A hymen primer for romance novelists
On the list of psychological dangers presented by poorly written romance novels (e.g., the fetishization of virginity, the romanticization of abusive stalker vampires), the portrayal of the actual devirginification process itself doesn’t necessarily hover right at the top. But as a writer and a pedant, good God do I get cheesed off by anatomical inaccuracy. And while I’m not aware of scores of young women having penetrative sex for the first time and saying, “Whoa, whoa, whoa–that is not how it was in Fifty Shades of Grey!” (although they may well be out there), I feel the record should be set straight.
...read moreLaurie’s Work Featured in the Huffington Post: 30 LGBT Artists You Should Know
I was delighted to be invited to participate in the Huffington Post’s 30 LGBT Artists You Should Know. Now that the piece is up, I’m honored to be in the company they chose. The works include Frida Kahlo, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Hannah Höch, Rotimi Fani-Kayode and 25 other artists. It’s really worth watching the whole show.
...read moreSorry, Canada.
Breaking: SCOTUS upholds Obamacare. In other news: Thousands of Twitters vow to move to Canada to escape universal health care.
...read moreHaving It All: Not a “Women’s Issue”
Yes yes yes to everything here.
...read moreThe problem isn’t that women are trying to do too much, it’s that men aren’t doing nearly enough.
A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that women—even those with full-time jobs—still do the bulk of housework and childcare. On an average day, 48 percent of women and 19 percent of men did housework. Married women with children who work full time spend 51 minutes a day on housework while married men with children spend just 14 minutes a day.
The One Thing You Should Read Today
Nora Ephron’s 1996 commencement speech at Wellesley:
...read moreMy class went to college in the era when you got a masters degrees in teaching because it was “something to fall back on” in the worst case scenario, the worst case scenario being that no one married you and you actually had to go to work. As this same classmate said at our reunion, “Our education was a dress rehearsal for a life we never led.” Isn’t that the saddest line? We weren’t meant to have futures, we were meant to marry them. We weren’t’ meant to have politics, or careers that mattered, or opinions, or lives; we were meant to marry them. If you wanted to be an architect, you married an architect. Non Ministrare sed Ministrari—you know the old joke, not to be ministers but to be ministers’ wives.
Love Secrets of a Fancy Hobo
I love this piece very much. It is full of excellent advice for everyone, whether or not you have a bed to call your own.
...read moreGoodbye, Nora
The wonderful Nora Ephron passed away yesterday at 71. An advocate for women’s rights and a witty and fun filmmaker, she will be very missed.
...read moreSitting Down is Killing You
And this is why I’m going to get a standing desk. Or try to make my own, inspired by Apartment Therapy.
...read more
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