Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul's filibuster on March 6, designed to force the Obama administration to clarify its drone policy, did more than "scramble the politics of left and right," in the words of a widely discussed front-page story in The New York Times. It was also a pivotal...

It's a safe bet that as school resumes and colleges come back from winter break, many teachers and professors will be discussing various aspects of the Newtown massacre. And for those who plan to discuss the gender issues at the heart of this and most rampage killings, it will be...

Many of us whose work touches on the subject of masculinity and violence have long been frustrated by the failure of mainstream media -- and much of progressive media and the blogosphere as well -- to confront the gender issues at the heart of so many violent rampages like the...

Say it ain't so, Connecticut. To many of us who have closely followed Linda McMahon's business career, the very idea of her being elected to the United States Senate sounds more like an outlandish World Wrestling Entertainment story line than it does a realistic political scenario in the Nutmeg State.

Mitt Romney's cautious and feeble answer to a question about Rush Limbaugh's misogynous tirade against Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke earlier this month might have an unintended positive effect: it is already serving as a case study for educators who teach the "bystander" approach to sexual and domestic violence prevention.

As the campaign moves to New Hampshire, Mitt Romney is getting free advice on how to reach blue-collar Republicans from conservative talk radio host Howie Carr, a long-time fixture in New England media and politics who specializes in selling the party of the rich to the white working-class....

There were two distinct Ronald Reagans being channeled onstage at the GOP debate in Des Moines, Iowa on December 10. The problem for Mitt Romney is that for reasons of both political miscalculation and personal temperament, he chose the wrong one.

For years, Romney has been trying...

At least one positive development has emerged from the Penn State sexual abuse scandal. In news and commentary about that tragic case, the victims are actually being referred to as "victims." While it's easy to find references to "Jerry Sandusky's accusers," it is perhaps equally as likely to read and...

Blogger's note: This is the second part of a two-part interview I conducted with USC sociologist Michael Messner, whose memoir King of the Wild Suburb: a memoir of fathers, sons and guns, was published recently by Plain View Press. Click here for Part 1.

JK:...

Guns are in the news every day in our society. They're the weapon of choice in countless "routine" homicides and mass murders. Motorcycle gang shootouts. Armed robberies. School shootings. Domestic violence rampages. Guns are a staple of our entertainment culture, a critical part of the story line in a seemingly...

Can we please stop referring to Nafissatou Diallo as DSK's "accuser?" She is his alleged victim. Every time someone calls her an "accuser" they undermine her credibility and bolster his. And it's not just sexist men who are doing this. Even some feminists and victim advocates have started using the...

If journalism is the first draft of history, then talk radio provides an early glimpse into how the meaning of political events will be spun for ideological and partisan purposes. In particular, conservative talk radio is a good place to go if you want a fast-breaking take on what the...

This coming Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has the chance to win his third Super Bowl and join a truly elite group of NFL quarterbacks. This historic opportunity comes at the end of a season that began with him serving a four-game suspension by the National Football League for...

A consensus seems to have developed that some in media precipitously and inaccurately blamed violent rhetoric from the right for the shooting in Tucson on January 8. But whether or not they were misled in this instance by what turns out to be false reports about the shooter's political motivations,...

Three decades after his tragic death in New York City at age forty, John Lennon retains quite a grip on our cultural imagination. He has been the subject of countless biographies, magazine articles, and documentaries. In November, a BBC Masterpiece Theater special explored his final days with the Beatles; and...

It is mind-boggling that the voters of Connecticut would even consider electing the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment to high political office -- until you realize what an abysmal job the news media have done of holding her accountable for the actual product she produced.

Make no mistake...

There has been precious little critical debate or dialogue about pornography in mainstream media, which is quite striking when you consider what a ubiquitous and influential cultural phenomenon it is. Feminist perspectives critical of the pornography industry rarely get any air time in the corporate media, much less a thoughtful...

Anti-rape educators around the world have Mel Gibson to thank for providing them with a truly global teachable moment in the wake of his violent, misogynist, racist tirade against his ex-girlfriend, Oksana Grigorieva. In the audiotape of the angry rant that has been replayed endlessly on cable TV and the...

The Tiger Woods sex scandal has been a boon to the tabloids, cable TV and radio talk shows, not to mention late night comics, bloggers and untold others in media. Infidelity, sex addiction, compulsive behavior, and the perils of fame have been dissected and discussed, but one sociologically notable aspect...

Rush Limbaugh's critics have long noted the factual errors and tortured logic that are regular features of his radio program. Not surprisingly, little has changed over the past few months as he has put his stamp on the health care debate. But Limbaugh does not only distort arguments about complex...