Monica Hesse

Washington, D.C.

Style reporter

Education: Bryn Mawr College, B.A. in English; Johns Hopkins University, M.A. in Nonfiction writing

Monica Hesse is a columnist for The Washington Post's Style section, who frequently writes about gender and its impact on society. She's the author of several novels, most recently, "They Went Left."
Latest from Monica Hesse

The new Duggar doc is the cold, hard ‘reality TV’ we needed all along

‘Shiny Happy People’ focuses on the intense religious anxiety that lay just beneath the camera-friendly quirkiness of the Duggar family

June 2, 2023

The anti-trans boycotts are hopelessly off-target

The free market is telling right-wingers something they refuse to hear: Transgender people exist, and they buy stuff.

May 27, 2023

Sen. Josh Hawley’s accidentally gender-neutral book about manhood

The Missouri Republican’s guide to masculinity doesn’t say what he seems to think it says

May 24, 2023

God save the largest adult son

King Charles III will ascend the throne. But once he’s there, he’s going to have to earn it.

May 5, 2023

The refreshing defiance of E. Jean Carroll at the Trump trial

Who gets to decide how “true rape victims” behave, anyway?

May 2, 2023

What the E. Jean Carroll trial says about the long effects of assault

E. Jean Carroll’s testimony in a New York courtroom this week examined the long tail effects of one woman’s alleged sexual assault.

April 28, 2023

Adolescence is temporary. ‘It’s Me, Margaret’ is forever.

Is your inner 12-year-old prepared for the movie version of Judy Blume’s puberty ur-text?

April 27, 2023

Republicans are digging themselves into a hole on abortion

GOP lawmakers are learning how unpopular severe abortion bans are, but that hasn’t stopped their legal crusade.

April 19, 2023

Please stop insisting trans kids are just struggling with puberty

"I wasn’t trans, so neither are you" is a common fallacy among even well-meaning adults.

April 12, 2023

The abortion-pill ruling will make abortions as harrowing as possible

Pill abortions meant convenience and grace. Taking them away means making a hard experience worse.

April 8, 2023