The XX Factor : personal essays, marriage

My Funny Valentine

Emily Yoffe — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:43:00 GMT

It seems we are having two discussions here: writing about a rotten marriage, and having one. I agree with Hanna , I don’t know how you write a piece that begins, “I contemplate divorce every day” and not end up writing the sequel, “How I Chose My Divorce...(read more)

The Mommy Wars, Repurposed?

Dahlia Lithwick — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:57:00 GMT

Forgive me for wondering whether the whole “women-who-crave-divorce-in-print” boomlet we’re contemplating here is yet another manifestation of the “mommy wars” phenomenon. That is the media-created dustup wherein approximately 18 women (all of them upper-middle-class...(read more)

Better Than the Train Tracks

Hanna Rosin — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:05:00 GMT

Well, I suppose that through a certain feminist lens everything looks like progress (From Anna Karenina to Ellen Tien). There was a time when any literary heroine who attempted some escape from the confines of a dull, loveless marriage wound up dead or...(read more)

Clubbing the Plankton

Emily Bazelon — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 13:09:00 GMT

Ann and Meghan , when I tried to come up with male journalists and essayists who run down their wives last night, Norman Mailer kept popping into my head. Wrong era (and maybe wrong kind of misogyny). The men's companion volume to The Bitch in the House...(read more)

The Guys'-Eye View?

Ann Hulbert — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:55:00 GMT

Meghan , you ask how male writers treat their wives in print, and I can't say I've been browsing the magazine racks. But for a recent sample, I looked back at Philip Weiss' New York magazine piece on "the trouble with sex and marriage," which supplied...(read more)

To Love, Honor, Cherish, and Trash—in Print

Meghan O'Rourke — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 18:15:00 GMT

Are yoga-toned women of a certain class all secretly dying to get divorced, you ask us, Hanna ? I find it hard to believe—whatever Ellen Tien at O might say about her own divorce daydreams. But a follow-up question might be: Are many women of a certain,...(read more)

Divorce, Anyone?

Hanna Rosin — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 02:35:00 GMT

I want to take advantage of what Maureen Dowd dubs the celebrity divorce moment (Christie Brinkley, Madonna) to talk about how this great American pastime figures for the rest of us. When David and I did the Slate V feature in which we spent a day no...(read more)