Pride, Wrath, Justice, Fortitude, and Other Virtues

June 13, 2025

Now, Walt Whitman was a pervert, but he was the best poet that America ever produced. And if he was standing here today and somebody called him a fruit or a queer behind his back, or to his face, or over these airwaves, that person would have to answer to me.
- Maurice Minnifield, a surface-level bigot, displays unexpected allyship in Northern Exposure’s “Brains, Know-how, and Native Intelligence” (aired 1990-07-19)

Happy Pride, friends. Or should I perhaps say Wrathful Pride? Because I’m pretty mad right now.

Recently, someone asked me how the world was different when I was a kid. I thought about how gay people couldn’t tell you they were gay, and how I myself was in denial about being bi. And then I thought about how I didn’t know trans people existed. Now, I know they exist (in fact, I know at least 8 of them personally). Sounds like we’ve made progress, right? Sure. Yay. Let’s celebrate the wins (and there have been some.)

Recently, though, I’ve become quite frightened by a certain paradox: trans issues are openly discussed, in the negative. In other words, a category of people I scarcely knew existed 20 years ago, is now supposed to be my enemy.

February 18, 2025

Hello, Readers.

Wow! Hi! Been a while.

Yes, yes it has. I’m sorry about that. You see, I’ve been too depressed to blog about feminism for several months now.

Is that because of the election?

No, surprisingly enough. I was depressed before that. Last fall, I faced something very difficult: a medically required pregnancy termination.

(Consider that your content warning.)

October 11, 2024

Bryan: That right there is a textbook case of fuckboy-coding.

Me: I don’t think there is a textbook for that yet, considering you made it up 2 weeks ago.

Bryan: The lazy bum who invented it should get off his ass.

- Conversation on my couch, October 5, 2024

Greetings, readers. We have a special feature today: an appearance from my research partner, web admin, and husband, Bryan Fisher. Last month we decided to celebrate Star Trek Day by watching Star Trek: Enterprise, and he was inspired to coin a new term to describe one of the characters. Today, I’m interviewing him about what “fuckboy-coded” means.

The following has been edited for flow and clarity.

Why We Vote, with Northern Exposure's "Democracy in America"

September 24, 2024

My dear readers, I hope this missive finds you well. As I write, we are just about 6 weeks out from a presidential election in the United States, so this is a good time to remind y'all to vote.

Putting the B in LGBTQIA: Bi Erasure and Pride Month

June 18, 2024

Happy Pride!

Thanks, disembodied voice to whom I address my blog! Happy Pride to you as well.

I'd like to follow up on our previous investigation into Absurdly Cis & Straight Stupidity (ACSS, with a soft C). But first: have I mentioned I'm bi? I am, and for the purposes of this post you should know that.

May 30, 2024

If you've been on the web this month, you've likely seen this question:

Would You Rather be Alone and Unarmed in the woods with a Bear or a Man?

Infographic on the Causes of Death in DFGRR. Total women studied 212, total dead women 59. Pie chart showing not dead 72.2%, killed by men 23.6%, killed by other 4.2%, killed by bears 0. Bar chart showing the same. Chances of attack by bear 1 in 2.1 million, chances of attack by man 1 in 3. Women killed in the past 25 years in north America, 27,393 killed by men and 30 killed by bears.

Search

About

Male protagonists of long-running franchises tend to be unlucky in love, by which I mean their girlfriends tend to die. The Dead Fictional Girlfriends Research Report tracks and analyzes this phenomenon - its causes, its prevalence, and its implications for the world of entertainment (and beyond).