Personal Essays
Confessions
How to Give a Sex Ed Lesson at a Slumber Party

A dad friend of mine, who’d read my recent piece on making sexual assault in the news a teachable moment for kids, forwarded me the following tweet from Andi Zeisler while I was in the middle of my 11-year-old’s birthday slumber party: The 4th-grade boys coming to my kid’s slumber party tonight are really in […]

Personal Essays
Confession: Saying “Yes”and Finally Meaning It

KERRY NEVILLE — author of the award-winning short story collection, Necessary Lies, and the forthcoming collection, Remember To Forget Me — writes of the long road toward true consent.   Natalie and I played boyfriend and girlfriend: She was “Michael” and I was “Rebecca.”  We would walk around the block holding hands and when we reached […]

Personal Essays
I Took My Kids to the Jeff Koons Retrospective (Oops)

My family had an opportunity to visit New York City for a full week recently. It was the longest my husband and I (the Lo half of Em & Lo) had been there since having kids. Before breeding, we’d lived there for years, gorging on the countless cultural opportunities at our disposal. Post-spawn, we moved to the […]

News
Kavanaugh Is a Teachable Moment

These days, you hear a lot of parents bemoan the fact that they can’t have the news on, for fear their kids might hear something sexually inappropriate. That “America’s Dad” Bill Cosby drugged and sexually assaulted 60 women. That the Catholic Church has been a child-rape factory and cover-up machine for decades.  That our own […]

Personal Essays
You Don’t Have to Have a Dick to Date Rape Someone, You Just Need to Be One

The following is the story of a 30-something contributor who wishes to remain anonymous. I drove home from a recent Bumble date, crying the entire way. I had bruises on my neck, arms and chest from being choked and bitten. I bled for almost a full 24 hours after. It hurt to sit for days […]

Confessions
5 Reasons Why 20-Something Women Should Be (and Stay) Single

Edie Freedman is a student at New York University studying social and cultural analysis, politics and psychology. There she is a writer and editor for The Tab NYU. As a 21-year-old, soon-to-be college graduate, there are a couple standard questions I invariably get from extended family members: How did your mid-terms/finals go? What are your […]

Confessions
6 Reasons Why Bumble Is So Much Better Than Tinder

Edie Freedman is a student at New York University studying social and cultural analysis, politics and psychology. There she is a writer and editor for The Tab NYU. In the last few years, the dating game has changed. No longer does everyone long for a life partner, some like to casually date, and what’s one […]

Personal Essays
My Platonic Love for the Philadelphia Eagles

We don’t cover sports much around these here parts, for obvious reasons, but we were so moved by our friend Michael’s heartfelt post-game wrap up, that we just had to share it. This is love. Thank you all so much for watching the game at our house. And thank you for your emails of support […]

Personal Essays
4 Dating Myths We’re STILL Stuck With

Edie Freedman is a student at New York University studying social and cultural analysis, politics and psychology. There she is a writer and editor for The Tab NYU. There is no question that the dating game for young people has changed dramatically in the last decade or so, thanks to social media and quick, instant-decision […]

Confessions
What Pickup Artistry Can Teach Us About Consent and Better Sex

I studied and practiced “The Game”-style pickup artistry back in the day. This may sound far-fetched, but it’s actually shaped my attitude on the subject of sexual communication and consent for the better. One of the biggest teaching points of many PUAs (pick-up artists) relates directly to the topic in the news of late: sensitivity […]

Personal Essays
Here’s What Happened When I Confronted Men Who Catcall

Danielle Page decided to try to confront men who catcall. She asked them why they do it. Their answers will surprise you. I don’t remember the first time I was catcalled. Maybe it’s because I’m jaded from living and working in NYC, the catcalling capital of the world. Perhaps it’s due to the fact that catcalling becomes […]

Personal Essays
Do Men Play Hard to Get?

Rebecca Jane Stokes asked a bunch of guys, “Do men play hard to get?” Some of their answers will surprise you. When I first started dating I ached to be one of those girls who could play hard to get.  I couldn’t believe how cool and collected and seemingly not-interested the popular girls were in the […]

Personal Essays
“I Fought For Your Freedom to Hate Me” — A Trans Veteran Speaks Out

Thanks to President Trump, trans veteran Carla Lewis must endure a tragic case of déjà vu: Each morning when I wake, I hit social media and the news. Sharing something profound or humorous is how I like to start my day. Believe me when I tell you, I was in complete shock when I read […]

How To
How Our Long Distance Relationship Makes Us a Better Couple

If you thought I was crazy to sign up for an extreme long distance relationship, you were wrong. I live in Orlando. He lives in Australia. At any given moment, there are 9,349 miles (plus, one hell of an expensive airplane ticket) separating me from my boyfriend. In fact, our time zones are so far […]

Personal Essays
Confession: I Was Allergic to Sex

I started having intercourse at 15. Besides the perpetual awkwardness of budding teenage sexuality and the occasional urinary tract infection (UTI), my first few casual sex experiences in high school were fun, comfortable and safe — what I would call “healthy.”  Sophomore year, I entered a long distance relationship, and soon noticed that after my […]

Personal Essays
Learning to Love Your Body Is a Life-Long Endeavor

Learning to love your body? It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I took off my shirt and my confidence plummeted. I was at home, staring at my naked stomach in the mirror, but I felt like I’d just been punched in the gut.  On either side of my belly, 3 inches (give or take) of […]