Subject to Debate

Katha Pollitt

Natural Born Killers (Media Analysis, Youth Violence, Society)

It didn't take long for the press to connect 21-year-old white-supremacist multikiller Benjamin Smith with the all-purpose explanation du jour: violent entertainment, in this case the computer g

Katha Pollitt

Depression Confession (Presidential Election 2000, Gender Issues, Mental Health, Politics, Society)

How will we know when women have achieved equality? Male politicians will all be bachelors.

Katha Pollitt

A Bronx Tale (Gender Issues, Society)

You're 19, single, on welfare. You breast-feed your baby because you know breast is best. When the baby fails to gain weight, your mother says not to worry, you were even smaller at that age.

Katha Pollitt

Humanitarian, All Too Humanitarian (World Leaders, Global Organizations, Regions and Countries)

Masses of people driven from their homes, murdered, maimed, raped, sent into panicked flight.

Katha Pollitt

Women's Rights: As the World Turns (Gender Issues, Politics, Society)

Does it seem to you that feminism this past year was just one long gargle over the meaning of Monica? That the biggest women's issue was whether oral sex is sex?

Katha Pollitt

The People vs. Larry Flynt? (Gender Issues, Bill Clinton, Society)

I didn't realize how much I was counting on Larry Flynt until I noticed I had spent Monday evening trying to find on the Web or TV a report of the much-anticipated news conference in which h

Katha Pollitt