July 31, 2017

“If non-breeders are selfish, they have an odd way of showing it.” Why taboos against childless people are baseless. / The Economist

Forty years later, Renée Richards’s career in pro tennis—after sexual-reassignment surgery—seems ever more relevant. / Tennis Magazine

The Defense Department wants to build a better way to vet social science, “a gold standard for credibility.” / WIRED

Radiolab’s latest episode is about the future of fake news, and it’s not pretty. / radiolab.org

Kenya adds Asian Kenyans to its official list of tribes, showing a troubling obsession with tribal purity. / Quartz

“What is al pastor if not Mexicans taking shawerma from Lebanese, adding pork, and making it something as quintessentially Mexicans as a corrupt PRI?” Food historian Gustavo Arellano says that anyone heckling young white women for “appropriating” burrito-making techniques from Mexico is missing the point—that Mexican cuisine was based on appropriation in the first place. / Orange County Weekly

Craft beer is now a marketing ploy. Lagunitas is owned by Heineken, Ballast Point by Corona, Goose Island by Bud. / NPR

Real estate in the Hamptons is scarce and expensive, ergo, billionaires stay in a Montauk trailer park. / The New York Post

Thailand cracks down on “beg-packers,” Western travelers who backpack around Asia without money. / The Week

“You can’t just say, ‘As many people as the government can catch need to stand trial.’” After police surrounded Inauguration protesters, over 200 people were charged with felonies related to property destruction carried out by a much, much smaller subgroup. Some face decades in prison. Some even arrived after the windows were smashed. / DCist

“New Optimists” will tell you, based on facts, that life has never been better for humans. But people don’t buy it. / The Guardian

A list of feminist children’s books, where any princesses involved tend to be the kind who rescue others. / Buzzfeed

British booksellers explain what gets stolen most off their shelves. Oddly enough, lots of Sartre and Kierkegaard. / The Guardian

“Our departure from Themyscira is sad for many reasons, not least because it marks the last time we will see any sun.” Zoë Heller finds feminism lacking in Wonder Woman, a film that “propagates the unhelpful myth that if a woman is nice enough, pretty enough, feminine enough, she can do such things without ever causing offense, or being called a bitch.” / The New York Review of Books

USA Gymnastics sex abuse seen as sports scandal, but it was enabled by the trust afforded medical professionals. / Deadspin

“I read the post on Goop, and all I can tell you is it is the biggest load of garbage I have read on your site since vaginal steaming.” An obstetrician and gynecologist in San Francisco takes on Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop for promoting junk science, selling snake oil, and invoking Michelle Obama to defend vaginal jade eggs. / The New York Times