Monica Hesse

Washington, D.C.

Education: Bryn Mawr College, B.A. in English; Johns Hopkins University, M.A. in Nonfiction writing

Monica Hesse is a columnist for The Washington Post's Style section, who frequently writes about gender and its impact on society. In 2022 she was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in the field of commentary. She's the author of several novels, most recently, "They Went Left."
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Latest from Monica Hesse

The real reasons Americans are having fewer kids

Many economists and politicians are alarmed that Americans, like others around the world, are having fewer kids. But, apart from wanting a growing labor force, is this really a problem? Opinions columnists Shadi Hamid and Heather Long talk with Style columnist Monica Hesse about what’s really behind the baby bust and whether we just need to prepare for a lower fertility future.

September 17, 2024

Kamala Harris said what Biden couldn’t about abortion

The undoing of Roe v. Wade gave Democrats a strong campaign message. Now, they have a strong messenger.

September 11, 2024
Vice President Kamala Harris took former president Trump to task for bringing about the end of Roe v. Wade with his Supreme Court appointments.

The irony of the professional tradwife

What I learned from watching too many episodes of “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”

September 10, 2024
“The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives” highlights, perhaps unintentionally, the irony of turning tradwifery into a lucrative career.

JD Vance’s repeated digs at childless women are worse than you thought

It’s not about the kids they don’t have. It’s about the empathy he can’t even fathom.

September 4, 2024
Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance at a rally in Nevada on July 30.

Between dads and daughters

Three films — “Good One,” “It Ends With Us” and “Daughters” — find new things to say about how girls and young women process their relationship with their fathers.

August 17, 2024
James Le Gros and Lily Collias in "Good One."

Masculinity’s check-engine light is on. Let Tim Walz have a look.

Vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz’s “Midwestern dad vibe” comes with opportunities to rethink a whole tool kit of types.

August 8, 2024
Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz enters a campaign event at the Signature Aviation Hangar in Detroit on Wednesday.

Imane Khelif won her match. The talk about her was a loss for everyone.

Algerian boxer Imane Khelif brought us another chance to marvel at what female athletes are doing at the Paris Games. She should be celebrated, not accused.

August 6, 2024
Imane Khelif of Algeria in action against Janjaem Suwannapheng of Thailand at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris on Tuesday.

‘Weird’ is Democrats’ most effective insult. Tim Walz was the pioneer.

Newly named VP pick Tim Walz and others are finding new potency in calling the Republicans as they see them: not normal.

August 6, 2024
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), seen July 3, found a simple way to get a rise out of the opposition when he said that former president Donald Trump is “just a strange, weird dude.”

Did JD Vance say women should stay in abusive marriages?

In a 2021 speech, the GOP’s current vice-presidential candidate made remarks about no-fault divorce that have people wondering what he really meant.

July 25, 2024
Republican vice-presidential nominee JD Vance during a campaign event in Radford, Va., on Monday.

Kamala Harris said 19 words in 2018 that taught us all we need to know

Curious about what kind of candidate she’ll be? Kamala Harris’s dismantling of Supreme Court justice nominee Brett M. Kavanaugh six years ago is worth a rewatch.

July 22, 2024