“Do you know what the gender is?” is the question people most frequently ask expecting parents. Usually, I give the conventional response: “No, we are waiting to be surprised.” But occasionally I offer up one of my two real answers, “We don’t know the sex or the gender” or “I don’t really believe in gender anyway.” Eyebrows raised. And then a series of explanations follow. Sometimes I go into a long monologue, a la feminist philosopher Judith Butler, about gender being a fiction, consisting of two opposite categories and a series of staged acts that we tacitly agree to “perform, produce, and sustain.” On the most basic level, why is blue is the agreed upon costume color for boys, while pink is the color for ... Continue reading →
Starting in June, Esquire magazine, in conjunction with Open Road Media, will publish e-books of what it is calling "Fiction for Men." According to The New York Times: David Granger, the editor in chief of Esquire, said he has lamented the loss of space that magazines devoted to publishing fiction. ... His definition of men's fiction? Work that is "plot-driven and exciting, where one thing happens after another," he said. "And also at the same time, dealing with passages in a man's life that seem common." The scorn that greeted his definition of "men's fiction" on my Twitter and Facebook feeds reminded me of the vitriol leveled against King Joffrey from Game of Thrones. The LA Times blog Jacket Copy recorded some of the more ... Continue reading →
There’s been a lot of over-thinking it about poor Julia, the composite character created by the Obama campaign team. In my book, she’s a success despite the backlash, because, in keeping the focus all about policy, the infographic of her life got even her detractors to spell out the popular stuff that they’re against. Ross Douthat, usually a master of obfuscation, is forced to tick off the injustices: The list of Obama-bestowed benefits includes Head Start when Julia’s a tyke, tax credits and Pell grants to carry her through college and low-interest loan repayment afterward, guaranteed birth control when she’s a 20-something and government-sponsored loans when she wants to start a business, all of it culminating in a stress-free retirement underwritten by Medicare and Social ... Continue reading →
There’s been a lot of over-thinking it about poor Julia, the composite character created by the Obama campaign team. In my book, she’s a success despite the backlash, because, in keeping the focus all about policy, the infographic of her life got even her detractors to spell out the popular stuff that they’re against. Ross Douthat, usually a master of obfuscation, is forced to tick off the injustices: The list of Obama-bestowed benefits includes Head Start when Julia’s a tyke, tax credits and Pell grants to carry her through college and low-interest loan repayment afterward, guaranteed birth control when she’s a 20-something and government-sponsored loans when she wants to start a business, all of it culminating in a stress-free retirement underwritten by Medicare and Social ... Continue reading →
There’s been a lot of over-thinking it about poor Julia, the composite character created by the Obama campaign team. In my book, she’s a success despite the backlash, because, in keeping the focus all about policy, the infographic of her life got even her detractors to spell out the popular stuff that they’re against. Ross Douthat, usually a master of obfuscation, is forced to tick off the injustices: The list of Obama-bestowed benefits includes Head Start when Julia’s a tyke, tax credits and Pell grants to carry her through college and low-interest loan repayment afterward, guaranteed birth control when she’s a 20-something and government-sponsored loans when she wants to start a business, all of it culminating in a stress-free retirement underwritten by Medicare and Social ... Continue reading →
Picture this. On route to an appearance on Meet The Press, the Vice President engages in a sexually explicit conversation with her lover. Her staff, overhearing, blushes at the graphic nature of the conversation, and quickly usher her into the car switching the topic from innuendo to the hardline immigration stance she will be taking on air. Welcome to television’s new world of women and politics: that actually happened on HBO, two Sundays ago. This spring, both ABC and HBO launched two new shows, “Scandal” and “Veep” respectively—that portray women in politics as a sexy, powerful, and fun. Both are refreshing departures from the real world of politics and even the cloistered asexuality of The West Wing. In the cultural imagination, female political figures rarely ... Continue reading →
Is Julia gay? And will she get married now?That’s what leapt to my mind Wednesday when President Barack Obama told everyone that he is for gay marriage. That announcement, incidentally, drew huzzahs on the social networks, which tend to mist up over gay marriage in a way that is different from any other issue. Talking about gay marriage involves marginality plus connectivity plus short-form wit. For that reason, it’s an issue ideally suited to Twitter, just as desegregation was the right issue for the heyday of black-and-white newspaper photography.But back to Julia, the cartoon character of ambiguous personal arrangements at the center of Obama’s widely reviled propaganda slideshow, “Life of Julia.” She is the fictional star of a digital campaign ad that contrasts the ways ... Continue reading →
