In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Category: Dating

Hello! Thanks for Having Me.

Hi There!

For those who don’t know me already, I’m Anna–or perhaps my nom du tweet, @agoodcuppa.

I am a writer (no way, the guest blogger is a writer!), a social justice activist and rabbel rouser, and an unapologetic feminist with a bleeding heart.

I hail from the Bay Area in California. My mother is Lebanese and Greek, and my father is French-Canadian. I consider myself an ethnic mix of “questionably Brown” largely informed by being just Arab-American enough in post-9/11 America. I’m very Pro-Palestine, and have taken a long, painstaking journey to express this in a way that distinctly separates Judaism from Israeli-ness from Zionism and recognizes that Israel has been established as a state, and a solution must account for these effects. I have absolutely no idea what that solution will be–besides that it must include an end to the military occupation of Palestine. I hope–and have faith–that this solution will arrive in my lifetime.

I’m a loud-mouthed woman with a lot of opinions. I’m a millennial and a recent graduate. More of us need to be given a voice to express who we really are (hint, its not GIRLS), and how we are trying to negotiate this brave new economy.

Appropriately enough, I now live in New York City.

Content-wise I’m all over the place–and will probably write a lot about the Middle East, a little about Brooklyn and everywhere in between. In addition to writing, I’m an artist with a recent obsession with infographics–if you are lucky, my blog will include an occasional visual element. Get excited–my last infographic included a cartoon riot cop, described as equal parts adorable and terrifying!

A little word about comments–I will try my best to moderate, but am a busy lady and probably don’t have time to antagonize over your bull shit. So if you really have a problem with me, save it for a hardcore face to face barfight. I’m in.

So, welcome to my brain–I hope you enjoy your stay! Please, comment away on what you would like to see discussed! Big thanks to Jill for inviting me and Sally for suggesting me.

High School Cougars

Shorter New York Times: High-school-age girls who date boys a year or two younger are predatory and suspect. It’s more normal for them to date college-age men, because of course there is nothing at all sketchy about an adult man in college who wants to date a 15-year-old.

February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month

And with all the coverage of Rihanna / Chris Brown (which I will write about later, but ugh, can we please stop blaming her for “being a bad role model” or whatever and maybe put the responsibility for beating another human being on the person who did the beating?), it’s a pertinent conversation. The stats are disturbing:

Eight Red Flags I Learned from Online Dating

I have an article in GOOD today about online dating red flags, and how the internet evens the gender playing field. Check it out. And yes, someone on Twitter already sent me this article in response.

The one red flag that I didn’t give much time to but that I keep seeing over and over and over again are the dudes who won’t date women their own age, but will date women who are 10 or 15 years younger than they are. It doesn’t really impact me yet — I’m usually right in the middle of their preferred age range — but if a guy is 36 and would date a 20-something but won’t date a woman who’s 35? Nope!

Now it’s one thing to meet someone at a party or through friends, hit it off, and then realize that there’s a large age difference. It’s another to actually think through who you want to date, and decide that even though you’re 35, you would date a 22-year-old but not a woman your own age. It’s not that 22-year-olds and 35-year-olds can never have good, egalitarian relationships; it’s that a dude who lists his upper age limit as two or three years younger than himself is probably not looking for an equal partner.