Reports of unrest in Iran ruled the internet this week, and we here at Broadsheet threw in our two cents. Meanwhile, on the home front, we had our own dire issues to attend to, like the "Fire David Lettemen" rally. We shook our heads at O'Reilly's spin job and offered the chance to give him a proper remix, while also debunking claims that women don’t know how to write about sex. Elsewhere, "date night" failed to save a marriage, but divorce makes for a great first-person essay. Maybe we were just too stressed about our college loans, because here are a few stories we missed:
Snipping your budget, where it really counts: More and more men are thinking about vasectomies, according to doctors who, like everyone else, are blaming the recession. Though one urologist claims to have done twice as many consultations as one year ago, the minor medical procedure still gets a bum rap from men who "get all sweaty" just thinking about a procedure near their private parts. Sterilization, then, is often left to the woman: "In 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found half of women using birth control at ages 40 to 44 had had sterilization surgery, but fewer than 20% of their male partners had."
Get laid off … have a baby?: For some, losing a job doesn't mean it's time to panic. The newfound freedom could be mean more time to start that small business you've always dreamed of, finish that novel, or even have another child. Recession babies are the counterintuitive trend documented in a public radio segment where Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, says that the recession may be giving some women the break they need to put an emphasis on family. Sure, there's no statistical evidence, but according to the experts, eventually "the data will reflect a lot of different personal choices." Sounds expensive.
Levi goes Hollywood: In last month's "GQ," we found out there was more to Sarah Palin's would-be son-in-law, Levi Johnston, than a strong jaw and a big gun. With Bristol's baby born and the young couple split up, we finally got to know daddy Levi, but not without his slick-talking lawyer Rex Lamont Butler and his bodyguard-cum-manager Tank Jones. This week, The Daily Beast went shopping with Tank and the young stud and had an up-close encounter with his snazzy alter ego, "Ricky Hollywood."
Emily Yoffe on her husband's first wife: Double X has the brutal and touching tale of a woman who chooses to accept the ghost of her widower husband's first great love. In a truly moving scene, Yoffe explains the reality to her own young daughter, expressing a sincere gratitude and welcoming the memory of Robin, who died at 34.
Japan considers men-only train cars: Though women-only rush-hour carriages already exist to prevent sexual harassment, men are now petitioning for their own train cars lest they be accused of groping.
Broadsheet-ers, elsewhere: Our contributors branch out, as Lynn Harris recommends books by funny ladies for NPR and Kate Harding illustrates the absurdity of the body mass index (BMI) through a telling slideshow.
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