But can I use the straight panic and stand your ground defense? "I thought the meathead was coming for me and I feared for my life"

If only all uses of "gay panic" were as delightfully awkward as yours is. :/

is it bad that when I read "gay panic" all I could think of was how I react to getting hit on by a gay guy in a bar? i.e. a little flattered but completely unsure of how to handle it so I just panic and run away?

Of course, with Trayvon Martin, that's essentially what it was. It just wasn't phrased so bluntly. It was all in code. When you hear people say things like, "thuggish" and "urban" what they're really saying is, "not white."

I've definitely heard of the gay panic defense, I counseled a patient who was nearly acquitted due to it when I was still seeing patients through the Department of Corrections. The service was mandatory as part of my externship and in part was a way to pay back the university that had provided me with my doctorate…

MAN. I recently-ish lost ~50lbs, and I have learned so, so much about people and culture in so doing, let me tell you. One of the most surprising things was the continued impossibility of finding clothes that fit! I'd been at least marginally overweight basically my whole life, and I completely assumed this was a…

Truly. Everyone's healthy size is different. I have a chronic pain condition on top of being naturally thin. Gaining weight is pretty much impossible for me (after a particularly bad incident of being mocked for having my "bones sticking out" in a very sensitive situation with a very influential person in my life…

obama reaction gifs are the best reaction gifs. when he let's the mask go he is expressive as fuck and hilarious.

The best one is from a guy I knew who worked with me at Best Buy (waaayyy back when I was in high school). He and his wife worked at Hallmark during the day, and he did 3 nights a week at Best Buy for the employee discount.

Yes you did. You said "the more serious members of the social justice movement might even consider it a petty distraction from real issues". You don't know that for a fact. You're projecting your feelings onto a group of people who you perceive not to care about this issue. If you knew anything about the social…

It's not a "petty distraction". Representation in the media matters and it should concern ALL feminists when women of color aren't being represented, or ARE being represented in a stereotypical way, in a show created by a woman who is a self-proclaimed feminist.

This is fair. Jezebel headlined it and handled it VERY poorly here. Although, I haven't read her book(s?) but I'm hearing something about flippant and insensitive comments about race? Not a fan of that. Still, though if one is going to write about this, one must be EXTREMELY careful to story it as highly personal. I…

Agreed! I think people need to be more careful when they read:

'ask a boy with nice hair to kiss you. They always will. They always will. Indeed, over the next twenty years of asking boys to kiss you, none of them will ever say no '

I feel like this piece got completely screwed by its headline. If it had been framed as a memoir-type book advert the reception would have been better, but because it's being billed as an advice essay it's getting a bunch of shit. What should have been taken as something personal is being taken as something universal.…

A bunch of irresponsible, heteronormative, fat shaming bullshit? Cause that's what I got from it.

Happy Birthday, and if you're bright enough to disregard the advice above, I'm sure you'll be fine.

It's my 16th Birthday today. This is not helpful. This is strange. All teenage girls are not the same. I am my own self, and I will not conform.