Noah Berlatsky

Some love stories don't end happily. So why do so many romance novels insist they do?

Their sexuality traps and destroys male innocence, as they grad hold, by the penis- the better to lead him to castration. Make no mistake that castration is greeted with fear, terror, and disgust—but also with glee. Women as super villains allow their characters to be super powerful; a force for evil is at least a force. In a media landscape where women are often rendered secondary, invisible, and passive, the femme fatale, in her icy violence, seizes female agency along with the phallus that she so efficiently cuts off.

It's worth questioning some of our assumptions about adolescent inferiority.

The history of pop music, and of black pop music in particular, has always been gay history.

A new Facebook post calls into question cover depictions of hyper-sexualized men and women.

The surface text of the film is that you can't trust some guys. The (barely) subtext is that you can't trust any guys.

With the prospect of another Bush/Clinton presidential contest looming as ominously as Donald Trump's hairpiece, the word "dynasty" seems to be frothing off of many a pundit's keyboard. "Clinton, Bush struggle to shed dynasty labels," a Washington Post headline declared.

Talking about race can get you into a lot of trouble . . . especially if you don't have a lot of class power or status.

Is the gender of the philosopher a marginal curiosity—or is it more central?

Fifth Harmony is nobody's idea of a roots band.