That's a lot of BS. Plenty of people get married for shallow and selfish reasons. Many cheat. The divorce rate is 50%. Having a ceremony does not prove any higher level of commitment to a relationship than not getting married. Why do people need to make a formal and public declaration of their relationship for it to…

I imagine it's a reference to being legally separated but not yet divorced. Some states require that you officially/legally separate for a certain number of months before you can obtain a divorce (even if you are both totally in agreement about everything).

Yeah, your type of situation is what I always mention when people say "But if you were serious you'd get married" - lots of very committed people cannot get married. Plus there are plenty of marrieds who cheat, divorce quickly, etc. - so are they really any more serious than the non-marrieds? I think the important…

Up! The first 10 minutes will make you cry your eyes out and then it just gets better and funnier.

I agree it is fucked up not to consider long term partners as worthy of a plus one invite. I think though we do need to make a distinction. I believe that non-married partners can be and are just as committed and serious about their relationships as married people can be and are. However, if you are not married there…

She's been fighting for the literary rights of his books but has not gotten them (as far as I can tell from quick Googling).

Nope. And should you be incapacitated due to something like a car accident, your immediate family can fight your partner and take them to court or bar them from the hospital. It's not just the US though, take the case of the Swedish writer who wrote The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series: he had a partner of 40+ years…

Marriage in the US provides 1,138 rights that you do not have if you aren't married: http://www.marriageequality.org/get-the-facts So there is at least a pretty major legal rights difference. Also, I know lots of people who just do not take non-married relationships as seriously as married ones (I have several in my…

I get how the hashtag is helpful but it skews young. The people who most want to see photos from weddings are usually older relatives or the parents of the couple getting married. Hashtags will not help my grandmother see photos of us, nor will my aunts or uncles want to join instagram (I'm in my mid 30s and most of…

Martyrs are fun, aren't they?

It's really hard! Even when they are being unreasonable it's hard not to take their disappointment to heart!

I feel like this is good advice for adult children whose parents think their feelings and opinions should override their children's.

Oh I agree that you can't control other people. I've just found that sometimes the person who makes a transgression is not someone you thought would do so, so knowing not to include them ahead of time is not always an option. I have experienced people passing along info to abusive people because they thought they were…

Right, but your response was to sportz.star who was talking about guests still doing it even though she asked them not to. People shouldn't have to justify to every guest why they don't want photos on the internet. You're assuming that someone is asking guests not to do this because they are paranoid and not because…

I agree in general with what you are saying, but I do understand people who are uncomfortable about it due to wanting to keep a low internet profile. Some people have abusive people in their past and the idea that anyone could access their pics probably is a bit scary for them (even if the hashtags seem obscure).…

Do people no longer share cute/good pictures with the bride and groom? I've always just emailed the couple any good photos that I took so that they could have them. If I got a particularly good one of the bride and groom I'll post it on their Facebook pages for them.

Yes. It is totally standard for a settlement to include an agreement that the plantif will cease talking about the issue cited in the lawsuit. Institutions don't do monetary settlements if they don't get something for it. If the young women didn't want to agree to silence, they could have refused the settlement and…

Ah, I get what you're saying. I agree. But I'm not so sure that it is totally generational. I feel like when I was younger (kid in the 80s, teen in the 90s) people were a lot more relaxed about these things. My parents were teens in the 60s (in CA) and never thought twice about camel toe (I didn't even know of the…

I think that the aesthetics are totally tied up in shame of sexuality. I don't really think you can separate them out because why would you even bother to care about camel toe if it was not for our puritanical notions about the human body?

If you don't fit into an idealized aesthetic though, shame is a common reaction. The whole concept of "bikini bodies" fits into a similar trope: women, if you don't have this type of body you shouldn't allow people to see it. Plus, did you watch the videos? Several of the women express shame over having labia be…