Advice for Our Sexual Culture

Announcing the launch of a new advice series ahead of Valentine's Day.

Hello and welcome to Many Such Cases.

There were a few signs in my childhood, I think, that would point to my adult fascination with our collective love lives. One was a mild obsession with Valentine’s Day: in middle school, I would even throw Valentine’s Day parties where my mom and I would decorate the house with pink and red doilies and bake cupcakes in heart-covered wrappers. All of my friends would come over and we’d order a pizza and play Spongebob: Battle for Bikini Bottom on the GameCube. I think some of my friends and their parents found the Valentine’s Day label weird, but really, I just thought the decor was cute. Even now, my office is sprinkled with little Valentine’s trinkets.

I’m well aware of the critiques of the commercialization of love that can be made of the holiday. But frankly, the value of tradition and festivity outweigh that in my book. We need events like this to mark our sense of time and our collective relationship with it. That we’re driven to think a little extra about romance is even better. So what if it’s a cheap excuse to spend money on chocolate?

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, I’ve decided to experiment with an “advice column” on this newsletter. I use quotes because how rigidly this will align with the usual advice column format remains to be seen. I am open to all sorts of questions, comments and concerns. Perhaps you have a complicated interpersonal matter you’d like me to weigh in on. Or maybe you’ll just use this as an opportunity to message me something like “Hey, I’m a huge pervert. Is that normal?” A lot of people already do that. That’s fine, too.

I’ll be publishing my responses here periodically over the next few weeks in addition to my usual essays. Many of these responses will be paywalled, meaning now is a perfect and lovely and honorable time to become a paid subscriber. This newsletter is my primary focus, and your support makes it all possible. Thank you and I love you.

If you’d like to submit a topic for the advice column, you may do so anonymously here: Many Such Cases Valentine’s Advice Google Form.

Your email addresses will not be collected, and you can share as little or as much information as you’d like. You may also email me at magdalenetaylor@gmail.com, or message me here on Substack. You will remain anonymous to the public.

With love,

Magdalene