One depressing thing in this country is that you can be in the news and find yourself being called “elderly.” Can we please get rid of this ageist journalistic standard? And can I get out of the greys?

THIS: “As I sailed down the streets of lower Manhattan like the S. S. Menstruation...” Thank you for the laugh! I can see a delightful essay coming out of this! (The “S. S. Menstruation” is going to be my car’s new name, okay?) Hey, can I get ungreyed! I really am a nice person.

Please ungrey me because I need to tell @PlayThatFunkyMusic that this is the most clever comment made to any article on the Internet, EVER.

Your comment encapsulates every molecule of my experience in academia. THANK YOU.

Nurse practitioner. Not sure how many practice outside the U.S., and since you’re the second person to ask, here’s an explanation: an NP is a clinician who has clinical expertise in diagnosing and treating disease with an emphasis on health management. Many started out as nurses and then got advanced degrees. In the…

Nurse practitioner.

Just realized I never thanked you for this WONDERFUL reply! I just read it again and it’s perfect. :)

That’s a really good and straightforward analogy. It IS an agenda. We’re hiring someone for a four- or eight-year temp job. We’d kinda like to know the results of the candidates’ background checks.

I’ve remained super-friendly toward the man who assaulted me because: 1.) I don’t want him to see me as a poor sport or a bitch (what the fuck is up with that need to please everyone??); and 2.) I’m still embarrassed over it and sometimes think I imagined the whole thing or blew it out of proportion.

It’s funny that a Jezebel comment section is the only place I really feel safe telling my story, which I just did in a post that I hope will be ungreyed. I agree with you that it’s striking to hear other women’s stories. It makes me feel less alone in what happened and it validates that it’s perfectly okay to feel…

This “Grope-Gate” has been upsetting for me, and apparently for a lot of other women, because it takes me back to a situation that happened about five years ago. I met man in my area through a dating website. We corresponded for several weeks before meeting. A week before we met, he sent me a picture, and I recognized…

EXACTLY...thank you for that comment. I get sick when I hear the cutesy talk about old people. WE ARE GONNA BE THE OLD PEOPLE in the the not-too-distant future. Do we think of ourselves in cutesy ways? No! We want to be regarded as the smart, worldly people we are. Why wouldn’t today’s old people want that, too??

Thank you for this article!!!

I’m glad you told us you’re a dad and not a mom, because it made me look at my assumptions!

I like that explanation as an alternative to the male-centric one! :)

Agreed.

That’s an unfair generalization. My parents are in their 80s and they totally understand that children should not be forced to hug or kiss if they don’t want to. And I know plenty of people my age (almost 50) and much younger who don’t understand it. I didn’t quite understand it myself until recently (I should have…

Thank you! I have an 11-year-old son who was very open at 9 with his curiosity. I had good talks with him as we read a book called “What’s the Big Secret?” But now, I’m having difficulties finding a good opening for conversations about sex...he hasn’t asked questions in a year or so and I’m wondering where he is in…

I went to a conservative Christian college. Learned about IVF and was struck one day: “But...but...what happens to the test-tube babies [that’s what we called them back in the day] who don’t get used? Do they get THROWN AWAY??” I wish I could go back to 20-year-old me and say, “Yup. Also, in about two years you’re…

Mr. Me and I love to look through those kinds of catalogs while on the potty. (Not at the same time!!) I’ve always admired Lillian Vernon, and her catalogs gave me a cozy feeling. Not just because I read them on the potty.