Laurie and Debbie say: This list is (mostly) for folks who celebrate the upcoming holidays, and are fortunate enough to have people and resources to celebrate with; if you don’t fit that group, skip to the bottom. If you do fit, then even if your family are your favorite people and you look forward all [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: Ampersand at Alas! a Blog wrote an excellent response to last month’s article in Scientific American, “Men and Women Can’t Be Just Friends” by Adrian Ward. We only had to look at the title to know the article was wrong, because we and everyone we know has lasting friendships with people [...]

Debbie says: The title of this post is a response to James Braly’s statement, “Most women think their breasts are theirs,” blogging in a recent column in the New York Times Style section. His argument is that “Extended breastfeeding, the current scientific thinking goes, offers significant health benefits for the child, and probably for the [...]

Lynne Murray says: I like to read urban paranormal novels in part because the heroines demonstrate their power in a very literal way. The magic used in these stories, which causes visible effects, is sometimes  accompanied by fictional “power words.” This post is about real-life power words. I can’t write from first-hand experience about wounds [...]

Lynne Murray says: My friends are among the treasures of my life. Debbie posted here about friendships in January: “We don’t write about these friendships enough, we don’t talk about them enough. But we live them every day and–speaking just for myself–I couldn’t live without my friends” It took a while before I could read [...]

Debbie says: I don’t have a lot to say about Emily Rapp’s essay, Transformation and Transcendence: The Power of Female Friendship. Unless, that is, I write a book-length response. It’s a very sad essay. I’m not so much one for trigger warnings, mostly because I believe people’s triggers are too complex and nuanced to be [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: This list is for those of us fortunate enough to have people and resources to celebrate with. Even if you love the holidays, love your family, and are looking forward to the season, you still may find useful hints here. 1) To the extent possible, do as much or as little [...]

Lynne Murray says: Recently I found out about an icky situation through Ask a Guy Who Likes Fat Chicks, a wonderful blog by a young admirer of the larger figure. The guy in question, Dan Weiss, pointed out that an ad for an online matchmaking service promoting adultery, uses a photo of Jacqueline, a fat [...]

Lynne Murray says: I have not lived with what we usually think of as domestic violence–i.e., being hit by a partner. But I recently followed on the subject of humiliation studies, pointed out by Larry-bob Roberts on the Fat Studies mailing list. Here’s a brief welcoming video clip from the Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies [...]

Laurie and Debbie say: Courtney at Feministing has some pointed things to say about Erica Jong’s recent NY Times Op-Ed column decrying Jong’s impression that young people aren’t excited about sex. Here’s Jong: Generalizing about cultural trends is tricky, but everywhere there are signs that sex has lost its frisson of freedom. Is sex less [...]