under his name with faked signatures -…

Thank you! The actual amounts invested in research and development compared to the profits involved should outrage every American citizen. Most drug companies piggyback on the good work done by universities and other publicly funded institutions to "cherry-pick" the most promising prospects and then charge a damn…

You're willfully ignorant if you think Monsanto is a "good guy." They've sent their "investigators" all around the US to search wheat and soy fields for even one plant with their patented gene - plants that could very easily have blown in from seeds planted in a neighboring field. Then they sue the life out of the…

Ooooh, I like this! I am 100% against the patenting of genes - what a great idea - if you own the gene, shouldn't that make you liable for any damage caused by the gene? This is why I love Jezebel - there's always someone with a different angle on things I would never have previously considered. Good thinking 99!

It is ridiculous. As mom, we have to be 100% perfect all the time or someone's going to slam us for it. Dads can take their kid for a 15-minute stroller ride and they're a damn superhero... and if I hear one more person tell me how "lucky" I am that my husband very occasionally "babysits" HIS OWN CHILD (I believe…

Not at all. In my household, before baby, it was probably 99% me and 1% my husband... he'd cook the odd steak night. I worked full time, but at home - he works significantly more than full time (65-75 hour weeks are the norm in his business) so either I did it or it didn't get done, basically. We did "compromise" by…

In some fields it truly is ridiculous. When I first moved to the US, I took a job at a celebrity news agency and had a ton of interns under me. It was a desirable job; we weren't TMZ, we only did legitimate press events like junkets, red carpets, "at home with celebrity x..." etc, where we were "invited" guests and…

Yes, what is that? I've met a lot of people who really, really need you to know they are "Spanish from Spain" and totally not Mexican... even though a fair percentage of them ARE Mexican, as it eventually turns out. Who cares? No one I know.

Really? I've been in California six years and heard exactly one person say something racist about Latinos, and he was shockingly racist about anyone who wasn't lily white. He sure didn't mind the Latinos ("at least they're hard working, not like those lazy n-words...") as much as he hated black people. One person. In…

Good advice. A friend of mine and her sisters all got tested for BRAC1 and BRAC2 when I was in high school because their mother was a breast cancer survivor and their aunt and grandmother both died young of breast cancer - before age 40, I think. So they had good reason to get the test, and my friend and one of her…

Yep, I think she was just trying to impress with a big word. She is known around town to be bi (a lot of people thought she was a "beard" for Bradley Cooper) but androgynous is not the same thing at all. I would never call her androgynous... although I've been told multiple times I go for "that androgynous look"…