Do we really want our daughters to grow up thinking they’re not good enough because of their size? Fatphobia, or the bizarre fixation a good chunk of our society has on being terrified of becoming/being/seeing/touching anyone or anything that has to do with fatness, hurts everyone. As someone who identifies as being a fat woman, […]
Women’s health, it appears, is assumed to be the sole preserve of white women. After months of emails from the local yoga studio, I finally signed up for my first class on a whim. I envisioned myself clad in cute matching spandex outfits, getting centered and serene, maybe even mastering the downward dog. But within […]
We want to be with one another and have a sense of solidarity with those who share our experience. I’ve spent many years in women’s communities and I, myself, create spaces for women to come and do their sexual growth work with one another. These spaces are incredibly important for our own well-being and evolution. […]
Growing up, I learned that if you were a black girl with a wide nose, full lips, dark skin, nappy hair—you were doomed. At 8 years old, I knew how to turn my parents’ bedroom into my music video sanctuary. It was easy: They had all of the necessary equipment to fuel my young imagination. […]
How can we enforce boundaries about work when we’re taught to equate one’s productivity with one’s morality? It will be said that, while a little leisure is pleasant, men would not know how to fill their days if they had only four hours of work out of the 24. In so far as this is […]
My father violently picked off all the petals and left us lifeless, but somehow we survived. CN: Domestic abuse, child abuse I have been silenced my entire life. My childhood was never mine—it was my father’s sick puppet show, filled with endless cruelty and abuse. My mother, sister, and I quietly suffered. We were placed […]
I flirted my way out of a well-deserved traffic ticket. In our current political and cultural climate, I keep butting up against two conflicting thoughts. The first is that this is not the time for white people to espouse opinions and pen essays about the state of our country. If ever there was a time […]
While one instance of street harassment is annoying, one every block can start to feel debilitating. It started for me last week, when I decided to spend a few hours running errands in the summer sunshine while audaciously wearing a loose-fitting baby doll dress, comfy flats, and a denim vest. Apparently my need to keep […]
