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."
Latest from Monica Hesse

Hunter Biden’s pardon was inevitable

President Joe Biden tried to keep his feelings separate from his son’s legal travails. But then he saw the state of politics and justice, and love prevailed.

December 2, 2024
President Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden during this year's White House Easter Egg Roll.

Does Nancy Mace know how women’s bathrooms work?

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) introduced a measure to ban trans women (such as Rep.-elect Sarah McBride of Delaware) from women’s restrooms at the Capitol.

November 21, 2024
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-South Carolina) arrives for a House Republican conference meeting at the U.S. Capitol on Nov. 19.

All the president’s problematic men

Good help is hard to find — unless you lower the bar that once considered sexual misconduct and other alleged events as a barrier to being in Trump’s cabinet.

November 19, 2024
Matt Gaetz arrives at an America First Policy Institute gala at President-elect Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

Nick Fuentes and the expanding universe of unintended consequences

Far-right activist Fuentes got the attention he wanted for a post about women’s bodies. Then he got attention he probably didn’t want. It’s the nature of such things.

November 13, 2024
Nick Fuentes at a 2020 rally in Lansing, Michigan.

Why young boys need books about inspiring men

A conversation with Richard Reeves on why teaching boys about male nurses and librarians is as important as teaching girls about female justices and astronauts.

November 9, 2024
Richard Reeves is the author of “Yes, Boys Can.”

The bones of America

How should we talk — to our kids, to ourselves — about the place we live?

November 6, 2024
A few supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris sit in the bleachers at Howard University.

Marriage and the shy Harris voter

Some anti-Trumpers have a theory about the wives of Trump-loving men

November 4, 2024
Will women vote Harris without telling their husbands?

Long ago, the miscalculations of men led to America’s first female mayor

In the final days of the “gender election,” let us remember Dora Salter, a Kansas woman who rose to office thanks to a backfiring political strategy

November 1, 2024

Tucker Carlson has weird ideas on the role of spanking in democracy

At a rally, he likened Donald Trump to a daddy preparing to dish out corporal punishment.

October 24, 2024
Tucker Carlson, seen here speaking at the Republican convention in July, spun a telling metaphor on a different stage this week.

Kamala Harris and the dudes

What do young men want in a presidential campaign?

October 23, 2024
Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris sits down for a conversation with Charlamagne tha God.