Noah Berlatsky

Some love stories don't end happily. So why do so many romance novels insist they do?

"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.

Illicit passions aren't less enjoyable because they're illicit. Quite the contrary.

Country music is an overwhelmingly heterosexual endeavor. The LGBTQ community certainly listen to, and perform, country, but in terms of lyrical content and themes, country has been focused on male-female romantic love.

Irritation is the way of all flesh. The question is, if you're going to be annoyed for all of eternity, who do you want to be doing the annoying?

Maddie & Tae's new hit both indicates and subverts country's long history of sexism.

Did the classic Adam West Batman show strike a blow (Kerwhap!) for feminism?

While Atwood's feminist dystopia remains our favorite nightmarish future, Marge Piercy's Woman On The Edge Of Time is far superior.

According to an Academy Awards voter, the right sort of people, with the right sort of education and connections, can't be racist.

Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Edith Piaf: they're all still practically household names.