@Chancentrate 2.0: Well yes, girls and women do make false rape allegations. I guess by "idea that girls make rape up" I meant the larger idea promulgated by some misogynists that most rape is made up, that many many women make false allegations to trap or punish men, etc. In all this, Hess's argument really is the… Read more

@clever.username: Duberley mentions Wintour and Grace Coddington as over-60 icons, which I also mention in the post. Read more

@katynels: I kind of liked Eminem early on. He lost me when he started talking about how "it feels so empty without me." This is what I think of every time Sarah Palin talks. Read more

@galaxina: I don't think Watters or McGruder is suggesting that the saffron paste treatment would be good for Americans — it just shows that other cultures have other ways of dealing with mental illness, and these can be effective for them. I think we might be able to learn something about family and community… Read more

@mbprice: It makes it appear much less like a character flaw to other people. Read more

@InABook: All the Times article says (and it's quoting Kansas law) is "an unreasonable but honest belief that circumstances existed that justified deadly force." This is pretty vague and doesn't mention the defense of others. I haven't read the entire Kansas statute in question, so maybe that's in there elsewhere (any… Read more

@Sputnik_Sweetheart: My bad, you're right! Read more

@Anna N.: Except actually it's unclear if forms of penetrative sex that don't involve a penis confer benefits. I'm betting these were not studied. Read more

@debo matar la zombi goldberry83: It's really hard to tell from the article whether the benefits would still apply to gay men. Gay women, though, seem SOL in terms of sex-for-better-public-speaking. Read more

@miscellany: You're right, this is another possible explanation. Unfortunately all data in this area is based on self-reporting, so it's hard to know what teens are actually doing. So much of what anyone reports is influenced by social norms. Read more

@sybann: Just to be clear, I'm arguing that sexuality doesn't have a "sliding scale" and that women don't become less sexy or sexual as they age, even if Hollywood sometimes pretends they do. Read more

@Lymed: I also think it's good that this parent was willing to go on record praising the study — it shows that parents and scientists don't have to be enemies in this debate and that more research can help parents make decisions for their kids. Read more

@ShishirkanaWallaby: In a CNN piece (linked above), McCarthy says that some doctors now say her son was initially misdiagnosed. She doesn't buy it — but it seems like a possibility to me. Read more

@CurtCole: I would kind of like to invite Liz Jones to a party. I'm curious about what comes out of her mouth when she's just hangin out. "I hate televisions. They are so coarse, square, and fat, like women." "I hate hors d'oeuvres — they are for ugly stupid people who are posh. And fat." Or maybe she would just be… Read more

@first man: Not to downplay the threat of real terrorism, but I've often wondered if at least one goal of terrorism is to cause loss of money and time across the American population through additional cumbersome security screenings. Even if an attack fails, it adds thousands (millions) of wasted hours to Americans'… Read more

@carlittle: Yes! Good catch. Read more

@Elle O. Elle: Apparently, "smoyle" is an archaic form of the word "smile." Read more

@Elle O. Elle: It may be more the commentary on the survey, esp. by he person from Slimming World, that makes it sound like it's about how women want to look. Read more

@TheFormerJuneBronson: This was my thought also. My high school jeans were ridiculous bell-bottoms because that was in, briefly. I do not want to wear them again. Read more

@jemandtheholograms: I kind of gave Lauer the benefit of the doubt here and assumed that he meant the guy was a good candidate because his dad had previously warned the US about his extremism. A warning we ignored. Read more