We have long accepted, winked, and nodded at the sexualization of children in ways that are different in degree but not in kind.

Michelle Williams averted her eyes to the humanity of her child, a child whose face she could not see. But though she does not know the child, the child is known, as is she.

Reactions from conservatives and Christians to Kanye West’s new leaf have ranged from overblown to overly cynical. I understand both.

We might look at the modern dating world and ask ourselves if this life of illusion that we are fighting so hard to preserve is one worth protecting at the price of innocent human lives.

We are a culture awash in self-acceptance. This is seldom more apparent than in the way we speak of—and try not to speak of—abortion. 

That Brett Kavanaugh has been confirmed isn’t a slap in the face of all survivors of assault. He isn’t confirmed because sexual assault doesn’t matter, or because Sen. Susan Collins is anti-woman.

The less prone we are to self-examination, the more self-aggrandizing we become in our denunciations. It’s making our society harsher.

In the same way that the show had an outsized influence on women’s fashion, so too did it influence their behavior. The latter didn’t work out so well.