personal fave.

That bar is so low as to almost be non-existent, it seems.

Please don’t do this. Please. You do NOT have to use every last molecule of mascara. Buy the small tubes or multi packs and discard them after two months. Staph infection, pink eye, etc. Just not worth it as a money saver and very bad advice.

The ‘turd one’ wasn’t supposed to be erotic, which is why taking a snippet like that, and trying to use it as evidence for much of anything is extremely idiotic.

Yeah, be sure to tell everyone that you’re not defending him or his writing before defending this portion of his writing because the critique is clearly stupid.

I'm really uncomfortable with "as a Jew who has been screwed over by Jews . . ." This has nothing to do with being a Jew. As a Jew have you ever been screwed over by a Christian or by an atheist? You don't, as a Jew, have to take responsibility for the actions of every other Jew or every Israeli in the world. As a…

I don’t know why Ananda believes it, but I’ll tell you why I believe it: because I have seen, in my experience, the dominant group committing racist acts against minorities, and minorities committing racist acts against the dominant groups, up to and including murder for the only reason of ethnic difference. Since I…

It’s interesting to see many people finding these quotes rather pointlessly disgusting and evident of the author’s lack of sexual experience. I found them to be aptly appropriate against the backdrop of teenage sexual illicitness and a pathetic middle-age affair. I think these quotes, in their respective context, are…

Tried to edit to add:

I still don’t buy the fairly recent academic definition of racism only being possible by those in power, but no, I didn’t think her statements were racist, just wrong. Besides, it seems to me she was intending to be sensational in her comments, most likely to get people to think and ponder and challenge their…

I haven’t made my way through the entire comments section yet, but can someone explain to me specifically why this site directs so much disdain toward Franzen? It doesn’t seem to me that he’s gone way out of his way to be misogynistic—I think he’s written some pretty strong female characters. I think he’s been…

As I mentioned just above, it's part of a phone sex fantasy that gets really fucking weird. It's not something that actually happens in the book. I mean, rag on Freedom all you want, it's definitely overrated as hell, but read the fucking thing first.

The first four quotations are descriptions of emotional states using sexual imagery and/or metaphor. They’re not descriptions of literal sex acts. The last two descriptions are from increasingly fantastical sexual conversations between teenagers and again, are purposefully divorced from reality. Not my favorite book…

I’ve never found any sex writing to be “good”. Some have been more realistic, or honest, but I’ve never read anything that struck me as erotic.

If it was “stand naked in front of the class” I could maybe see it being some sort of legitimate performance art instructional thing (demonstrating that you’re comfortable enough with your own self that you can be totally vulnerable in front of a crowd is probably a thing that performance artists should be able to…

Mmm...if it was nudity in front of the class and everyone had to do it, that would be one thing. But students having to get nude in front of the professor to pass an art class? Yes, it’s an elective, but a failing grade can really fuck up your GPA. I’m all for stepping outside your comfort zone but this, to me, sounds…

Not only did I have a similar experience (in terms of administrators being uninterested until parents get involved), but college students... They might be legal adults, but most are adults in pretty much no other way.

Yeah, it’s not like there are any sexual assaults or anything going on on college campuses. Parents should just let their fully mature adult children handle everything, and not question anything that looks inappropriate.

I do know something about art and I am a performance artist and this is just ridiculous and offensive. No one should have to perform naked in a college course at any age or level. The dude is clearly a pervert who is totally getting off on this. This is absolutely unnecessary. I also happen to have taught a little,…

This is a really weird power dynamic, and I have to agree that it is super inappropriate. That being said, the student is an adult. Asking mom for support and advice is fine, but she needs to make the complaint herself.