At age 18 and the lowest weight of my adult life (5'5", 110 lbs), I NEVER had a thigh gap. I was a size 2, had a completely flat stomach, thought I was the bomb in a bikini, and there was no thigh gap to be found. My thighs just don't work that way. I don't think I could ever actually be skinny enough to have a thigh…

One of my favorites as well! I always wished I had some friends to make up an "Egypt Game" with. Sadly, the kids on my block weren't quite that imaginative.

Oh, and also, Dicey's Song, by Cynthia Voight - about four kids abandoned by their mentally ill mother, and the oldest girl takes them on a long journey by foot down the Eastern seaboard to find a grandmother they've never met. Beautiful writing, interesting characters, a great story about independent, competent kids…

Under The Lilacs is another really great Louisa May Alcott book!

I went through a Walter Farley phase also. My favorite Farley book was actually the one where an older archeologist/scientist type and a young kid go to this island that is a giant rock in the middle of the sea, get lost inside a cave/tunnel, and then emerge on the "inside" of the island where there is a valley with…

Ballet Shoes, by Noel Streatfeild. Can't believe nobody's mentioned the "Shoes" books yet! There are about a dozen, all of which are about talented children in WWI era Britain, but this is the first and real classic of the lot. Paulina, Petrova, and Posy Fossil! And Ms. Streatfeild was a feminist - Petrova wants to be…

Well, I can pretty much guarantee you that whatever "personal offense" you might be feeling because some stranger on the internet criticized the behavior of some other strangers who happen to share your personal identity, it is nothing compared to the misery that I am currently experiencing as an otherwise decent and…

It is difficult to identify the "asshole" demographic, given that they look and sound just like the "non-asshole" demographic. All the polyamorists involved in the aforementioned incidents spent a lot of time discussing their inherent enlightenment about human relationships and their total commitment to honesty,…

My personal experience:

I was just thinking the ploy might be, "pay an extra $75 or we'll seat you next to the infant whose nice warm milk-giving boob we are going to take away from him mid-flight."

Let's see....I have a choice between sitting in an airplane seat for X hours next to a hungry, hurting, screaming baby or a peaceful, sleepy, nursing baby (but I might have to *gasp* catch a glimpse of a boob!!!!)....

I have a feeling that porn is exactly where this girl will end up in a few years, maybe less.

+1000

Aw, thanks!

So I showed the original article to my short, geeky husband - I just gave him a very brief description of it (i.e., "young dude wants to know why nobody wants to be his girlfriend"), and then showed him the guy's picture.

Some knee-jerk thoughts after reading the actual article (and looking at the pictures):

Thank you. I really appreciate this measured response, and I agree with much of what you are saying. Relationships are hard, regardless of how they are constructed, and I applaud anyone who is putting in the work to make and keep intimate connections with the people in their lives.

My point is: how about a little parity from the people who don't like being judged and criticized for their own choices? You don't like people calling you selfish cheaters? Don't call other people repressed and "vanilla". It's all about the Golden Rule. These people I cited and all the others like them are…

A quick search reveals these two gems right off the bat:

I've never had a gay person tell me that I was repressed for being hetero, that I was only hetero because I couldn't separate my own feelings from wider social norms, that gay people are more enlightened and mature than hetero people, that most of us would be gay if we only weren't lying to ourselves about our own…