@bunnies, etc.: Actually, what the friend said was (paraphrasing): "I am not responsible for your lavish lifestyle". If someone wouldn't spend that much on shoes for themselves, why should they shell out for someone else's - especially when they weren't directly responsible for the loss?

@JilliefromChile: Holy cow, so THAT's what I am! I never thourght it out to succinctly, but my preferences are exactly the same as yours. It's amazing to see it in print, typed by someone else's hand. Thanks!

@KayKins: I am going to think about this post for a long time. I am the same way, but I also try to be tolerant and inclusive, so the judgement rubs even me the wrong way sometimes, but it's so visceral it's often my first reaction.

@Miss Suka: I guess it's because some "good-doing" is relative. It's the "Give a man a fish" idea. You can spend x amount of energy to give a man a fish, or you can spend x + 1 energy to teach a man to fish. There are only so many hours in a day, good-hearted people on earth, and dollars in the pockets of those…

@MissBuckyC: He's an unrepentant adulterer. He has kids with a handful of different women, one of whom was pregnant when he ditched her for Alicia.

@betweentwolungs: No worries, I was just feeling political last night. That chip on my shoulder was delicious. I ate it off with some onion dip.

@clockwise - counter: He's too old for her. And not sufficiently violent. If you ask me, he seems more like an arson type of dude.

@LadyTudorRose: I am just happy this one is over thirty. Now Special J can go back to making out with girls his own age, behind the portable after fourth-period math class.

@MissBuckyC: I give it another eight months. By then, whatever random woman Swizz got pregnant last week will be ready to pop, and he'll be married to them.

@betweentwolungs: That list is kind of ...'racist' isn't quite the word, but almost. "Anais" and "Rocco" are valid names, they're just "ethnic". Are we only allowed to name our kids good White Anglo names now, disregarding their ancestry, or risk being ridiculed?

@la vie en hypnose: She's NOT a Material Girl - she always said that song was ironic and she was singing it as a caricature.

@poires et poireaux: That is awesome. I know a gender-variant child as well, and I have met both their male and their female presentations. Zie is beyond fabulous, a snazzy dresser, and utterly loveable. Best of all - zir mother was a gender studies prof even before zie was a twinkle in her eye. How's that for…

@softballmom74: There is increasing evidence that these places mostly seek to farm healthy white babies for handing over to good Christian couples. They have no interest in supporting poor women who need help in choosing to become mothers; they're self-serving entities pushing an agenda to create another generation of…

@ragnarokt: This was heartening to read - thank you. When I really think about it, I can honestly say that my wife and I prioritize our marriage above anything else in life - career, travel, everything. I have faith that as long as we arrange our lives around our marriage, we will keep it strong.

@ragnarokt: It always makes me feel afraid when such seemingly-solid couples split up, because I can't understand why people who are so committed to keeping a relationship working and growing can just.... run out of steam, or give up. I am in a marriage where we are aiming for forever, and I know we will do everything…

Josie's boy-crazy ways are actually stolen from another character in the books - Ruby Gillis. They chopped a lot of Ruby from the television series. She has a great denouement in the books, though. In an ending typical of moralistic Little Women-esque writing, she dies a dignified and premature death from consumption…

Famous women being abused by their partners are in especially complicated situations because they can be held hostage by the prospect of scandal. So many women already feel pressure not to report out of fear of what people will say - imagine multiplying that fear by the number of people who glance at the cover of…

@bluesbelle: Imo, in order to truly engage in a loving relationship, you have to be willing to let go of the superficial gratification provided by participating in patriarchy. Dominion and coercion can't exist in the same space as true love; you have to eradicate one in order for the other to flourish.

@AspasiaTheLayza: This is also what happens when we don't challenge the cultural messages which instruct men and boys that women and girls exist as objects to be used for their amusement.

@Ginny Babcock: Visibility is important. To queer kids who feel isolated by living in a het family surrounded by het people and closeted people, just knowing that at least one person in their world is "like them" can be a revelation. It can mean the difference between a torturous and possibly self-destructive road to…