Maybe Charen's a sex positive feminist, and meant it as approbation. Reclaiming the word, etc. (I really do love the word as a verb, and, if it's not being reclaimed, it should be.)

"Calling women 'sluts' will not endear you to the intelligent, self-confident ladies you may want to date someday."

True enough, but where in the conservative movement do you see a great deal of men desiring "intelligent, self-confident ladies?" I sometimes worry that the sons of right-wingers are doomed to hook up with either total doormats or complete whack jobs, at which point they spend a great deal of their time trying to convince those of us with mutually respectful and satisfying relationships that we are Destroying the Family.

Oops-- forgot to add my screen name. The above comment was mine.

although slut is usually used for women, I've heard it plenty of times applied to guys too, though admittedly in a half-humorous, condemnatory but ironically jealous way by other guys.

a teenager asks an open ended question (what's up with..?) and his mother gives him a declarative answer as if there is just one way to think about cosmo. that's what she's teaching her kid: there are no ambiguities, no gray areas; everything i say is right and those who disagree must be ridiculed. that's pretty much in line with the way mona c. has been writing for years.

Ya' know, this post is hardly worthy of the prospect.

Keep in mind this is the same person who had no problem redbaiting a dead 13-year old girl.

I'm not sure that "slut" has no male companion term. The word "horndog" conveys the same meaning, although it may be slightly less pejorative.

C'mon now, the kid probably already has his head filled with the vilest and most demeaning views of women spewed out by gansta rappers.

What was said: "It's a magazine for sluts."

What the 14 year old boy heard: "Date girls who read Cosmo."

Let's keep in mind we're talking about a person who had no problem redbaiting a dead 13-year old girl.

I can think of no greater incentive to young women to give Cosmo a second look than the fact that women like Mona Charen think it's "for sluts."

Cosmo is not for sluts! Just last week I figured out where my own G-spot was.

Boy was I wrong before.

AFAIK Mona Charen was right.

I say this because I once asked that very question of a female friend in college: if these magazines are aimed at straight women, why do they exclusively depict scantily clad babes on the cover - same cover art as men's magazines, basically. So who reads them?

Her reply: sluts!

She is now a law professor.

I had Mormon friend accidently bought a issue of cosmo. Does that accidentally makes her a slut?

CL I read that link, and I don't get it. It didn't say the little girl who wrote that utopian and idealistic letter was dead - what happened to her? The juxtaposition with the other little girl was quite moving, though. Whatever kind of woman Charon is, she had a point there.