Karen is the internet equivalent to the age-old double standard that a man who is vocal is assertive but when it’s a woman she’s a shrew. By Laura Catherine Hanby Hudgens
gender
I’ve raised my daughter to believe that a preoccupation with one’s appearance is trivial, but I’m a traitor to the cause. By Rebecca Knight
Both you and your partner have only 24 hours in a day and each of those hours holds equal value. By Eve Rodksy
What would I have done if her shorts got shorter, tops dipped lower? If she learned to sharpen her body like a tool? By Rica Keenum
I’m solidly in midlife now, and I have been handing out smiles to men upon request for decades. By Mary Janevic
When I ask if they’re hungry, the girls are silent at first. Then each looks to a friend’s face to discover the answer. By Glennon Doyle
I’m surprised by how many moms give me the thumbs-up for “letting” my daughter be a pirate. By Mimi Lemay
“What did you expect, Mom?” said my kid, laughing now, in her same boy-voice she’s always had. By Joanna Franklin Bell
“Ryan,” I say. “If you ever want to play with the girl dolls, we have them. In this house, you can play with whatever you want.” By Ann Wainwright
“No skinny pants” was a rule we could not and did not obey. Instead, we pulled our children out of the school. By Jennie Burke
I hesitated because I am a product of my society, just like everyone else. By Fiona Leary Boucher
Because the new story is a bit of a sequel, I leaned towards using the same boy character again. But I remember thinking, “Why do I have to choose?” By Denise Barry
It’s not that my boys don’t need motivation. It’s that for their gender, empowerment is always readily available. By Annie D. Stutley
I am a woman who sometimes needs a glass of wine or two in the evening, because even though her boys are no longer babies, five to six o’clock is still the witching hour. By Fiona Leary Boucher
I now hear regularly about girls who are so fearful of disappointing their teachers that they skip sleep to do extra-credit work for points they don’t need. By Lisa Damour
I imagined my three daughters coming to me, full of their own insecurities, trying to explain they are beautiful the way they are, my fake boobs staring them down. By Katherine Prince
“Oh, relax,” he says, ruffling my daughter’s wispy blonde hair. “We’re just playing.” By Lisa Norgren
He sees a choice down the road he doesn’t know how to make: how can he choose just one of his names to join with his wife’s? By Andrea Jarrell
If I saw him now, I doubt I could pick him out of a line-up. By April Vázquez
Whether to have a baby before tenure is still one of the most pressing questions for female academics. By Sarah Rivett
The decision not to find out my unborn child’s sex is perhaps the most intimate and important one I have ever made. By Laine Munir
I want my nine-year-old to carry herself without shame. By Daisy Alpert Florin
I don’t care for any “sexy” clothing on little girls. By Sharon Holbrook
Perhaps by allowing my daughter to experiment with her appearance and create her own reality, I can put the power back in her hands. By Erin Ott
Both of my sons are the male equivalent of a tomboy. But there isn’t a word for that. By Marya Markovich