Gender & Sexuality

Elder Consent: The New Sex Panic?

One report on purported elder abuse describes victims as dependent captives “in highly sexualized environments.”

  • Judith Levine

The Seduction of Normalcy

On Maggie Nelson’s The Argonauts.

  • Diana Arterian

Sally Mann’s Romantic Ideal

“Dear Sir, I don’t like the way you crossed me out.”

  • Judith Levine

Styles for Him—and Her

Unisex Fashion Fought the Gender Binary, and the Binary Won

  • Philip N. Cohen

The Indiana Backlash

Ever since the Indiana legislature passed its version of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, lawmakers there have been on the defensive.

  • Simon Waxman

Wounded Women

The assumption of female vulnerability threatens to invigorate the sexist evils it aims to combat.

  • Jessa Crispin

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Still Missing: Etan Patz—and Others

During the exhaustive search for Etan, black children were disappearing in Atlanta.

  • Judith Levine

Finding Public Relief

One of the major changes in American life about 100-120 years ago was the domestication of public spaces.

  • Claude S. Fischer

Pat Lynch’s Deadly Machismo

In this drama of race and sexuality, the NYPD could learn something from Mayor de Blasio.

  • Judith Levine

Sex Is Serious

When it comes to consent, feminists and Christians agree.

  • Elizabeth Bruenig

Lurching Toward Happiness in America

Claude S. Fischer paints a broad picture of what Americans say they want—and suggests what might finally get them there.

  • Claude S. Fischer

Good Feminist

Should feminism join with other causes, or make its own path?

  • Vivian Gornick

Feminism Can Handle the Truth

What the Rolling Stone “hoax” reveals about feminism and political correctness.

  • Judith Levine

Lena Dunham Wasn’t a Pedophile, and Neither Were You

Why are we even debating whether a seven-year-old child was a child molester?

  • Judith Levine

Islam’s Abortion Debate

Islamic jurisprudence does not encourage abortion, but unlike the Catholic Church, it does not absolutely forbid it.

  • Tom Hundley

Fearful Parenting Is Contagious

Anti-vaxxers need to relax.

  • Rebecca Tuhus-Dubrow

Marriage Won’t Cure Poverty

Women’s increasing independence doesn’t bode well for the traditional institution of marriage.

  • Philip N. Cohen

Standardized Testing Can be Good

But only if we put students first.

  • Lelac Almagor

A Short History of Women in Politics

It is worth pausing to reflect on how women’s participation in politics has changed over the course of American history.

  • Claude S. Fischer

A Hobby Lobby Afterthought

The Supreme Court never agreed that access to contraceptives is a compelling government interest. The consequences may be significant.

  • Simon Waxman

Justice Roberts Should Visit an Abortion Clinic

The buffer zone decision is wonderfully logical but also divorced from real experience.

  • Simon Waxman

Forget O’Hara

Lonely Christopher’s Death and Disaster Series.

  • Felix Bernstein

On the Job: Debating Sex Work

Sex work may be a profession, but that doesn’t make it a source of empowerment.

  • Michaele L. Ferguson

In Defense of Narcissism

When narcissism was pathologized, reformers were labeled as narcissists and discontent swept under the rug.

  • Vivian Gornick
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