The anticipation of being profiled makes me hyper-vigilant—my palms sweat, my heart begins to race, and my stomach cramps at the thought of having to enter a store. Of the many troubling experiences a black person will face in their life, racial profiling ranks among the most pervasive. Whether it’s being mistaken for an intruder […]
Dear Dana is a bi-weekly advice column for humans who engage in romantic relationships. Please send your dilemmas, issues, conundrums, assumptions, conflicts, anxieties, worriments, obstacles, complications, predicaments, queries, questions, and any other synonyms for “problems” to deardana@rolereboot.org. Dear Dana, I’ve always liked the quote “Justice is what love looks like in public,” and I’m trying to […]
If we were to believe the standard script on the matter, we would think that alcohol was a universal driver of sex, the provider of a good excuse for doing something your sober self wouldn’t have, and also the culprit when things get messy. (Content Warning: sexual violence, rape culture, alcohol use) The first time I […]
The hope is that by encouraging gender-neutral toys, children can pursue their interests without criticism. We all know the drill. Blue is for boys, pink is for girls. Boys should play with cars, climb trees, and roll in the mud. Girls should play with dolls (but never action figures!), put on tea parties, and pretend […]
People don’t have to be scarred for life—or scarred at all—for bodily violations to be morally wrong or assailants to be held accountable. As a mother of two daughters, and as a psychologist who has experienced sexual assault, I find myself troubled by some of the language that feminist women (like me) and progressive allies […]
When adults don’t participate in rape prevention alongside children and teens we lose an important opportunity. I’m the violence prevention educator they’ll never see again. This school year began with news of former prep school athlete Owen Labrie’s conviction of a felony sex crime. As high school students prepare for graduation, the news cycle is […]
It’s time you realized that Pride is so much fun because it’s the one day we exist in a place where people are free to be themselves. Last year, Chicago’s Pride Parade came on the heels of the Supreme Court’s Marriage Equality ruling. My lesbian-headed family put on our rainbow beads and got swept up […]
Where will it all end? When will the watershed moment come when Americans will say enough is enough, when they’ll say no more. When will rationality prevail and the ban on assault weapons will be reinstated? “Where will it all end?” my mother always asked, coupled with, “Isn’t this unbelievable?” She was talking about technology. […]
