Once upon a time, I truly believed that a writer’s job was to pursue the truth and somehow manage to be universally beloved while she did so. Back then, political disagreement carried a moral gravity I couldn’t abide, and friendship across opposing viewpoints sounded like an existential threat at worst, a humiliating opportunity to sell out at best.
Years later, I’ve revised my views — something we should all give ourselves the space to do from time to time! Instrumental in changing my mind were writers like Kat Rosenfield, whose incisive (and often funny) criticism demonstrates how one can hold the line on challenging truths and not just survive as a writer but flourish.
Kat and I had a great conversation about her cancellation during the long 2010s and its surprising upsides (“I come pre-cancelled, and there’s an invulnerability to that”), her latest novel (I call it a “gender-swapped Alpine divorce horror-thriller,” she calls it Diabolique on the Appalachian Trail), and why women writers feel pressure to fashion ourselves into ideological objects.
A career like Kat’s is a potent reminder that it’s okay not to agree on everything, nor be agreed with about everything. In that spirit, I’m linking some of my most controversial (sorry, problematic) essays below. Thank you to all the monthly, yearly, and Founding subscribers who’ve made me your problematic fave — your support makes the work I do here possible!
For more of Kat’s great work, follow her podcast Feminine Chaos or check out her journalism in the Free Press.
