Recent longitudinal research suggests that women with higher levels of self-acceptance are less likely to develop problematic pornography use.

Additionally, frequent pornography consumption among women is linked to difficulties in engaging in goal-directed behaviors. These findings, published in Computers in Human Behavior, shed light on the psychological mechanisms behind pornography use among women—a topic historically studied with a strong focus on men.

If you’re in a committed relationship, congratulations: you’ve entered an unlicensed, high-stakes experiment in psychological self-discovery.

Your partner, through no fault of their own, will inadvertently trigger every unhealed wound, unmet need, and childhood trauma lurking in the depths of your unconscious.

This is not a bug; it’s a feature.

Carl Jung believed that deep within our psyche exists the shadow—the disowned parts of ourselves that we repress because they don’t fit our preferred self-image.

We’d like to think of ourselves as kind, rational, and generous, yet we’re also capable of cruelty, pettiness, and selfishness.

We push those less flattering qualities into the shadow, where they ferment and mutate into projections. In relationships, this means you’re not just reacting to your partner—you’re reacting to what they awaken in you.

It’s 1858, and Senator James Henry Hammond is boldly defending slavery before the U.S. Senate.

He's not embarrassed. Not even a little.

Instead, he proudly declares what historians now call the Mud Sill Theory.

To Hammond, society was a grand house built upon a foundation—a mudsill—of permanently enslaved people whose suffering enabled civilization for the privileged few.

“In all social systems, there must be a class to do the menial duties, to perform the drudgery of life,” Hammond said without blinking an eye. “Such a class you must have, or you would not have that other class which leads progress, civilization, and refinement” (Hammond, 1858).

What a flawless distillation of the Cultural Narcissism of his place and time.

Pretty chilling, isn’t it? But surely, we’ve moved past such backward thinking. Right?

Not so fast.

Imagine, for a moment, that you're a network engineer (bear with me, gentle reader).

Your emotional health is the precious data you're tasked with protecting, and the narcissist in your life—perhaps your ex-partner, parent, or even that overly charming friend—is the human equivalent of malware, constantly attempting to infiltrate your emotional defenses.

Firewalling a narcissist, then, becomes your ultimate strategy: it’s all about installing emotional antivirus software and setting digital barbed wire around your sanity.

Firewalling isn't merely distancing yourself—it's consciously establishing and maintaining boundaries so sturdy that even the craftiest emotional hackers find their tricks useless. And believe me, narcissists are emotional hackers extraordinaire.

In the grand tradition of humanity stuffing itself with things it probably shouldn’t, scientists have now confirmed that our brains—once believed to be the domain of existential dread, forgotten passwords, and questionable life choices—are also stockpiling microplastics.

Yes, tiny synthetic hitchhikers have made their way past every evolutionary firewall designed to keep nonsense out of our heads, and they’re settling in for the long haul.

A study published in Nature Medicine has taken a good, hard look at human brain tissue and found microplastics—those microscopic remnants of modern convenience—nestled deep in the frontal cortex.

While previous research has shown these omnipresent polymers invading our livers, kidneys, and even placentas (because of course they have), this latest discovery raises the uncomfortable question: What exactly are these plastic squatters doing in the human brain, and should we be worried? (Answer: Probably.)

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who tried to kill Hitler and got executed for it, left us with a terrifying idea: stupidity is a greater threat to humanity than evil.

It sounds absurd. Surely, genocidal dictators, war criminals, and sociopathic billionaires are the real problem?

Not exactly.

Evil, as horrifying as it is, requires effort.

It has to plan, manipulate, and strategize.

But stupidity? Stupidity doesn’t need to do anything. It just exists. And because it exists, evil thrives.

Stupidity is not a lack of intelligence. It’s a lack of moral courage.

It is what happens when people stop thinking for themselves and surrender their minds to the mob.

It is passive, cowardly compliance disguised as loyalty and common sense. And worst of all? Stupid people don’t know they’re stupid.

That’s why stupidity is not only more dangerous than evil—it’s evil’s most powerful weapon.

There is a new breed of men stalking the internet—slick, pugnacious, and deeply convinced that women have gotten too much, taken too far, and left them stranded in the dust.

They call themselves men, warriors, seekers of lost honor.

But the data says something different.

They are, more often than not, young, spurned, and utterly enthralled by the gospel of "manfluencers"—those digital preachers of the manosphere, the loudspeakers of a movement that whispers to the wounded male ego and tells it precisely what it wants to hear: It’s not your fault, kid. It’s them.

Some divorces don’t happen with lawyers, custody battles, and separate apartments. Some divorces happen quietly, invisibly—while the couple is still legally married and living under the same roof.

Welcome to the phenomenon of the silent divorce—a term that describes couples who have emotionally separated while remaining together in form only.

It’s not that they hate each other (at least, not always). It’s that they’ve stopped being partners in any meaningful way.

They coexist, but they don’t connect.

If this sounds familiar, don’t panic. A silent divorce isn’t necessarily the end—it’s a warning sign. And, as relationship research shows, it’s possible to reverse course—if both partners recognize the problem and take action.

Let’s break down what causes a silent divorce, what the science says about marital disconnection, and how to find your way back to each other.

You’re in the middle of a tense conversation with your partner. Maybe they’re telling you they feel unheard, or maybe you’re trying to address a long-standing issue that keeps resurfacing.

Instead of engaging, they take a deep breath, soften their voice, and say something like:

"I just think we need to trust the universe on this."

"Let’s not focus on negativity—let’s just stay in a place of love."

Or the absolute classic: “Everything happens for a reason.”

And just like that, the conversation dies.

This, my friends, is love bypassing—a sneaky form of emotional avoidance dressed up in the robes of spiritual wisdom.

So you’re in a relationship with someone who seems deeply in tune with your emotions.

They mirror your feelings effortlessly, anticipate your needs, and say all the right things at the right time. At first, it feels like the emotional connection you’ve always craved—until it doesn’t.

Over time, something shifts.

Their once-soothing words start to feel… off.

Their deep understanding of your emotions somehow doesn’t lead to kindness but rather subtle control.

They use their insight into your fears to make you doubt yourself. They seem to “win” every argument by twisting your feelings against you. And when you try to call them out, they tilt their head sympathetically and say, “I think you’re just projecting.”

Welcome to the mind-bending world of narcissistic empathy—where emotional intelligence isn’t used to build connection, but to manipulate and dominate.

It’s an unsettling concept, because we often think of narcissists as emotionally stunted, completely lacking empathy. But some narcissists don’t lack empathy at all—they have it in spades. They just use it for themselves, not for you.

Let’s unpack how this works, why it’s so dangerous, and how to tell the difference between real empathy and the kind that’s just another tool in a narcissist’s arsenal.

Steve comes home from work, drops his keys on the counter, and barely nods at Kathy, his wife of 15 years. She asks about his day; he grunts.

She mentions the leaky faucet; he waves it off. She tries to connect; he scrolls his phone. The routine is as predictable as a sitcom rerun—until one day, Kathy is gone.

Not physically at first, but emotionally, mentally, soul-deep. And then, maybe a few months later, literally gone, leaving behind a stunned Steve wondering, "What just happened?"

Welcome to the Walk-Away Wife Syndrome—a phenomenon where women, after years of unmet emotional needs, quietly check out of their marriage before physically leaving.

By the time their husbands notice, they’ve already emotionally left the building.

Parenting is a powerful form of storytelling.

It is the first narrative we absorb, teaching us who we are, what we deserve, and how to navigate the world. But what happens when that story is written in the language of fear, humiliation, and control?

A growing body of research suggests that childhood experiences of harsh parenting—including psychological aggression and severe physical discipline—may contribute to the emergence of dark personality traits in adulthood (Galán et al., 2024).

This is not a simple case of cause and effect. Human beings are complex, adaptive creatures, and the way we internalize early experiences depends on a myriad of factors, from genetics to social environment.

Yet, when researchers identify a strong correlation between severe parental discipline and traits like narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism—collectively known as the Dark Tetrad—it forces us to ask: Are we raising children who must armor themselves against the very people meant to protect them?