Murphy was exploited throughout her life — by the producers who insisted she be thin and “fuckable,” and then by her grifter husband. And shortly after her death, her father (a small-time mobster who had abandoned her as a child) got into the act by spreading conspiracy theories that she was murdered. Now he’s passed…

In this case, Alexa chose to write about the relationship in detail and post it to public social media. It’s not like the AV Club had to snoop around in her diary to find out the details. She wanted it out there, and that makes a big difference.

Exactly. I don’t closely monitor my 14-year-old’s phone use because a)I think it’s creepy to do that and b)everybody knows to use incognito mode for the questionable stuff anyhow. But we have had a LOT of conversations about both general safety (eg, not posting her exact location, using strong privacy settings) and…

And her character is kind of the slutty wild girl (for the 1940s, anyhow), so it’s not like she was being asked to stretch terribly far. I haven’t seen the movie in quite some time but I don’t remember her being bad in it.

Yeah, I agree that the fact he had authority over the woman makes it more complicated/worse than a typical affair — I just wasn’t thinking about that aspect.

The way I read the timeline is that he retaliated against the woman after he came back from filming. So when he was cast, the worst he was guilty of in this specific situation was cheating on his wife. (Plus whatever’s covered under “repeated violations of company policy,” but it sounds like the restaurant swept that u…

Yep. FWIW, I’m from DC and Mike Isabella went from being everywhere to basically nothing. Like, he doesn’t have a personal website anymore and his Twitter feed is all RTs about boxing or something. If the same thing happens to Gabe as a result of this, I’m not going to complain.

Those questions are why I wouldn’t agree with taking away his win. I agree that it’d be emotionally satisfying to say that if you’re a jerk, you don’t get a massive professional prize. But he won the prize fair and square and kept his dick in his pants while doing it, so stripping him (or anyone) of an award for…

Thanks, that’s a really thoughtful answer, and I appreciate it. 

Absolutely. It’s a cultural shift. 

If you and I both know that the Albanian sworn virgins/Fa’faine/hijra etc. aren’t nonbinary or third gender by current standards, why bring them up? Those are rich and interesting cultural roles, but they have next to nothing to do with nonbinary in the way Demi Lovato means it. Which is, after all, where this…

Most of those third genders are prostitutes, religious workers like nuns or monks, or effeminate men who performed female tasks. (Oh, or Albanian women who took on the male role so they could support their families.) They aren’t very progressive, and they don’t map particularly well onto a 21st century understanding…

That’s fair. I guess the issue that I have is that ten years ago, there were only two pairs of pants and had only ever been two pairs of pants in most societies, and even trans people didn’t want to wear a skirt instead — they were picking between ill-fitting Pair of Pants A and slightly-better-fitting Pair of Pants…

Right, which is really unfortunate in a romantic relationship — especially since Zoe’s only supposed to be a year or so younger than Connor and Evan. 

Fair enough, but gender is much less superficial than something like being a redhead. We don’t have hair color reveal parties for new babies.

Aww, I love her. 

I do love the subtle shade of the headline pointing out that they just happen to have a new podcast to promote. 

I’m 42 too (‘78/’79 babies unite) and I’m just going to throw this out there: What’s the difference between being nonbinary and being a man or woman who, like most people, doesn’t completely fall in line with gender stereotypes? I don’t identify with a lot of things culturally associated with femininity, but I always…

The problem is, the other actors look more like normal movie high schoolers — not exactly young, but standard suspension of disbelief territory. I checked and they’re only 3-5 years younger than Ben, but it looks like more.

My guess is that a lot of the purchases are curiosity or gag gifts, since I agree that it’s unlikely anyone particularly wants their house to smell like a vagina. Though the fact there’s an audience willing to spend $75 on a gag gift is a sign white ladies have too much money.