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1. �One of the world’s most fascinating humans is easily Martine Rothblatt, America’s highest-paid female CEO,� wrote Jezebel’s Kelly Faircloth about Lisa Miller’s profile of the transgender futurist and pharma megamillionaire (�The Trans-Everything CEO,� September 8�21). �This is probably one of the most interesting & unusual stories I’ve read in a long time,� agreed one commenter at nymag.com. �That old standard saying of �you can be anything you dream’ certainly applies here.� Others wondered whether Rothblatt’s story was a parable about changing gender norms or a total anomaly. �This is literally a one in a million situation,� wrote one reader. �Virtually no other trans person in the country makes even a fraction of what this person makes. This is not a representation of all trans women, who suffer a poverty and unemployment rate that is double the general population’s.� A vocal portion of the enormous response to the story was devoted to the question of how Miller�and Roth�blatt herself�dealt with gender terminology. �This article sounds like it was written in the ’90s,� wrote one commenter. �I’m sure the author had good intentions, but � it’s considered outdated to say that a person was �born a male’; rather, it is much more appropriate to say �she was assigned male at birth’ � It’s also problematic to say she is �sort of a lesbian.’ She’s a woman, who is sexually attracted to women, and she calls herself gay. If that’s not a lesbian, I don’t know what is.� And to those hating generally on trans folk in the comments, one reader responded: � �Organ xeno-transplantation,’ �stem-cell-like cancer therapies’: Martine, who you are making fun of, may one day save your life or the life of your loved ones, you �stupid narrow-minded people.�
2. Written just before the video surfaced of NFL running back Ray Rice attacking his then-fiancée (now wife) in an Atlantic City casino elevator, Will Leitch’s column on how the culture wars have invaded the sports world generated a wide-ranging debate (�How Could Anyone Resist Mo’ne?,� September 8�21). �The actual fans of sports,� argued one commenter, �are still having all those sportscentric debates. The problem is that non-fans only talk about the �hot button’ issues and so that’s what you see outside of sports sites. Did the NYMag and Slate sites of old actually debate who was a better hitter?� Another reader thought Leitch was making an outdated observation: �Sports and sports talk was never as innocent as you’re trying to pretend it was. The baseball color barrier, the Black Sox, Ty Cobb, Curt Flood/unionizing, Hank Aaron, Pete Rose (who you inexplicably mentioned above); the Great White Hope in boxing, Jack Johnson, Ali-Frazier-Vietnam; basketball (all-black NCAA/pro teams, Bill Russell, match-fixing, cocaine � I won’t even go into the NFL � the list goes on and on and on. Sports and politics have always been �intertwined. The culture wars have always been there. Maybe it’s just, for whatever reason, you didn’t really notice?�
3. �What happened behind the walls of the M&C estate � is a matter of intense dispute,� wrote Robert Kolker in his story about Michael Egan, the man accusing several major Hollywood players, including director Bryan Singer, of rape (�An Altar Boy in the Church of �Hollywood,� September 8�21). Many commenters came out in support of Egan. �Take heart, Michael Egan,� one wrote. �You have already won. These slimeballs have been outed for who they are.� �Another added disbelievingly: �So let me get this straight: Singer was settling with victims (plural), some of which were criminal zone, to the tune of MILLIONS? And the documentary is getting denied distribution and film festival exposure. I’m guessing by people who are in business with Singer or the others at the studio level, right? But Singer isn’t guilty. Nah, couldn’t be. For Pete’s sake, people � $20M is not chump change, even for Singer.� But at least one commenter expressed more skepticism about Egan’s claims. �This story doesn’t answer any questions for me, and it’s clear that many of you will believe unsubstantiated claims of rape no matter how sketchy the source.�