Sexuality
Personal History
His Latex Goddess
I spent months in an all-consuming affair with a man who refused to meet me in person. How did this happen?
The New Yorker Interview
Brooke Shields Never Knew Normal
The star, who’s been a lightning rod for attention since she was a child, on how she has survived controversy and life in the public eye.
The Art World
The Swiss Painter Whose Muse Was His Nightmare
A new exhibit of the work of Henry Fuseli suggests the unsettling grip that his wife, Sophia, held on his artistic imagination.
Under Review
The Writer Who Burned Her Own Books
Rosemary Tonks achieved success among the bohemian literati of Swinging London—then spent the rest of her life destroying the evidence of her career.
This Week in Fiction
Joan Silber on the Mystery of the Body
The author discusses “Evolution,” her story from the latest issue of the magazine.
The Front Row
Lena Dunham’s “Sharp Stick” Is a Hothouse of Delayed Sexual Awakening
Like “Girls” and “Tiny Furniture,” Dunham’s new film is perceptive about the awkwardness and vulnerability of sex.
Photo Booth
Life and Death on Fire Island
Matthew Leifheit’s “To Die Alive” is an arresting portrait of an enduring gay refuge.
The Front Row
“The Worst Person in the World” Is a Sham, Except for Its Lead Performance
Joachim Trier’s drama about an intrepid and passionate young woman in Oslo reduces her to a handful of character traits.
Page-Turner
Watch Highlights from “Words of Desire”
Three acclaimed authors discuss what makes for good writing about sex, in the latest installment of The New Yorker’s digital event series for subscribers.
Cultural Comment
Proust and the Sex Rats
A modest investigation into whether the French writer indulged in an unusual fetish.
Our Columnists
We Need to Change the Terms of the Debate on Trans Kids
What if we saw ourselves as always changing, always uncertain, but always capable of making choices?
The Front Row
“Cuties,” the Extraordinary Netflix Début That Became the Target of a Right-Wing Campaign
The subject of Maïmouna Doucouré’s film isn’t twerking; it’s children who lack the resources to put sexualized media and pop culture into perspective.
The Front Row
“Yes, God, Yes,” Reviewed: A Remarkable First Feature About a Catholic Girl’s Sexual Rebellion
Starting from a familiar premise—a teen-ager’s sexual awakening—the director Karen Maine uses composed yet imaginative visual and sonic textures to develop the film into a vivid, varied comedic drama.
Photo Booth
Mark McKnight and the Bodies That Modernist Photography Didn’t See
A rising star in the photo world makes formalist pictures that are hot with homoerotic desire.
This Week in Fiction
Hanif Kureishi on How We Talk About Love and Sex
The author discusses “She Said He Said,” his story from this week’s issue of the magazine.
On Religion
The Lutheran Pastor Calling for a Sexual Reformation
In her new book, “Shameless,” Nadia Bolz-Weber sets out to build a sexual ethic around human flourishing rather than around rules encoded by men centuries ago.
Daily Comment
The Trump Administration’s Plan to Redefine Gender Recalls an Earlier Rejection of Science
It would impose, by bureaucratic fiat, a reflection of the world not as it is but as Trump says it should be.
Our Columnists
Martin Duberman on What the Gay-Rights Movement Has Lost
By hitching the future of the movement to the vehicle of marriage, the historian suggests, gay people paid a price that may be too high.
Photo Booth