A new study reports on the rising average age of first marriage in the United States. While 20-something men delay for reasons that are primarily financial, women are described as overly picky and fearful. It may have been easy to miss in the recent wall-to-wall coverage of the Supreme Court and gay marriage, but a […]
One girl’s source of embarrassment can be another’s source of pride, says Hugo Schwyzer. “I’m going to be a cheerleader.” Those were the confident words of my four year-old daughter Heloise on a Sunday afternoon last month. We were in a hotel in Anaheim, getting ready for the Passover holiday. The same Hilton was packed […]
Hugo Schwyzer responds to former feminist icon and author Elizabeth Wurtzel’s cringe-worthy essay in New York magazine. “I don’t want to end up like that.” So tweeted my 25 year-old friend Danni in response to Elizabeth Wurtzel’s rambling, wince-inducing Sunday night essay in New York Magazine. A young feminist icon in the 1990s for her […]
The recent murder of Kasandra Perkins by her boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Jovan Belcher, and his subsequent suicide, calls into question the root cause of most murder-suicides. When I saw the news Saturday night, I shuddered. In a story that is far too familiar, another man had killed his girlfriend and then himself. Because […]
Are abortion rights and gay marriage trivial enough issues to be set aside for the sake of a friendship? Election day can’t get here soon enough. It’s not just that millions of Americans (and hundreds of millions around the world) are anxious to find out whether Barack Obama will get a second term or if […]
Bringing an end to online bullying means understanding that cyber-predators are as much exhibitionists as they are voyeurs, says Hugo Schwyzer. It’s been a bad month for online bullies. The exposure of Violentacrez, (“the biggest troll on the web”) and the successful hunt for the man who hounded young Amanda Todd to suicide have made […]
Saying your looks have opened doors for you sounds narcissistic, but not acknowledging the privilege your looks provide you is unfair and foolish. So what do you do? I’m a good-looking man. Those are dangerous, provocative, stupefyingly narcissistic words with which to begin an essay. They open me up to ridicule, to the mocking accusation […]
Hugo Schwyzer says shaming a bully isn’t about silencing him, it’s about making it clear that he’s crossed a boundary. Is calling out bullies a form of bullying itself? Or is publicly calling out one’s tormentors a healthy catharsis for everyone involved, the bully included? That’s a question worth asking as millions share and discuss […]
Just as nothing that is said justifies violence, nothing that is worn excuses rape or harassment, says Hugo Schwyzer. One of the great global debates of the 21st century concerns what, for lack of a better phrase, might be termed “provocation and its limits.” Last month, violence erupted in various parts of the Muslim world […]
A former exercise addict, Hugo Schwyzer shares how he gave up marathons for fatherhood. “It’s time to go shopping for new pants,” my wife told me gently a few weeks ago. She was feeding our infant son; I was in the bathroom, getting dressed for a meeting, pulling on a favorite pair of jeans. The […]
Because activist groups so ardently fight for a particular cause, a female members’ basic rights are often overlooked, says Hugo Schwyzer. One of the better students I’ve had in recent years came by to see me the other day; she’s transferred on but wanted to stop by and say hello before leaving junior college for […]
Hugo Schwyzer spoke with legendary sociologist and author of the Guy’s Guide To Feminism, Michael Kimmel, and his son, Zachary, about being a male feminist, and how parents today can raise their sons to not fall victim to outdated gender stereotypes. It’s a scary time to raise a son. Even if one suspects (as I […]
