Kmart gives me sturdy cotton plus size basics and jeans in tall sizes. Target offers me polyester crap that is mixed in with maternity and clearance stuff. As a large woman, I feel like Target has sent very mixed signals about whether they want my business over the years.

I agree on Macy’s, it’s all dingy carpet and so. much. polyester.

I live in a place where the majority of kids are black or brown. A year ago, I saw a group of pretty young teens egging each other on, getting wilder and louder on the subway, until some of the older boys (maybe 14 or 15) surrounded and started punching a young Hispanic man in the head.

Thanks for covering this! I’m on the other end of the green building spectrum - in the deconstruction and reuse industry - and proud to say many of our organizations and training programs also include women at all levels. While all the craziness is happening at the national level, we’re putting our boots on every day…

The way you describe the catch-22 breaks my heart. You sound like an amazingly smart and self-aware person and I am sending good thoughts and strong hugs your way. I hope you win the lottery or find a magical solution or at the very least get to cuddle a fluffy dog occasionally until you can get to a better place.

All the defense of Franken was interesting to me because that picture of him smirking over her while she slept ENRAGED me. I felt even more angry than I did about the stories of Weinstein’s rapes because I could actually see it. I had a visual that would flash up in my mind whenever I thought about it, and it allowed…

I just stumbled on this column, I know quite a bit of time has passed since it was posted. But I want to say that you sound like a really kind and interesting person, and that I agree with Dr. Nerdlove’s advice. I spent several years in my mid-20s as caretaker for my mom, while she was dying of ALS. At first it was…

I wanna be her when I grow up!

Well, those men could perhaps try going after women who like to contribute financially to the household, and have frugal tastes? For example, it’s not so necessary to work 80 hours a week if your wife would rather go camping to visit state parks or museums than spend thousands on a cruise or Disney trip.

Oh lord - I saw that pic and thought, poor thing, she has acne as bad as mine. And then I saw your comment and realized for the first time that some people might see me and think meth addict. This would explain the way I’ve been treated a few times by strangers during bad breakouts.

This is a really helpful explanation! I stopped using anything with artificial fragrance a few years ago and have used a variety of soap from My Organic Market (a local grocery chain) just based on what smells good. But my skin is super dry in the winter, so it’s great to know what to look for. Thanks so much!

This is a really helpful explanation! I stopped using anything with artificial fragrance a few years ago and have used a variety of soap from My Organic Market (a local grocery chain) just based on what smells good. But my skin is super dry in the winter, so it’s great to know what to look for. Thanks so much!

Exactly! White supremacists make a fuss about how they are protecting white woman... but only as property of white men, not as actual people.

This story makes me think about my “bad boy” dating phase growing up. My dad was a bearded college professor, the first person in his family to go to college and showed up for civil rights issues his whole adult life. Who did I date/hook up with when I was young and stupid, trying to figure myself out as a woman? A…

I am out here in rural Missouri visiting my husband’s family for the holidays right now. Because his family doesn’t have much room and there are no hotels here, we always stay with some of his elementary school friends (who are very wealthy by local standards, but have never really left home other than a few trips to…

I work in a small town, an inner-ring suburb just outside a big city. I got to know the police chief because he sat on a board of a local community development nonprofit with me. He was an interesting guy - he grew up in a conservative and rural area nearby, but earned a masters in sociology and spoke several…

Yeah, I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt until the actual sex. When he got up after he finished without even pretending to care about her orgasm, it was clear that he’d been using her as an object to make himself feel good.

What did he do to not deserve an explanation? After he finished sex, he got up and asked if she wanted to watch a movie. He did not even ask her if she had an orgasm, conveying that it did not matter at all to him whether she enjoyed their encounter.

The ending was kind of anti-climatic to me. I suspected he was probably an asshole when she described his texting pattern, of punishing her with curt texts when she took a while to respond. Then when he finished and got up without even inquiring about her orgasm, that just confirmed it for me.

I think the thing that bothered me the most about his character was the part where he just got up after he finished, and didn’t even bother to ask her if she’d had an orgasm. That is what established him as straight-up asshole in my mind. I’ve only had two guys do that to me in my life - one was a boyfriend trying to…