1.
“There Is No Safe Word,” January 13-25, 2025
For New York’s latest cover story, Lila Shapiro wrote about best-selling author Neil Gaiman and the women who have accused him of sexual assault, coercion, and abuse. Gaiman had declined to speak to Shapiro but wrote in a lengthy blog reply, “As I read through this latest collection of accounts, there are moments I half-recognise and moments I don’t, descriptions of things that happened sitting beside things that emphatically did not happen. I’m far from a perfect person, but I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual activity with anyone. Ever … Like most of us, I’m learning, and I’m trying to do the work needed … I hope that with the help of good people I’ll continue to grow.” He added, “At the same time … I don’t accept there was any abuse.” A statement from several of Gaiman’s accusers was shared with the New York Times: “We are disappointed to see the same non-apology that women in this situation have seen so many times before.” The story generated a massive response. Redditor Westlakesam called Gaiman as “bad as the villains in his books and comics,” while comics collector Aaron Meyers said, “As I get older I realize that putting too much stock into real people as ‘heroes’ or ‘good guys’ is folly but this is so genuinely upsetting and disheartening. I feel so bad for his targets. Absolutely monstrous.” Also on Reddit, CloudyMiku said, “Gaiman is another example of a man publically presenting himself as a feminist (mostly in his works) abusing his power behind the scenes.” On X, goobenberger agreed: “Neil gaiman included his misogynistic fantasies in his work, and was applauded as a feminist for doing so. in the future, i hope we can stop labeling women ‘puritanical’ when they dare to question the motives of ‘feminist’ male artists.” Gaiman’s fellow fantasy writer Jeff VanderMeer said, “All those f*ckers in SF/fantasy who made excuses for Neil Gaiman on the last round of allegations really are the worst. You were so invested in the whole ‘he was nice to me’ bullshit or invested in how *invested* you’d been in him to care about the truly disgusting behavior on display.” J. K. Rowling added, “The literary crowd that had a hell of a lot to say about Harvey Weinstein before he was convicted has been strangely muted in its response to multiple accusations against Neil Gaiman from young women who’d never met, yet — as with Weinstein — tell remarkably similar stories.” Redditor Mcsuppes1012 wrote that Gaiman “had his chance to seek healing and growth but instead succumbed to the darkest of impulses. Truly disturbing, and I hope more justice is served to those women than just the destruction of his reputation.” Glen Weldon, a host of NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, asked, “How do we deal with allegations about artists whose work we admire even revere?” For himself, Weldon concluded he would stop buying the writer’s work: “How those works affected me when I first encountered them can’t change, but how they affect me today and in the future can and will. And — crucially, I think — my grappling with his past work, now and in the future, won’t put a single dime in Gaiman’s pocket.”
2.
“The Unknown Number”
Lauren Smiley wrote about a Michigan mother who secretly cyberbullied her teen daughter. Commenter ny2la said, “The severe damage that this mother has done to her own child is beyond comprehension. This child … will have trust issues that will take years to heal if at all. Her mother was supposed to be her protector and she became her tormentor. Vile.” Of the teenager’s treatment by her classmates, tlgreen26 said, “Given the age they all are, her being partly blamed and ostracized for her mother’s actions is kind of how things are done in high school. It likely won’t be until much later, years from now, when that group of kids realizes how absolutely messed up it was for her, and how she was a victim in all of it.” On Instagram, katherinemenna observed, “Being a child in 2025 is such a scam. take me back to the 90’s when people were mean to your face and you could punch them.” Commenter cconnolly called it “the type of compelling story you keep reading until your suspicions are confirmed. Juicy, enjoyable read.” In response to this, anon21 said, “I get a little squeamish with comments that respond to it as if it’s a piece of well-crafted genre fiction … it’s just an uncomfortable facet of things like this being published in general-interest publications and written by reporters who cover a variety of topics and are skilled in narrative.”
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