That's not true. Typical use of condoms still leaves a 10-15% pregnancy rate; perfect use drops that number to 2-3%, which, while far better, still isn't totally reassuring. Considering that many women rely on men to put on condoms correctly and notice if there are any issues of slippage or breakage, there's a lot…

Yeah. It's interesting how a lot of conservatives seem to be simultaneously suggesting that teens are completely thoughtful and rational individuals—"Ah, I would like to engage in intercourse, but that might result in sexually transmitted infections and pregnancy. Despite my hormonal urges, I must decline!"—while, in…

Yeah, my sense is that teens have a shitty enough understanding of action/consequence that the vast majority of people who will have sex in high school will have sex in high school, regardless of access to birth control.

I'm guessing she uses condoms regardless; secondary protection in the form of BC just gives her an additional peace of mind.

As always, love your writing, but miss your recipes. You spoiled me, and now I'm resentful of the fact that we've only had five Burneko recipes in the last three months. (Of which one was the grilled cheese, which—as fun as you can make reading about food!—still left me wondering if you were very not-so-subtly making…

Right? Not to mention that they're doing exactly what I would do if I was loaded and got to control my own hours: take a day with all my best friends to cook, eat, drink wine, and have fun.

Right? It's such a perfect fit. Lady should have been born in a Bogart era.

Really, really good point. There is something jarring in the fact that many women who have gained media attention as sex workers—who are almost always white, well-educated, and conventionally attractive—rarely if ever reference the fact that their experience is not the norm in the industry. The failure to acknowledge…

Wow, this is incredibly thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing.

I also think there's a narrative of the "I chose to become a sex worker, because I just love sex so much" sex worker that is perpetuated by many men—to a degree that is vastly disproportionate to the number of sex workers who would honestly claim that as their story.

I feel like you didn't address many of CommentBot's points with your response. Obviously, the status quo is incredibly damaging to many sex workers, and that point should be made. But I'm not sure you've addressed her concerns regarding whether legalization is a solution that will lead to across-the-board…

This connects with a discussion that's been going on lately—most recently showing up on Dan Savage's podcast, when he had on David Ley (who's done a lot of work debunking sex and porn addiction)—about how to be a responsible porn consumer, in terms of making sure that the actors enthusiastically consented, were paid…

Are there like any Tiffany super-clips to get someone caught up on her, without actually having to watch the whole first season of Flavor of Love? I'm totally intrigued, but I know I'll get too obsessed with that show for my own well-being if I start watching the whole thing now.

Wow. These were the most effective thing I'd seen in terms of helping people quit. Really don't understand the arguments that are being made here.

See, I'm really really hoping that my school gives us the go-ahead to have our students in U.S. History view it sometime this year. You're right that it deals with adult themes, but I almost feel like in this case, it deals with the right adult themes: themes that you need to understand and discuss to be an adult.

You could just as easily say the same about athletes having higher self-esteem, more confidence, and eagerness to take on new challenges. :)

It also shows you how random acts of luck can have more power than hours and hours of work, frequently includes prayer in locker rooms beforehand, sees its most prominent individuals thanking God and Jesus Christ in TV interviews, and is closely followed in the Bible Belt of the U.S.

I think that makes sense. My first thought was that Southern/Midwestern states that tend to be the most religious also tend to have the highest rates of obesity, so that could play into involvement in athletics. (But then again, those states also tend to be the most devoted to high school/college football and other…

"A good solution to this — other than addressing prevailing norms of masculinity real quick — is to train bartenders in bystander intervention. "

Agreed that these findings would suggest that bystander-intervention would be helpful, but man, I'm wondering how effective it's going to be to ask bartenders to take on that role. When I was a bartender, I felt like I never had two seconds to breathe on a Friday night, let alone police the rest of the bar. Maybe…