Month: June 2026

I’m not the only person to respond to Magdalene Taylor’s “heteropessimism” article in the New York Times. Sarah Jones at NY Mag had a different take: “Yes, straight women are in trouble.” Perhaps, but she’s an unreliable narrator. Heterosexual women are not okay. Probably they never have been. At least, that’s the story I keep…

It’s basic politics that propaganda doesn’t usually work through persuasive argument. Instead, you simply present your worldview as neutral with all the important ideas as assumptions taken for granted. Magdalene Taylor’s new article in the New York Times is in that style. It presents itself as an evenhanded lament of “heteropessimism” and the gender wars,…