Really well put.

The sports fan in me doesn't love the condescending "inflated ovoid" rhetoric of this piece. But most of me, like 99+% of me, the part that cares more about people than about football, knows that sports culture has huge problems with hero-worship, stereotypes and ideals of masculinity, and blind support that…

Incorrect. Rape is about power, not sexual arousal, so neither genitalia nor arousal are necessary, and castration would not prevent sexual assault.

I think it's largely to do with rape culture-the pervasive idea that "nice guys don't rape" and that "rape is exaggerated/falsely reported/not that big a deal." But I also think it's exacerbated by the nature of the media. The assault happened in the past-there's only so much drama they can wring out of it. The trial,…

That's why there *are* standards that teachers use to build curriculum (which includes both learning & assessment). Unfortunately, these tests are hindering teachers' ability to implement their curriculum, because they a. take time away from real learning and b. often lead to "underperforming" schools (ie. the ones…

In my experience, this is common knowledge among teachers, students, and parents. It's the education policy makers who have not yet caught up.

THIS. I hate it when people say shit like, "I know people are going to accuse me of being sexist/racist/whatever because of this," as if *anticipating* criticism makes the criticism invalid. That is so not how logic works.

I have no trouble with most kinds of British accents (that I've heard), and I get pretty annoyed at things like changes to the Harry Potter books for the US editions (I'm not a huge HP fan, but it's the first example that came to mind). I have an aunt, though, who simply can't be bothered to try to understand people…

There's already lots of thorough advice in the comments, and I don't think I can add to it. I'm wondering, though, about the aversion some people have toward dating bi women. I don't want to be accusatory or anything like that-I'm just curious. As a straight woman who has no hangups about dating bi men, it seems odd…

I grew up in a relatively affluent East Coast suburb, and I had never heard of Emmett Till before the Lil Wayne controversy. As others have mentioned, though, our history classes really didn't get past WWII; they were overwhelmingly Pilgrims-Revolution-Civil War.

Congratulations, you are well-versed in the history of the language. Of course, the Norman conquest has fuck-all to do with how women are treated and talked about today, but enjoy your smugness. I have better things to do (like finishing my second graduate degree in English) than to continue this pointless derail.

You are aware that the nouns having gender (as a characteristic of the word) in non-English languages and the application of gendered suffixes based on the gender of the person being described are two entirely different linguistic phenomena, yes? And that it's descriptions of *people*, not words like "buttress" that…

Do you mean because I took a condescending tone toward Simon? 'Cause I'm pretty okay with that. It was kind of on purpose.

I get the impression that he stopped paying attention somewhere around the 1940s. Except, of course, when a beautiful woman walked by.

Obvious troll is obvious, but on the off chance you actually want to learn something, you might start here:

Still there, unfortunately (you can find it by going to the main page of the blog). Looks like he changed the title sometime after Jezebel linked to it.

Well, that was a deeply creepy tour of a random asshat's spank bank.

"those aren't nice guys."

AH! SORRY! (I love her, too! She's just much smarter and cooler than this tweet.)

Oh, Dolly. Pretty sure you copied that sentiment from one of a dozen of my college friends, who love nothing better than posting passive-aggressive facebook statuses like "boys will break your heart, real men pick up the pieces" and "I should know better than to trust anyone by now."