Yeah, it's tough. I have told men who are hesitant to call themselves feminists because they're unsure if it's their place to do so that they ought to, but shit like this makes me think they should stick to 'sympathetic to feminism' or 'allied with feminism'.

I have met some men who identify as feminist and are actually feminist, but it definitely takes more investigation to find out whether they really are. If it's just among a list of things they think about and value politically, I don't always find it to be a red flag. But I think you're right that by and large men who…

Yes, the part about listening more than they talk is the most important. I have encountered countless male 'feminists' who think that because they're feminists, they can go ahead and act as if they know more about feminism and women's experience than women do.

Oy, this is terrifying and depressing, and the phenomenon of 'macktivists' seems to be getting more and more prevalent as feminism has been getting more mainstream attention. I recently got an Okcupid message from a guy who went on about being a feminist, then made a rape joke in his questions. When I pointed this out…

Erm no, it makes just as little sense with those words inserted as it did before. Considering the entire article is about that statement being disproved, I'm not sure I'm the one who needs to think harder.

It doesn't have to be overtly sexist to be sexist. This rumor has sooo little to back it up and makes so little sense (and investigations have shown it to be baseless) that if it were a charge levied against a man, it would have been dismissed instantly.

If you're gonna go for a tinfoil hatty conspiracy, can it not be one that's really pretty sexist? The only reason this rumor would get started is "Gee whiz a WOMAN couldn't have written something like THAT, could they?"

"Some people might say 'Oh, well, plus customers aren't going to buy pants because the fit's tricky.'"

Because medical science betrays our trust in so many ways, making people desperate for alternative solutions. We're encouraged to see medical science as a magical cure-all for everything, and people are just as determined to believe that as others are to believe in natural snake-oil medicines. Medical science is…

Yeah, it's not surprising that supplements aren't subject to the same laws as medicine, but why aren't they subject to the same laws as FOOD?

I wouldn't have a problem with an ad that gave just one woman a way out of a dangerous situation, if it didn't put other women's lives at risk. This ad was more created to make people think "Oh, the NFL really cares about domestic violence" than "Oh, I should learn about domestic violence", and when that happens it…

I. . .think it sounds kind of great actually. Ground beef cheddar omelette with homefries? I'm in.

See, the fact that you thought they did both of these things already is why this ad was damaging. It's distracting people from paying attention to their total lack of action.

Actually instituting the practice of suspending and firing people who commit assault. Ray Rice is still playing.

YES. Exactly. And the fact that it was a lot like a mini-horror film probably also did some damage, because what we need people to understand about both domestic violence and sexual assault is that it DOESN'T usually look like a horror film. A lot of people may be suffering abuse that doesn't quite necessitate calling…

I would agree if the NFL were making any effort to actually combat domestic violence in their own organization, or if the ad were run by someone else. I think the fact that it may stop people from being as angry about their pathetic response to actual domestic violence counteracts any good it may have done.

I found this ad worse than useless. What was the message, exactly? "Domestic violence is scary, and. . .exists" Nothing about how to recognize when someone may be in a dangerous relationship, or what to do about it, or how to promote a culture where it's not say, acceptable for football players to commit it with no…

Presumably they collected this information about students when they were at the Health Center for appointments. THAT would be the time to bring up this issue. I don't think there is any version of a personalized email from a college institution telling you you might need to lose weight that would actually be helpful…

I just stared at this post for like five minutes thinking "that cannot POSSIBLY be a real thing that happened". I am so sorry that happened to you. What the actual fuck.

And it's not even messed up just because they are telling random people they're too fat, it's also terrible from a health perspective to assume that just because someone has a low-to-normal BMI means they don't need to improve their diet or health habits at all.