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.
names
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.
bathrooms
Potty parity is a practical concern par excellence. It’s a final frontier, the porcelain ceiling, if you will.
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.
dating
Not that you'd know it from men's media.
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.
bathrooms
As a solo parent to a son, the logistics of peeing in public restrooms presents an ongoing quandary.
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.
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.
motherhood
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.
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.
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.
gender
Should I have said more? Less? Am I overthinking it? What do other parents think?
gender
While my co-workers and I can have a dialogue about my identity and what I experience, I don't have time to take on the burden of educating each person that offends me throughout the day.
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?
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.
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.
allan mott
Since I was 11, I have become accustomed to situations where I’ve been the sole possessor of a Y chromosome.
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?
fellatio
Do you feel "powerless" while giving head?
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?
