jenduende

The Pig Is in the White House This is what consequence-free misogyny looks like.

Bless @sophiegilbert.bsky.social @theatlantic.com: "The past decade has been a gloomy lesson in how limited a proportion of men actually see women as equal human beings...The fish rots from the head. The pig is in the Oval Office." www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

How to Cheat at Conversation A new AI tool promises to improve social interactions but instead makes them worse.

“The assumption behind Cluely is that letting an AI pull a Cyrano yields better interactions than relying on your own brain,” @julieebeck.bsky.social writes. Her verdict after testing it: It's horribly inefficient—and could in fact harm your relationships. www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

Advent Calendars Are Totally Out of Control What began as a form of religious expression has morphed into a brand-a-palooza.

Now you, too, can count down to Christmas, @elcush.bsky.social writes, by unboxing: tea, designer lipstick, wine, weed, chili crisp, cheese, knives, crystals...toys for children, toys for cats, toys for dogs, toys for sex (or a daily thong). www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

The End of Naked Locker Rooms What we lose when casual nudity disappears

“Without exposure to the normal variety of bodies, we may become less comfortable with our own.” A fun, fascinating @theatlantic.com piece by Jacob Beckert on the decline of mundane, everyday opportunities to get naked together:
www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

No, Women Aren’t the Problem America is rapidly becoming the manosphere, but, sure, let’s go after the “feminization” of culture.

"The political reality in 2025 is that our government is as stereotypically masculine as a dick-measuring contest in a weight room": @sophiegilbert.bsky.social @theatlantic.com wades into the "great feminization" debate and it is 🔥🔥🔥: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

Dear James: So Long, Farewell A reader keeps having to leave unsupportive support groups. And James Parker says goodbye to his column.

Some beautiful advice from James Parker @theatlantic.com as he wraps up his “Dear James” column: “If we can stay connected to the miraculous and fleeting fact of being here at all, we’ll have at least a chance of being—eventually—okay.”
www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

When Helicopter Parents Touch Down—At College Hovering moms and dads are following their kids all the way to campus.

"College is, among other things, an exercise in independence": I recommend this piece to any parents of rising freshmen who might be experiencing "an inability to let go, to allow children the gift of separation," as Russell Shaw writes: www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

What Leni Riefenstahl’s Work Reveals About Fascism The director’s collaborations with the Nazi government translated Hitler’s ideas to film, almost verbatim.

Leni Riefenstahl’s 1938 film on the Berlin Olympics is dull in the way porn is, @sallyjenx.bsky.social writes: It has an obsession with "perfect" bodies; "monotony; repetitive floggings.” But a riveting new doc offers a better way to decipher her work—and Nazism: www.theatlantic.com/culture/2025...

How Delivery Destroyed American Restaurants We’ve become a nation of order-inners. Eating will never be the same.

"Convenience is like sex: Once you’ve had it, it’s hard to forget how good it is to have it," @elcush.bsky.social writes. So it has gone with restaurants and delivery—and the results are...not great.

The Louvre Heist Is Terrific Here was a dreamy little crime in which no one really got hurt.

"How nice to read about a heist rather than a massacre"—especially when the article about that heist is by @caity.bsky.social: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

The Rich-Mom, Poor-Mom Happiness Fallacy Where commentary on parental satisfaction goes wrong

Many people have claimed that wealthy moms are "the most miserable and stressed." But Stephanie H. Murray, after a deep dive into the research on parental well-being, finds that in many instances, the opposite is true: www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

The Cruel Calculus of Palestinian Grief In times of mass atrocity, processing personal sorrow becomes more complicated.

Such a moving, powerful essay by Reem Kassis: "My grief from witnessing what has been done to my people is so vast, so relentless, that sadness over my grandmother’s death feels like something too indulgent. I am heartbroken, and I am ashamed of that heartbreak."
www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

One Obvious, Underused Child-Care Solution Pay grandparents.

In other countries, Marina Lopes writes, stipends for grandparents "recognize a fact of family life that tends to go unacknowledged in the United States: that the contributions of older people are essential labor that deserves to be remunerated." www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

One Obvious, Underused Child-Care Solution Pay grandparents.

"Many Americans might balk" at the thought of paying grandparents, Marina Lopes writes. But the benefits "ripple through society": parents get affordable, reliable care; grandparents get financial support; and children learn early the value of caring for kin. www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

One Obvious, Underused Child-Care Solution Pay grandparents.

Where the grandparents are willing: Would you pay them for child care? Marina Lopes makes a persuasive case for doing just that: www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

When Adoption Promises Are Broken Many birth mothers hope to maintain contact with their child. But their agreements with adoptive parents can be fragile.

“I am absolutely terrified that they would take away what I do have…because they took away what I did have.” @nicolechung.bsky.social on birth mothers in open adoptions and what happens when their contact with their children is curtailed: www.theatlantic.com/family/2025/...

Parents and educators, please share with your schools: @theatlantic.com is offering U.S. public high schools FREE IP-based access to our journalism—an excellent way to improve news literacy and inspire a new generation of independent thinkers. For info, visit theatlantic.com/hsaccess.

What’s the Point of a High-School Reunion? Social media should have killed them. Instead, they’re popular again.

As a person who doesn't get invitations to reunions (because: didn't do normal high school), I'm fascinated by other people's—and am loving this essay by Jordan Michelman (h/t my @theatlantic.com colleague Serena Dai for shepherding) www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

Apologies: You Have Reached the End of Your Free-Trial Period of America! Want rule of law? That’s premium.

The inimitable @petridishes.bsky.social, saying it all out loud. www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/...

Why Marriage is an Appallingly Bad Deal for Straight Women And the new explanation for why marriage rates are falling

Excellent analysis from @katemanne.bsky.social
katemanne.substack.com/p/why-marria...

Dear James: I’ve Got a Bad Case of Unrequited Love I’m 19, and I’ve fallen deeply for a colleague. But he’ll never feel the same.

Loving this advice from James Parker to a 19-year-old pining for romantic attention: “You do not need to be thinner, smarter, or better. I don’t mean to be glib about the effects of generations of patriarchal damage and...consumerism, but—you’ve got to get that stuff out of your head. It’s poison.”

What Many Parents Miss About the Phones-in-Schools Debate Some focus on reaching their children in an emergency—and overlook the devices’ everyday threats.

A case against phones at school: Besides distracting kids from learning, phones are "a digital umbilical cord tethering students to their parents,” @gailcornwall.com writes—diminishing kids’ autonomy and setting an expectation that parents must always be on duty.
www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

The Growing Cohort of Single Dads by Choice For some men, fatherhood is an answer to questions about modern masculinity.

ICYMI: Fascinating piece by @faith-hill.bsky.social sky.social @theatlantic.com on single men choosing to become dads, and how this plays out in their personal relationships + affects their sense of self. A nuanced look at tangly territory:

www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

First Came Tea. Then Came the Male Rage. The app was meant to make dating safer for women. Data breaches exposing its users show why it was so popular in the first place.

“When women realized they couldn’t rely on the men in their life, they tried instead to rely on other women,” @faith-hill.bsky.social @theatlantic.com writes. “In the end, misogyny got in the way of that too.” www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

Homes Still Aren’t Designed for a Body Like Mine Why is it so hard for disabled people to find safe, accessible places to live?

“I’ve experienced too many moments,” @jessicaslice.bsky.social writes @theatlantic.com, “trapped upstairs while my family laughs, argues, sings, or cries, just out of reach.” A beautiful, harrowing essay shepherded by @katecray.bsky.social. www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

The Work of Caring for My Daughter Will Never Be ‘Efficient’ A constellation of people are essential to my disabled child’s life. Trump’s cuts to education and Medicaid threaten to steal them away.

A moving essay by Julie Kim, whose daughter is one of millions of students “at risk of losing access to the crucial support systems that enable them to participate in American classrooms and ordinary life." www.theatlantic.com/family/archi...

This Pride Month, the Backlash Has Officially Arrived Young LGBTQ people are facing the prospect of losing rights they thought they’d never have to worry about.

“More than one in five Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ,” @emmasarappo.bsky.social writes. This generation is often described as "entitled." But "personal liberty *is* an American entitlement, and these young people will not readily give it up." www.theatlantic.com/culture/arch...

Opinion | ‘Motherhood Should Come With a Warning Label’

+1 to this entire @nytopinion.nytimes.com project. "The financial strain of raising children is a contributing factor to lower birthrates around the world." / "Children are human beings; they shouldn’t be a luxury good." www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/o...

The Real Reason Men Should Read Fiction Literature is often pushed on allegedly reluctant men as a machine for empathy. I read it for a different reason.

"Pick up a novel," @jeremygordon.bsky.social @theatlantic.com writes, for the value in seeking "new mental frontiers beyond the accumulation of information...It may shock you, the worlds you end up exploring—and the feelings you will stir up from nothing at all." www.theatlantic.com/books/archiv...

Elon Musk Is Playing God The tech billionaire wants to shape humanity’s future. Not everyone has a place there.

"One man has consistently cheered and helped execute the funding cuts that have exacerbated suffering and death." And yet...

Powerful reporting by @cwarzel.bsky.social and @hana-kiros.bsky.social @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/technology/a...