That's a good question. I think to adequately describe "verbal abuse" you have to be able to identify the rhetorical techniques of verbally abusive people.

This has got to be one of the worst articles on Jez since that piece of sh*t "in France, they don't have consent" article. The use of the word retarded is inexplicable. The transphobia is over the top. But additionally...

OMG! No! My real name is NOT Claudia George. Christ. Please do not get out the phone phone book and start hunting Claudia Georges.

You know what, you're right, and I apologize. I just hadn't considered these, as well as the other very valid points you bring up in your OP. So thank you for educating me. You know what though? I really think that more people need to hear what you have to say. Two suggestions:

Oh, ok. I guess I should explain. This commercial is actually the sequel to a previous commercial that sets it up. In the first commercial the fat maid (Yolanda) is pretending to be a thin, blond woman on line and is cat fishing Patrick Dempsey. In this commercial they meet and he is obviously taken aback by her…

Meanwhile, in Mexico, Patrick Dempsey does tons of racist and fat-phobic commercials like this one. I'm not usually thin-skined about fat phobia, but even here, where most people have a sense of humor about these things, these commercials are considered pretty bad.

I don't understand. Are you a real person? Or are you a character that escaped from a 1980s made for TV movie about rape in small-town middle America. I swear to god I saw you in a movie we watched in health class, like, fifteen years ago. You were all the rapist's BFFs, right? You're obviously not a troll, because no…

Here. Let me solve ALL your problems for you. Gossmakeupartist on youtube: First watch how to cure dry skin (

Cute baby Orangey. But in all seriousness, I feel like we are performing too many C-sections on orangutans. I mean, how do we know for sure that this orangutan needed that C-section?

I'm a 32 DDD or a 32 F (same difference), and I've never had an issue finding a sports bra that held my boobs perfectly still while I ran. Of course, you have to shop in the right place. In my opinion, the only place to buy a bra for running if you've never had one before is at an actual running store. One of those…

My two best male friends actually fit this description. Except that one of them certainly isn't musically talented. One is very happily married to a woman who has just as many good attributes, and the other has no desire to get married. They're both human. One is horrible with spatial reasoning and directions and the…

Cue the MRAssholes and MRAsshole understudies complaining that this video isn't misogynistic because it shows men being gross, immature, mean and tactless.

I know this is blunt but, if you're waiting to finish graduate to get married, have kids, get a dog, or do whatever else it is you want to do life-wise then that's on you. It's not graduate school. Some of my best friends from my PhD program have gotten married and had kids while in the program. Trust me. I used to…

I actually have lived in several Latin America, including the Andes, and the first thing I thought when I saw this cover was that it looked like something that would be published there. Minstrel iconography (or what we in the US would immediately recognize as minstrel iconography) is alive and well throughout LA and…

To clarify, I was just reflecting on why people in general like this story so much, which is being reported on by various outlets. I have no issue with the particle article or the way it's written. Just how heartwarming we all seem to find the story itself.

That was pretty much what I was saying. The mother is not in the picture. So people see no reason to dwell on it. That's the problem.

You conveniently forgot being able to rent a good apartment for a good price (housing privilege) and being seen as a worthy student/teacher (educational/professional privilege). And I am redefining privilege because I think it's important to clarify that privilege is not just the result of racism/sexism, but the…

Getting into clubs is one example (of many that I listed) that might seem petty when mentioned alone. But all the examples of privilege that I listed TOGETHER add up. And the list I made is not exhaustive. The extent to which racism benefits me is not slight, it's great. It's important to recognize this because…

Yes, some men would gain from a redistribution of privilege. But, ultimately, men as a group would loose more than they gain. Or, they would loose more concrete, tangible things. You can always argue that the moral gains of letting go of privilege make up for those concrete, tangible losses, but I personally find that…