Clever countries have (at least partly) solved this with “family leave,” with half allowed for the mother and half for the father. Look at Finland. But yes, this is a problem.

I really don’t think this is it, or at least all of it or most of it. For one, women (usually) need to get pregnant to have babies, and men aren’t going to be able to take that load anytime soon. That time out matters, and for a lot of women without “easy” pregnancies (mine was disabling, I could never have continued…

Agreed. The status quo is obviously not ideal, but I always knew I wanted children and so I worked hard to build a flexible career that would accommodate the kind of family life I hoped for. That didn’t exactly go to plan (divorce with a toddler was not in the plan!) but I don’t really understand women who get to…

Yep. My (male) best friend has just graduated as a nurse (30s career change) and despite decidedly average (if not below average) grades, he’s been offered his choice of grad jobs at every last hospital in the state. Male nurses are in big demand, and he’s coping just fine with the odd “ooh, a male nurse huh?” crack…

I understand your point for athletes past puberty but it’s a (for once, I think) real slippery slope when you talk about fairness in sports, for kids in particular... where I live now (mostly white/Asian Australian neighborhood) it feels like every other year there’s an outcry from some random soccer mum that gets…

You need, need, need to see the 60 Minutes clip with Anderson Cooper from... well let’s just say I’m old, as evidenced by the fact that I clearly watched 60 Minutes and not recently... where he goes into great detail about how you really can rhyme things with “orange.” Only he pronounces orange as “ornj” as if it has…

I called it on day 0: I believe my comment was “how long until he’s “seeking treatment for his sex addiction,” you know the one that’s caused HIM so much pain?”

I have the exact same opinion of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and it is decidedly not a popular opinion to hold. Still standing by it.

Of course, that’s a classic predator move: prey on the weakest and least credible victims, the ones who have absolutely nothing to gain from speaking out against you. This is why I’ll be so furious if this heads in the (IMO) inevitable “I have chosen to seek treatment for my sex addiction” direction, because…

I love that the root is a site for black people, by black people, about black shit. I’m a very white immigrant duel-citizen (from Australia), and while I’m back in Australia now, I struggled greatly during my 10 years in America to understand why or how everything was so fucked-up, race wise. Why were my mostly white…

Coming back to this because... just fully registered that your partner knows the exact same stories (just as I’m sure a lot of people know them) and grrrrr... it *is* unbelievable there isn’t someone above Singer (he’s not exactly certified a-list, he definitely doesn’t have Weinstein-level power) that can/will act to…

I want to see the parents do something. My former-mother-in-law didn’t force my former brother-in-law into rehab the first time, my (then) barely teenage ex-husband (the younger brother) did, because mom was MIA cultivating her own “Hollywood Hookup” and those boys were living alone by 16/13. Not that it’s shocking…

Truth. If I’m grateful for anything it’s that I know what’s “enough” for me. My dad was an entrepreneur, did very well by any normal person’s standards, reached a certain point where it was “enough,” sold his business and retired very early. His much richer business associates just did not get it - was something…

I lived for 10 years in Hollywood, in a ‘Hollywood family’ and a Hollywood clique before recently escaping to a (hopefully) more normal life (I am so close to doxxing myself on here, I need to stop especially since I often mention family!) so it’s safe to say that terrible stories about the behavior of the rich,…

Aw thanks. My nanna was a remarkable woman, particularly in tandem with her big sister (who also passed just before her big 100.) Auntie Mouse moved to Fiji (from Australia), learned to fly when women did not do that, and became mayor of the small town in New Zealand she eventually settled in until the very last few…

It is a very American thing. I lived in the US for 10 years (back home in Australia since December), mostly among white people, and “female” never stopped being jarring even though I heard it multiple times a day. I am not a female, I am a woman. I’ll even take girl if it’s meant nicely. “Female” or “females” is…

My former sister-in-law deliberately chose Thanksgiving weekend for her wedding because they really wanted a small celebration, they had a million people that politeness (and parents) demanded that they invite, and she knew she’d get a whole lot more “so sorry, we can’t come” replies that way. She got her small…

I’m a doula (and not a hippie, I swear.) It’s very hard to find a hospital that will allow a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean) in the US, because of some (now almost totally discredited) studies that suggested they were riskier than a repeat-C. The risk is pretty much the same, and in most other advanced countries…

A member of my ex-husband’s family was a former child star (never a huge name, but he worked consistently) and was friends with a lot of other child stars from his era, and he blames Singer for two of their suicides amongst several other fucked-up lives. One you’d know immediately, the other you’d probably have to…

Such garbage. When my nanna was 94, a trans woman was employed at her nursing home. She was very early in her physical transition and honestly still looked very masculine - she was of Samoan descent, very tall and burly and already in her mid-50s then, so not remotely close to ‘passing.’ Nanna was initially upset that…