Noah Berlatsky

With the death of Leonard Nimoy, it's a good moment to pay tribute to (and question) his most famous character.

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

As a parent, you tend to assume that you have some say in forming your child's mental landscape. Then Santa comes along.

Rodriguez is confused when she says that people want her to steal white people's superheroes. But she also has a point.

Feminist dystopia at its finest. Joanna Russ imagines a world in which the elimination of gender hierarchy leads to freedom, strength, and power.

Talking about race can get you into a lot of trouble . . . especially if you don't have a lot of class power or status.

So, if there are so many ways to sing this song, and if it's meant different things at different points, why complain about Beyoncé's version?

Metal aggression isn't sexual, but existential. As a result, women in the genre are both rare and unexpectedly equal.

Conservative fetishization of the past is myopic, simplistic, and mean-spirited—but progressives can be too quick to cede tradition.

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