Two Years of Many Such Cases

and a 50 percent off sale to celebrate

Hello and welcome to Many Such Cases.

Nobody embodies eroticism like James Spader. Even on The Office.

I’m often asked how I became the sort of writer that I am, writing about sex and relationships and this uncomfortable period of our culture. The best I can say is that it’s a compulsion. I always hope, of course, that someone reading my work will come away with a new understanding or at least just an interesting point that lingers with them for a moment or two, but it’s my own quest for these things that pushes me to write in the first place. I write to work through it, to try and locate some type of meaning from subjects that are so simple they’ve become incomprehensible. Sex does not require an explanation, and yet, we keep trying to find one.

It’s been two years now since I first gave this compulsion a home here. My experience has confirmed that there is a necessity to talk about our relationship with sex with some semblance of honesty, be it from myself or others. We’re not getting any less weird about it. We’re not getting any less isolated. But we are, I think, at a turning point, even if only a mild one. The election and the growing gendered animosity it has yielded has made me sure of that. There is going to be so much more to say, so much more for us to try and understand. My hope is to do so with a little bit of empathy and tough love. We’re going to need it.

As I reflect upon the time behind me and the time ahead, I want to express my utmost gratitude. I am grateful that anyone reads my work at all, nevermind pays to do so. Very few people get to be a writer. Even fewer get to do so coming from a background like mine, without familial financial support or an alternative day job. I genuinely live my dream. I get to be a writer, and I don’t take that for granted.

I write elsewhere, of course, but Substack has become a critical part of all this. As mentioned, that consistency element is still something I’m figuring out. Whereas most of my paid assignments for other publications take on a bit of structure, I write here on a whim. There have been a few story ideas that I’ve nursed for days and weeks, but often, the compulsion hits me and I open a draft here and get typing. Some of my most popular essays here have been the result of these whims. It works for me! But in the year ahead, I plan to incorporate structure further. The essays will probably still come as they do, but my hope is to more routinely publish in the Digest format as well as the “Do These People F*ck” series. I have two of those already planned: one for Barcelona and my experience at the House of Erika Lust, and one for Art Basel in Miami, where I am now. Both of those will likely also evolve into stories elsewhere, too.

I’ve also continuously been musing on other possibilities for this newsletter and how else it can take form. There are a few options:

• A podcast, ranging something entirely casual wherein I just attempt to speak for 45 minutes about whatever seems relevant and release it as a voice note here or something more structured, featuring guests or a possible co-host and potentially even a video element. I’ve always wanted to do a podcast, and its eventual existence seems probable.

• A periodic advice column. That is pretty straightforward — some of you have unique problems, and could use an online woman to answer them.

• Live subscriber chats, where we pick a topic and engage with each other in chat room format. Seems easy and fun!

As always, I’m very open to hearing from readers about what they want. In fact, I’m desperate for it. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please share!

To celebrate two years of this newsletter, I am offering 50 percent off paid subscriptions for the next two days only. Whether you pay monthly or annually, you’ll get half off for a full year. Sorry that it is also Cyber Monday today, but yeah.

No code is needed, and you can subscribe here at this link.

Thank you all for entertaining my compulsions. I am so excited to see what’s next for us.