Latest from Monica Hesse
- Style
- Perspective
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ used to feel provocative. Now it’s just exhausting.
The TV adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s dystopia has been exceeded by more nuanced shows about sexual violence and its effects.
- Apr 29, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
A Capitol invader left a note calling Nancy Pelosi a b-word. His attempt to walk it back has been . . . really something.
Biatd, please.
- Apr 27, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
Philip Roth and the sympathetic biographer: This is how misogyny gets cemented in our culture
Roth’s issues with women are well-documented. One of the prime documenters has been accused of rape.
- Apr 23, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
Prince Philip, original Wife Guy
The queen’s husband might have been a problematic old codger, but he never let us forget who was in charge.
- Apr 9, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
The GOP’s anti-trans bills are ignorance in action
This is what happens when lawmakers try to address something they refuse to understand.
- Apr 9, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
A question at the heart of the Derek Chauvin trial: Whose fear matters?
The defense seems to be trying to portray George Floyd and the witnesses who yelled at police to get off him before he died as the scary ones.
- Apr 2, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
Beverly Cleary taught girls to make a brave demand: Love me for how I am
Ramona Quimby, Cleary’s six-year-old heroine, was no fairy-tale princess. And that was a revelation.
- Mar 27, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
Things I do not ever need to hear or read about a shooter again
Don’t tell me that he “snapped.” Or that his family is shocked. Stop finding ways to humanize him. It’s time to talk about the culture that made him.
- Mar 19, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
‘It’s race, class and gender together’: Why the Atlanta killings aren’t just about one thing
In pushing a singular narrative in Tuesday’s shootings, we deny Asian women their full personhood.
- Mar 18, 2021
- Style
- Perspective
The ‘commander in grief’ steps up to the microphone
We’d been told that Joe Biden’s superpower is empathy. Now we’re seeing what it looks like when he uses it.
- Mar 12, 2021