In The Buzz Cut, we bring you a round-up of all the weird, controversial, and wonderful stories we’ve been reading all week.
After the Kevin Hart debacle, it looks like the Oscars is going to go without a host for the first time in three decades — but after the huge dip in ratings last year, maybe an academy show shake-up might actually be good for the telecast.
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The ‘unsolicited dick pic’ is a very common, albeit unwanted, overture for many women on dating apps, or really just anyone who has their iPhone’s AirDrop turned on. But what goes through men’s heads to make them believe sending pictures of their genitals to strangers is a good idea?
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Netflix kicked off the New Year by issuing a warning for viewers to please not try the Bird Box challenge that went viral after the movie was released on the streaming service. In case you needed further convincing, here’s why blindfolding yourself and walking into walls is stupider than it sounds.
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It’s not too late to start your kids’ palliative political education in these dark and troubled times — 19th- and 20th-century fables from Britain offer surprisingly timely fairy tales for young socialists.
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The Golden Globes this year was a mix of hits and misses, but Sandra Oh hosting was a definite highlight (also her afterparty jumpsuit was fantastic). Read how she made it from the token Asian to history-making Hollywood star.
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Anne Helen Petersen’s viral essay on how millennials became the burnout generation hits on some very real truths about our unrelenting work culture, the ‘optimization’ of the self, and the unrealistic demands that are placed on us. And this burnout is not temporary but, as Petersen suggests, it is our base condition, our permanent address.
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Disabled creators, using platforms like YouTube, Twitter, and Instagram, are changing the way we think about and prioritize narratives around pain and disability. But the internet is not the most democratic place, and platforms’ algorithm bias dramatically affects these creators’ ability to monetize their work the same way others do.
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A medieval woman’s dental plaque was discovered to have a hidden piece of lapis lazuli in it — the brilliant blue gemstone is groundbreaking proof that women were also scribes and painters of medieval manuscripts, upending the idea of gendered production of texts in the Middle Ages.
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Jami Attenberg’s poignant personal essay outlines the ways in which her life was enriched when she made the decision to leave a big metropolis for life in a small(er) one, and the decisions that led her to shift her entire life, as a single woman in her 40s.
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The latest report on gender inequality within the field of AI shows that less than 20% of AI faculty at top universities are women, and out of the applicant pool for AI jobs, only 29% were women. As AI gets smarter, it takes on our gender bias, so striving for that gender balance is even more crucial in the field.
