Not sure if you’re flirting or harassing? Ask yourself if you’d be talking the same way if the woman were in a position of authority. If she were a police officer, who you knew had a gun and a badge, and happened to be off duty, at a bar, or a convention… You’re free to flirt, … [Read more...] about Not sure if you’re flirting or harassing?
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“The Secret to Being Both a Writer and a Mother”
So when I see yet another bloody article that, right from the headline, demands women limit the number of children they have in order to succeed professionally – as though the universal introduction of equally distributed paid maternity and paternity leave, a collective cultural … [Read more...] about “The Secret to Being Both a Writer and a Mother”
That’s what she said
This kind of crap went on and on. It was exhausting. Exhausting to figure out how to respond to the relentless misogyny from men who are otherwise kind and educated, who would never think of themselves as chauvinist assholes. ... A big pile of reasonably aware and … [Read more...] about That’s what she said
Lying to Ourselves
Not surprisingly, seeing as writers lie for money, we lie to ourselves all the damn time. You start off pretending a project doesn’t mean that much to you, or that you’re writing it to learn, or that you’re writing it for art, or that you need to do something during your lunch … [Read more...] about Lying to Ourselves
Pockets and autonomy
Men are used to carrying stuff in their pockets, you put money there, you put car keys there. With money and car keys come power and independence. You can buy stuff, you can leave. The idea of some women's clothes not having pockets is baffling, but it's worse than that -- it's … [Read more...] about Pockets and autonomy
If this was a pill
Medicare is about to shut down one of the most successful health care experiments in the country. Medicine has been so focused on what doctors can do in the hospital that it has barely even begun to figure out what can be done in the home. [...] This, too, is a legacy of a … [Read more...] about If this was a pill
What sexism does best
The lack of respectful coverage, the slut-shaming and name-calling, all the girly book covers and not-my-titles despite high literary aspirations, has worn me down, made me question everything: my abilities, my future, my life. This is what sexism does best: it makes you feel … [Read more...] about What sexism does best
On the Oxford comma
The Oxford Comma is always and eternally invariably correct, and knowing failure to use it is abomination punishable by death, or at least a failing mark. The delimiter of a comma-delimited list is a comma. In the fake and obviously-manufactured constructed situations where the … [Read more...] about On the Oxford comma
