OMG THANK YOU! It's like saying "black is beautiful" means that white is ugly. Why does any mention of curves or pubes trigger outrage from the bald and skinny brigade? And why does Jezebel encourage this by promoting all of those commentors? It's become a really tiresome and homogenous community.

How did we get to this point where any mention of curve pride gets tagged as skinny-bashing? I don't like it.

Agree, even if she doesn't consider herself an addict. I can't laugh at drunks anymore, it's too sad.

Sometimes we women are afraid to be vulnerable because you'll think we're crazy (or just call us crazy) and/or withdraw and start sleeping with someone less "complicated."

you're brilliant. Thanks.

Thank you for this wonderfully evolved take on learning and loss. I am struggling with some of these themes myself and my parents were flawed but not extremely abusive. I'm working up the courage to be more honest and do healing work with damaged relationships, and this helps.

I totally agree with A and B, although I think that B is easier said than done if the money is unattached to a specific purpose. BTW, I would be the getter, not the giver. But as a person who struggles a little (and works for clients who struggle a lot), I know that if I got a bunch of unrestricted $$ I would piss…

I feel like I know you. My friends tend to make more money than I do because I work in the nonprofit sector, and I always really appreciate when they do these things for me. My one concern is that my friend(s) (aka you) not overspend on these generosities so that they end up overextended themselves, even if…

I have a question about the 1st letter. Is it ever appropriate to help pay a less well-off friend's debt?

I love it. Wish it came in black so I could just wear it regularly.

Sorry, I wasn't reading the entire thread. I agree with what you're saying in substance. I'm kind of sensitive to how my friends have felt like once they started showing their bodies became sort of public property. More so than before they were pregnant, I should say. But I agree that more information about the…

I agree that people need to be informed, but we're not talking about older dads, we're talking about women who drink while pregnant. I'm usually against any bright line rules about this sort of thing, it just adds to the stigma and hysteria around women's autonomy. It makes sense to educate women about the effects…

Most women I know who drank occasionally while pregnant have happy and healthy children, and are happy and healthy women. There's a Puritanical strain to these concerns about drinking during pregnancy, when most FAS cases are caused by extreme behavior. Women's bodies are policed enough when they are not pregnant,…

No, I used to see him around Brooklyn all the time before he was famous, and he has some kind of sexy magnetism, for sure.

I love Ming-Na!

I'm 40 and don't have any grey hair and don't dye my hair. Most women I know in my age group look great. We get hit on by younger guys all the time, maybe because millennials all think we're supposed to be old bent over crones with warts by now? I think some of the women mentioned DO look their age, if we're…

So true! For women, being skinny and super fit seem to be very linked with success in the US corporate world too.

I hear you. What you wrote reminds me of my mom, who is tall and blond and skinny - she basically looks like a model, but never felt pretty because she somewhere along the line got the message that she was too skinny, a "beanpole." But that doesn't change the fact that fashion and media culture still iconize that…

Paris is also just designed for slender people, the walkways in the metro are so narrow, as are many of the streets and shop aisles. Being fat (I mean FAT, not just plump and curvy) would be a serious problem as far as just getting around.

So much vitriol. For suggesting dramamine?