This is not a good barometer, because it’s very easy for people to charm their way through brief encounters for the sake of their image, and that’s exactly what sociopaths and narcissists do. I absolutely believe that someone like SJP could be super sweet to fans and servers because she only has to see them once and…

my favorite review of Argo compares Ben Affleck’s look to one of the line drawings in The Joy of Sex. Cannot remember who the reviewer is, but the comparison was spot on.

Minority opinion from an older generation:

Oh - Yeah I learned nothing about sex from my parents or at school. For years I didn’t know that having a period had anything to do with reproduction. !!!

I got my sex ed from Jackie Collins like all good 12-year olds should. Also, I found The Joy of Sex in my parents bedroom which scarred me for life.

As a person with depression, I totally understand what was going on inside this woman’s mind. I’ve never got to a point where I actually tried to kill myself, but I I thought about it so many times during my darkest years.

I read a comment that kind of summed up an issue with the press coverage of MeToo. Basically, it seems like a lot of the press has focused on clickbait and/or overemphasizing the role of those who may have had some direct or indirect complicity instead of outing predators and the major power players that enable their…

Ha! No, I’m a progressive or liberal. Left. Not far left, not center left.

Yeah, why bring a child into the world during the great depression? Or the Cuban Missile Crisis? Or the Dark Ages? Or during the Revolution?

Really good post. I’m a parent, and am amazed by how much I love my kid and how happy I am that I reproduced. If I could have had more I would have done so. On the other hand many of my friends have no kids and it’s not an issue, that’s who they are. If you don’t want kids, just don’t have them.

Yes, I’m just that stupid :)

Having children can be either the most selfish or the most selfless thing a person ever does. There are far more of the former than there are of the latter, so I’ll chalk your cynicism up to observation bias.

I’m going to reiterate what someone else already said. If you don’t want kids more than you’ve ever wanted anything else in your entire life, DON’T HAVE KIDS. There are already too many parents who probably shouldn’t be. Whether it’s social pressure, biological pressure, or just fear of missing out, none of those are…

I just had my first child 18 months ago, and while I was always concerned with climate change, the combo of hormones and Trump’s election thrust me into full blown anxiety about it. I still can’t say that I’m certain I made the right decision. Who can? And I will say, if we can afford the cost of a second child we…

You know what will talk you out of it? Read a history book. Environmental degradation has been bad before, and things got better. Think of the smog of London a century ago, or when lake Erie started on fire. The idea that it is uniquely bad now is actually rather egocentric.

Honestly, this whole “fucked up world, I can’t bring kids into it” has been a thing for generations. There was a whole Meathead/Gloria storyline on that back in the mid-70s. It’s not new to the point of being a cliche, and the world is always going to be fucked up. It’s Ok to not want kids just because — you don’t…

You can’t argue someone out of a feeling. Stop waiting for someone to tell you what you want to hear, and go with what you know you want. The world will always be a fucked up place. If you wait to have kids until it’s good enough for them, you will probably never have kids.

I had my first at 37 and I’m southern, so I had a good 18 years of that question. The answer that worked for me was — When I finally decide to grow up. That usually sparked a conversation about how you need to be responsible (or not) to have kids. When the questions was asked by family the answer varied sometimes:

If you want to be reassured, let me say that we are a remarkably resilient species, we have bioengineering ideas for addressing climate change (should it come to that), and a bunch of people thought we were all going to die once our planet hit six billion in population in the 1970s, and boy were they wrong.

Yup, I’ve been around enough kids to know that I want no part of it. I don’t even mourn the idea of not having kids of my own. Enough so that I kind of don’t even want to bother dating until I’m too old to have kids so I don’t get badgered about it.