Noah Berlatsky

Female masturbation is sexy in part because it flirts with lesbianism. For male masturbation, it's a different story.

Katniss is the voice of conscience and morality in the film, and in The Hunger Games series as a whole. In the just released last film in the series, she tries repeatedly to avoid unnecessary deaths. She insists that refugees from an attacked base be given an escape route, for example, and exposes herself in an effort to help them.

As a white woman, Swift can afford to celebrate carelessness. Beyoncé, though, knows that even her casualness has to be perfect.

For once, central character Andrew's flaws are tied up in the fact that he is—wait for it—fundamentally decent.

A Ghostbusters with a female cast is a thorough violation of the spirit of the original. And that's a good thing.

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.

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

"The look on Miley's face during Nicki Minaj's savage, expletive-laden rant says it all," Salon tweeted the day after the VMAs. Less than 140 characters, but still enough to link a black woman to a longstanding racial slur.

Critics say call-out culture is mean-spirited and bullying. Not so fast.

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