A personal essay in which Russian emigre Masha Gessen ruminates on the culture’s tendency to privilege those who’ve suffered for a lack of choice — in becoming refugees, in picking their gender — and the choices (her own, and those of her parents and ancestors) that have impacted her life.
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Posted inUncategorized
Longreads Best of 2018: Sports Writing
We asked writers and editors to choose some of their favorite stories of the year in various categories. Here is the best in sports writing.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story
Tom Petty’s Problematic Album Southern Accents
In 1985, one of rock ‘n’ roll’s most beloved songwriters made a regrettable misstep with a narrow conception of Southern identity.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Donna Minkowitz, Stephen Rodrick, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Nadia Berenstein, and Shanna Baker.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Is ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ the Most Radical Show on TV?
In her first cover piece for the New York Times magazine, Jenna Wortham profiles RuPaul, making note of the ways in which he — and his 9-year-old reality competition TV show — have had to evolve along with shifting understandings of gender, and the politics around it.
Posted inNonfiction
The 19th Century Lesbian Made for 21st Century Consumption
Jeanna Kadlec considers Anne Lister, the historical figure at the center of HBO’s Gentleman Jack, and the influence of other queer women who preceded her.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Trans, Homeless, and Turning Tricks to Survive
Homeless trans teens: America’s most vulnerable population.
Posted inNonfiction
The Shames of Men
An anthropologist on a return visit to a remote village in Papua New Guinea learns that all the village’s young men are terribly wounded.
Posted inReading List
Revisiting the #MeToo Movement: A Reading List
#MeToo isn’t just a moment, it’s a movement. And there’s a lot of work yet to do.
Posted inEditor's Pick
About a Boy: A Transgender Teen at the Tipping Point
“As long as his contours didn’t give his secret away, ‘Jay’ was a clean slate, a boy who could be anyone.” For three years, Casey Parks chronicled the life of a transgender teenager in Washington State. This is part one in a three-part series.
