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E.J. Graff

E.J. Graff writes on social-justice and human-rights issues, particularly discrimination and violence against women and children; marriage and family policy; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender lives. She is a resident scholar at the Brandeis Women's Studies Research Center and the author of What Is Marriage For? The Strange Social History of Our Most Intimate Institution (Beacon Press, 1999, 2004).

Recent Articles

Department of Follow-Up: How Do You Make Better Parents?

E.J. GraffNov 21, 2011

Like a lot of nerds, my jaw dropped this weekend when, on the NYT's opinion page, Tom Friedman concluded that what our education system needs to help children perform better is ... drum roll ... better parents.

Well gosh, no one ever thought that before. Um, could you follow that up with a policy Rx, please?

Fortunately, Dana Goldstein has indeed done that, right here. Her column is a nice guide to school-reform thinking on precisely this question, with great links.

The Internet Miniskirt

E.J. GraffNov 21, 2011
Flickr/Ed Yourdon

I've been lucky. There was no Internet back in the 1990s when I was one of the few women writing in the mainstream media about LGBT issues. Hate mail, then, was actual, physical mail, usually sent to a newspaper and forwarded, although one or two writers somehow found my home address. But even those were pretty mild. The usual theme was that I was going to hell; sometimes I got conversion pamphlets, with handy cartoon illustrations of people on fire. I got a couple of letters with disgustingly graphic ideas about my sex life, but those were overshadowed by the religious pamphlets and the psychotics' letters—which you learned to recognize by the tiny handwriting on the envelope, and which ran six to ten pages, and almost always mentioned alien life forms somehow.

DNA, Massachusetts, and the Question: Why Exonerate the Innocent?

E.J. GraffNov 21, 2011

Why exonerate the innocent? For some of us, the answer is obvious: justice. It's immoral to keep a person behind bars for someone else's crime. But not everyone believes that's enough of a reason. Here's how they think: Is it really worth overwhelming the underfunded criminal justice system (in Massachusetts, the vast majority of assistant district attorneys, the workhorses of the system, make between $40,000 and $80,000 a year, plus death threats) to process DNA requests for the few outliers who think they're innocent?

Unemployment and Underemployment Over Time

E.J. GraffNov 18, 2011

I'm not the only nerd here in the room, right? Phew. Check out Remapping Debate's new graph of Bureau of Labor Statistics data of unemployment and underemployment, by state, over time. Don't miss the widget that lets you examine how the data differs by year.

In brief: It looks grim. Do use the data for good.

Lies, Damn Lies, and Adoption

E.J. GraffNov 17, 2011

Over the past two months, I’ve posted a few items about fraud and corruption in international adoption, a subject I’ve reported on extensively. Of the many articles I wrote on the topic, one story in particular broke my heart—and illuminated how such frauds occur. I’ve just heard, again, from one of the principals in the situation, and I’d like to post his letter. Before I do so, here’s a summary of—and links to—the articles that offer background.

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