My family fantasy centered around me, a feminist dude partner, and two adopted daughters that I could call Mary and Margot after my favorite lady monarchs. Our home would ooze estrogen and empowered ladyhood.
motherhood
names
Writing under my initials for a very long time has allowed me to observe the way people relate to a writer on the basis of perceived gender, because people seem to have an urgent, desperate need to slot each other into gender categories.
comics
If you want to see fire, get between one of my employees and their love, comics. If you prevent them from doing their job, you will lose every time you walk through the door.
gender
My hair is technically a men's haircut. At least, a haircut of men I see pass by me everyday: close clipped around the sides and back, with a burst of curls at the top.
frilly underthings
I don't know about you guys, but for me this one is getting filed under "Why didn't I think of this first I COULD BE A MILLIONAIRE RIGHT NOW."
wikipedia
My first reaction to this was “My stars! I am offended! I shall retweet this to remind myself to read it later and prepare to flame with righteous outrage!”
bathrooms
As a solo parent to a son, the logistics of peeing in public restrooms presents an ongoing quandary.
clothing
The other day I was leafing through the racks of a local Goodwill when I saw it: a bright pink sweater covered with multi-colored hearts. I swooned, smiled, and then stopped: Was this too girly?
gender
Should I have said more? Less? Am I overthinking it? What do other parents think?
names
Especially now, when ambiguously gendered names are actually extremely common and names that were historically masculine are commonly used by women and girls, names and salutations are even more of a minefield than they were before.
shoes
Can’t we just let them be kids, without involving them in our adult handwringing over the implications of allowing them to do normal kid things?
men
I write The Man Page. The page that tells women what men think.
the good men project
Why, as traditional gender roles are starting to fade, is the Easy-Bake Oven more girly than ever?
trans
All my female friends were so excited when their breasts started budding, comparing their tiny cleavage with each other and proudly sporting training bras. I wanted ace bandages or compression sports bras to make them as small as possible, to make them go away.
gender
There’s this kind of idealized dream of little girls, as sugar and spice and everything nice, which results in huge amounts of pressure to make them as femmey as possible at all times.
makeup
I don’t have to explain that it’s because makeup is marketed to women, the connotations it might have about his sexuality, gender roles, etc. etc. All topics for another article, one that would probably bore me to death.
different is good
I wish I gave a shit about sports, the way Daisy does. But I don't. I care about My Little Pony and glitter instead.
bathrooms
Potty parity is a practical concern par excellence. It’s a final frontier, the porcelain ceiling, if you will.
gender
Folks in my world have separated sex from gender so wholly that there is no way to comfortably relax into the idea of a baby girl being like THIS, or a baby boy being like THAT.
gender
This isn’t about saying that men and women don’t exist: it’s about saying that the world is a whole lot bigger than dudes and ladies.
class
Ann Romney’s remarks about “women out there who don’t have a choice” perfectly captures certain rich people’s deep-seated beliefs about class -- namely, that class inequity is a positive thing, and that there's something noble about poverty.
dating
Not that you'd know it from men's media.
