Friday on the Dish, Patrick went in-depth on whether labels make you stupid (reader thoughts here), Chris debuted the Ask (Spencer) Ackerman Anything poll, Maisie pondered Romney's path on foreign policy, and I nodded in the direction of a political solution for Syria during a cease fire (follow-up here) and posed some pragmatic challenges to advocates of … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, I defended the idea that liberal democracy was here to stay, spoke up in favor of gyms (follow-up here), and clarified a point on drug legalization versus criminalization, while Patrick debunked a wildly misleading statistic from the Romney campaign. Today's nontroversy merited a meh, the Buffet Rule tested the GOP's elasticity, Mitt needn't … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
Today on the Dish, Maisie compiled reax to Santorum's drop out and I defended the idea that the man had legitimate appeal inside the GOP. Chris thought through the phenomenology of asexuality and implored you to Ask Jennifer Rubin Anything, Patrick posed a tough question for Ross Douthat, and I both sharpened the liberal/neoconservative line on foreign policy and explored … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
Autumn Whitefield-Madrano has her doubts:
Beauty science is the richest heir to physiognomy. What physiognomy attempted to do was pin down the mysteries of character and behavior, using a highly coded and essentially arbitrary system of classification. What scientists and economists are attempting to do with its glut of studies on beauty is pin down the mystery of fascination, using the highly specialized—and often subjective—tools at their disposal. … Researchers use facial characteristics to explain things like gaydar, the trustworthiness of baby-faced adults, and women’s supposed preference for manly-men, and even conscientiousness.
Whitefield-Madrano has compared the modern-day modelling industry to physiognomy:
On dudes with low libidos: As long as we believe that male sexual desire is invariably voracious, those who buy into that myth will assume that a man with low sex drive for a female partner must be attracted to men. That’s much easier to comprehend than a genuinely modest libido. And while there may … Continue reading He’s Just Not That Into It
by Zoë Pollock That's how talent scout Henry Willson found and named Rock Hudson, among others. Anne Helen Petersen recounts why Rock appealed to every housewife in America: In [Pillow Talk and two quasi-sequels], Hudson and Doris Day play the most flirtatious asexuals in the world: They talk about around the fact of sex, meaning … Continue reading Cruising Gay Bars For “Straight” Stars
By Carline Jean/Sun Sentinel/MCT via Getty Images. Today on the Dish, New York prepared for Hurricane Irene, including stockpiling wine, cards, ice and water to flush toilets, while some shrugged it off. On the political front, Rick Perry used to be a Democrat, and Frum concentrated on the problem of Perry's book. Douthat calmed Romney's … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, a rebel commandeered Qaddafi's hat, Muammar was still nowhere to be found, and Yglesias invoked Francis Fukuyama’s The End Of History. Factionalism among the rebels represented the next stage in the battle, Larison defended his use of stalemate in describing Libya, and Zack lobbied for humility in arguments. Fareed outlined a … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
by Chris Bodenner
A reader writes:
Asexual reader here. With regards to your questions about cheating and monogamy, while I do know more non-monogamous asexuals than sexuals, I haven't noticed a trend in the community at large – at least any more than in any community that would be open to the idea at all. Keeping in mind that this is just me as a romantic asexual and others I know, kissing would be considered cheating by most (I would), but cuddling is largely considered a platonic activity as well as a romantic one, and I doubt there would be much of a fuss.
Today on the Dish, a big earthquake shook the Eastern US. On the Libyan front, Saif al-Qaddafi reemerged to give conflicting accounts about government forces on the rebound, and then rebel forces took over Qaddafi's compound. We weighed whether our intervention worked and Zack duked it out with Freddie deBoer over our Von Hoffman awards. … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
