“Just as more women earned degrees, the jobs that require those degrees started paying disproportionately more to people with round-the-clock availability.” Oh shit.

The problem with Black Widow. Also, how the straight agenda ruined Avengers: Endgame. Spoilers at both of these links.

Why are we so addicted to conspiracy theories?

Here’s what happened to Heather Armstrong of Dooce.com.

Can indie bookstores be forces for good if they’re not paying their employees a living wage? Likewise, can we really claim John Beilein is sooooo greeeeeeat given that he chose to work in college basketball? (This latter one takes no prisoners.)

Here are your SF recs for the month of May!

What it’s like to travel when you have a “bad” passport.

I love Olivia Waite’s romance columns for the Seattle Review of Books, and this one about placeholder heroines is particularly excellent.

American society isn’t so much protecting shitty privileged teens as it is protecting a shitty privileged status quo.

Sady Doyle on Game of Thrones and why that last episode made no goddamn sense.

Which characters are considered disposable by showrunners and by fandoms? There’s, uh, a pretty clear pattern.

We are in a period of Hollywood handshake hyperinflation. Where is the media on this important issue?

That thing where some of the most venerated and canonized journalists just made a bunch of shit up.

I have recently been thinking that it’s maybe never? okay? to use living people’s real life tragedies for entertainment (in the context of the HBO show Chernobyl), and this article confirmed that thought in the context of the true crime boom.

And that’s all, folks! I hope you enjoy your weekends!

The post You’ve Earned Some Ice Cream: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

The writers of Deadpool have never heard of fridging so that’s cool. (Spoilers for Deadpool 2 in this link.)

Rebecca Solnit on the idea of sex as commodity. (I.e., women as commodity.)

Living beyond tragedy: The danger of a single story about Native Americans.

Here’s how one chef, Erin Wade, stopped harassment of staff at her restaurant.

This piece about Sephora’s new in-store cosmetics classes for trans folks made me tear up a little bit.

Is fandom etiquette changing? Clare McBride argues that it is (for the worse).

If you missed the Arrested Development interview where Jason Bateman acts like an absolute sack of shit, count yourself blessed. But do check out Linda Holmes on why it was so hard to read (and, apparently, listen to).

The important thing about the Starbucks sensitivity training is the acknowledgement that racial bias is pervasive in American society.

Have a joyous weekend!

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It’s the year of our Lord 2017, and we are just now publishing the first translation of the Odyssey by a woman. (Buy it! The physical book is really beautiful!)

Angelica Jade Bastien on Now Voyager

I never don’t click on articles about the medieval historians trying to fend off Nazis. (Poor medieval historians! They really do not want Nazis at their luau.)

Men elevate foods; women ruin them. (It’s about gender bias, but not sexual assault. Yay?)

An excellently stern rebuttal to Francine Prose’s stupid piece in the New York Review of Books. I do not like Francine Prose.

Thor: Ragnarok, a movie I loved, is nevertheless fairly muddled as to its message about Empire. Noah Berlatsky unpacks some of that. But see also Gavia Baker-Whitelaw.

“Write because they are cutting out our tongues.” This piece is not about sexual assault, but it is about totalitarianism in the Philippines.

And then here are the links that are about sexual assault (partly or entirely). If you’re only going to read one of these, pick the first one. It’s real good.

How sexual harassment stories are like ghost stories, a horrifyingly accurate analysis by Jess Zimmerman.

The author of a new book about college football (FSU in particular) says scandal follows “where the excessive devotion is.” Shitdamn that’s a good point.

Alexander Chee on Kevin Spacey’s glib, yucky “coming-out” and what it says about his attitude toward the gay community.

Nobody needs to give a shit about Louie CK’s artistic legacy.

Have a great weekend! Chill outside if the weather is nice where you are! Cuddle up with a blanket and some hot cocoa if not!

The post Just Gonna Split These Down the Middle: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

All the excuses people give for making shitty racist movies, and why none of them are that convincing. (Clap your hands if you are pleased to see Ghost in the Shell bombing.)

On feminist SF writers and the dystopian worlds they create. And it’s got a hell of a concluding paragraph.

Oliver Sacks’s partner, Bill Hayes, writes with such clear-eyed love and sweetness about Oliver Sacks. It’s not everyone who can write about the person they love as well as this.

Feminist hypocrisy is the new trend in start-up narratives.

I am perennially furious that guys are given such a narrow range of potential gender performance. Boys look great in makeup! Let boys wear makeup, society! Here is a deeply personal and lovely essay about sexuality, gender performance, and Snapchat makeup filters.

Brit Bennett, author of The Mothers (which I liked a lot), talks to The Millions about black stories and having her book adapted for film.

On the myth of the lone wolf terrorist.

This article and then this article on the accuracy of the therapist’s depiction on Big Little Lies has made me 150% more likely to actually watch this show.

Art world scandals are my favorite scandals.

Marvel’s being shitty again, but luckily Gavia Baker-Whitelaw is here to explain what’s going on. Swapna Krishna has some ideas for Marvel to bring in more female readers.

Stephanie Powell Watts on books you love that don’t love you back.

Have a wonderful weekend!

The post BOYS SHOULD GET TO WEAR MAKEUP: A Links Round-Up appeared first on Reading the End.

“We try not to get too hung up on the split infinitive”: Here’s some charming stories about copyediting and style guides.

Gavia Baker-Whitelaw at the Daily Dot adored Logan and made me feel pretty sure that I will too.¹ Likewise Emily Asher-Perrin at Tor, who does the excellent thing of saying a superhero movie is very good without trashing all other superhero movies.

Emily Yoshida wrote this thing about silent murder girls in Logan (and elsewhere).

Raise a glass to the spoilsport big sisters of literature.

YA author LJ Alonge on how to write black stories without catering to the white gaze.

Do not read this article if you have not yet finished season one of The Good Place and dislike spoilers (also, catch up on The Good Place!). But here is an interview with showrunner Mike Schur about how he crafted the season, and it’s aces.

I feel tingles of pleasure when I read negative reviews of Iron Fist, which sounds like a badly paced, badly directed, badly written mess. Yay. Maureen Ryan calls it “about as exciting as a slice of Velveeta cheese left out in the sun too long.” Kwame Opam describes it as a “boring, confused, and often offensive mess of a series.” Susana Polo says it was so bad she found herself “incredulously texting coworkers who also had screener access to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating.”

This piece on The Learned Fangirl draws parallels between the WGN show Underground (which I haven’t seen yet) and Nisi Shawl’s superb work of what she calls AfroRetroFuturism, Everfair.

Buzzfeed ran a round-up of takes on the women’s strike and a round-up of reports from women on why and how they did or did not participate.

This profile of The Ripped Bodice, a romance novels bookstore in Los Angeles, made me happy in every possible way.²

Another links round-up, another Vulture piece by Angelica Jade Bastien making me happy. This one’s about Buffy the Vampire Slayer!

Have a wonderful weekend, friends. Stay brave!

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It’s not too late to ask me and Whiskey Jenny to pick out books for you to buy your loved ones this holiday season! Fill out our holiday gift guide form and you’ll received personalized gift recommendations on our December 14th podcast.

Rebecca Traister is a writer I’ve come to really respect, and her piece on blaming Trump on the people who fought the hardest against him is fantastic.

Also, here’s Rebecca Traister again and the equally fantastic Rembert Browne talking about moving forward with anger and/or optimism in the age of Trump.

What books were some of this year’s most awesomest writers thankful for? Buzzfeed has your list.

The state of Harry Potter fandom in the conflicted age of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.

And speaking of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw has some thoughts about queer subtext in that movie and queer-coded villains.

The Merriam-Webster social media team speaks out about their on-point Twitter game.

Long story short, I always thought that Gilmore Girls was problematic and that the Gilmore girls were assholes (but I also love it!), so I’m really enjoying all the thinkpieces that have come out lately reading the revival for filth on those very points.

Also Maddie Myers is one of my fave critics these days, and she has good things to say about the Stars Hollow musical and what a jerk Lorelai is about it. (Lorelai Gilmore is a jerk, pass it on.)

On myths of racial determinism and books like Hillbilly Elegy.

Look up, please: Y’all, this is what I’m talking about. If you witness something like this happening, tell the person to stop. It will suck, but nobody else will do it if you don’t. Be that person.

A history of the concept of political correctness.

On the dearth of famous black writers in sci-fi.

The Atlantic has been doing Trump Time Capsules, but stopped when the election was over. Here’s what they have to say on the future of time capsules.

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