The XX Factor : the Atlantic

Boring Marriages vs. Failed Relationships

Meghan O'Rourke — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:57:00 GMT

Hanna, just so you know, I wasn’t calling your marriage “boring” ; Cristina Nehring was. No, in all seriousness, I’m glad you posted in response to Loh and to my piece about The Vindication of Love . Your point that for every crazy artist in a series...(read more)

The Problem with "Failed" Relationships

Meghan O'Rourke — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:24:00 GMT

Kerry: Returning to Tsing Loh, for a sec, I want to second your point: It is odd to describe a 20-year-old relationship that produced two kids and a lot of domestic support as a "failure" just because it doesn’t last until death do us part and all that....(read more)

Marriage Is Fleeting; So What?

Kerry Howley — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 13:50:00 GMT

Like Hanna and Meghan , I read Sandra Tsing Loh as arguing that companionate marriage involves trade-offs ; that for all we gain in trading hierarchy for equity, something, perhaps, is lost. But I was most struck by the fact that Tsing Loh has such high...(read more)

Has Marriage Become the Sacred Cow of Feminism?

Meghan O'Rourke — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 20:58:00 GMT

Dahlia, Hanna, Jess, Abby: This debate over marriage arrives as I am in a perfect storm of marriage-related texts. In addition to Tsing Loh’s provocative piece about why everyone should get divorced, I’m in the middle of Thy Neighbor’s Wife , Gay Talese’s...(read more)

Marriage Isn't a Drag, Kids Are

Jessica Grose — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:53:00 GMT

Hanna, I too read the Sandra Tsing-Loh piece in the Atlantic , and I think she's missing part of the point. It's not modern marriage that's the problem , it's modern child rearing. Motherhood and marriage are inextricably linked in Tsing-Loh's piece,...(read more)

It's a Wonderful Life, You Beautiful Old Dead-Tree Edition of the New York Times

Melinda Henneberger — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 13:59:00 GMT

That Atlantic piece on the imminent demise of the New York Times as sheets you can cram into your oversized purse is really haunting me: How would Sundays ever be the same? While our kids are receiving religious instruction they can't remember the gist...(read more)