Non-story of the week

Phoebe Maltz has the ultimate response to the ridiculous “man date” story in the Times. When I saw the thing, I actually considered tossing off a one-line post about how it was definitive evidence of what a colossal waste of newsprint the “Sunday Styles” section is. The fact that it’s generated a lot of earnest commentary is frankly baffling. Anyway, call me strange but I have eaten meals with other red-blooded heterosexual males on innumerable occasions without thinking about it at all. You see, what makes an outing a “date” is not what you’re doing but who you’re doing it with and why. If this isn’t clear, and doing things with members of the gender you’re not attracted to creates awkwardness, I would strongly suggest therapy.