The Denial File
What We Can't Think About—and Why
Soft Porn in Makeup: The fine print in “Fifty Shades of Grey” signs you up for more than you think
Kirby Farrell | July 30, 2014
You might not think of being nude, tied up, and tingling as a disguise. But that’s the reality behind E. L. James’s best-selling soft-porn …
The Romance Plot
Kirby Farrell | July 7, 2014
By Kirby Farrell, Ph.D. Stories are tools for making sense of the world. They function as parables. In dramatizing situations, they put problems in a …
Average Terror
Kirby Farrell | June 25, 2014
By Kirby Farrell, Ph.D. You know the theory: we create inequality because humans have a childlike need to feel protected, so we attribute extraordinary powers …
Your Cheatin’ Heart: Who Can You Trust?
Kirby Farrell | May 28, 2014
Been cheating lately? Doubled over with gut-wrenching guilt? “As long as you didn’t think your cheating hurt anyone,” recent research tells us, “you may have …
Beastly Love: What Animals are Telling Us About Us
Kirby Farrell | May 20, 2014
By chance I’ve been coming across a (ahem) flock of nature documentaries lately. As usual, the photography is more breathtaking than a bungee jump into …
The Parasites and the Doctors: Using Animals to Think About Us
Kirby Farrell | April 23, 2014
With a straight face the news tells us that a Nevada rancher named Cliven Bundy (no relation to the serial killer Ted) has been grazing …
The Threat Workout
Kirby Farrell | March 19, 2014
Depressed? Anxious? Can’t sleep? Feel everybody hates you? If so, you could be vice-president of the National Rifle Association, Wayne La Pierre, who confessed his …
Straight talk about cannibals
Kirby Farrell | February 23, 2014
Cannibalism is taboo. It makes the neighbors nervous, and, if you carry it far enough, leads to extinction. Yet the Internet is buzzing with fantasies …
Nothing Focuses The Mind Like The Ultimate Deadline: Death
Jim Lieberman | February 13, 2014
The “Deadline Watch” was a recent topic on National Public Radio. You put in data about yourself and the ticker on your wrist continuously estimates …
The Appeal of “Downton Abbey”
Bill Bornschein | January 27, 2014
As the BBC production Downton Abbey begins its fourth season amidst the typical swirl of sneak previews and gossip, it occurred to me that at …
Some Thoughts on Reading “Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist,” Part 4
Daniel Liechty | January 9, 2014
Like a number of other notable intellectuals who found the youthful excesses of the student-led New Left movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s …
The Devil’s Desiderata
Phil Hansten | November 10, 2013
Astronomers assumed for years that there were planets similar to earth throughout the universe.
If Tattoos Could Talk: fangs, gangs, and the pangs of youth
Kirby Farrell | October 29, 2013
Humans have been tattooing skin, filing teeth, and spiked with ornaments since prehistoric times: sometimes to stand out, sometimes to blend into a group. The …
“You Should Die”: Bullying, ambivalence, and the tyranny of expectations
Kirby Farrell | October 10, 2013
The idea of “ambivalence” is out of favor. People confuse it with “ambiguity” or “equivocation.” In an earlier essay here, I offered a theory of …
At the Altar of the NFL: Sports as Eucharist
Don Ashe | September 20, 2013
The NFL has fired up again and I felt myself reacting with pleasurable thoughts and feelings. Watching great passes and catches, running backs out maneuvering …
Banishing Childhood Nightmares
Kirby Farrell | September 12, 2013
Here’s a story that may be useful: Dad has two daughters, let’s call them Vivian and Ellen. Vivian, the older and more volatile kid, has …
Some Thoughts on Reading “Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist,” Part 3
Daniel Liechty | August 27, 2013
Now that I am sitting down to write my third blog on my reactions to this book, it is pretty clear that the book engaged …
The Paranoia Diet
Kirby Farrell | August 2, 2013
I’ll bet we both know people who rigorously police what they put into their stomachs like customs inspectors with a drug-sniffing dog. Vigilance scans the …
Some Thoughts on Reading “Adventures of an Accidental Sociologist,” Part 2
Daniel Liechty | July 22, 2013
In Part 1 of this entry, I wrote about how much I appreciate about the contribution Peter L. Berger has made. Not only to sociology …
Nostalgia and the Ability to Mourn
Kirby Farrell | July 10, 2013
According to the New York Times (July 9, 2013), research shows that nostalgia can “counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety. It makes people more generous to …