By s.e. smith on 28 July, 2010
A recent Miss Conduct column featured a letter from a person with a common problem: Unwanted touch. How do you convey that you’re not a touchy-feely person without coming across as rude or a prude? Ever since starting my freshman year of college, I’ve encountered a startlingly high number of males who think it’s appropriate [...]
Posted in autonomy, bad advice, bodies, Dear Imprudence | Tagged harassment, Miss Conduct, Robin Abrahams, sexism, unwanted touch
By s.e. smith on 4 July, 2010
I took a gander through the Miss Conduct archives, as I do now and then, and encountered this letter from early June: I have a friend who has made comments to me such as ‘You look so thin. Are you sick?’ and ‘You look so thin. Is something wrong?’ I see this person on a [...]
Posted in autonomy, bodies, Dear Imprudence | Tagged Miss Conduct, norming, Robin Abrahams, weight
By s.e. smith on 30 May, 2010
Oh, Miss Conduct. How could you? The Miss Conduct column at the Boston Globe published on 2 May featured the following letter: I eat a healthy diet and incorporate fruits and vegetables into all meals, especially dinner. I have instilled the same habits in my toddler daughter. We frequently eat dinner at my in-laws’, and [...]
Posted in Dear Imprudence | Tagged armchair diagnosis, food, food police, Miss Conduct, policing, Robin Abrahams
By s.e. smith on 9 May, 2010
I’m a big fan of Miss Conduct over at the Boston Globe, and she got a question recently that comes up a lot in advice columns and spaces like this one: I am disabled by an incurable disease. On the outside, I appear OK. But on the inside, I am slowly dying. People ask me [...]
Posted in Dear Imprudence | Tagged crowdsourcing, Miss Conduct, Robin Abrahams, small talk
By s.e. smith on 28 November, 2009
After our inaugural Dear Imprudence column, in which I called out some bad advice, I thought it might be nice to go to the other side of the spectrum, and check out some good advice offered up in an advice column. After all, advice columnists do get it right now and then. As it turns [...]
Posted in Dear Imprudence, intersectionality, language | Tagged advice, good advice, Miss Conduct, Robin Abrahams
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