In 1982, TIME Magazine published a very special cover story: “The New Scarlet Letter.” In five dense pages full of salacious personal anecdotes and some incredibly horrifying doctoral testimonies, TIME set the standard for herpes journalism. I read the entire piece with my friend (and this site’s editor) Gabe Rosenberg so that you don’t have […]
Read MoreAnother piece for Women’s Health, another amusing stock photo choice. The real title for this piece should be “How to Not Be a Fucking Asshole,” but this was the headline they pitched me. It was harder to write than the other articles I’ve worked on for Women’s Health—having herpes isn’t like being an out queer person […]
Read MoreThe producers of The Bachelorette made an interesting choice during tonight’s “Men Tell All” episode. Between the awkward reunions and desperate attempts to rebuild reputations, Kaitlyn Bristowe and Chris Harrison had an honest conversation about the tidal waves of harassment this season’s Bachelorette has received online. In a controversial move, Harrison read out several real […]
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I’ve earned a reputation for being an assertive, direct person when it comes to letting someone know that I’m interested, romantically or sexually. What I haven’t talked about much is that many of those “hey, I want to bone you” conversations have happened over text message, when I couldn’t see the person’s face and they couldn’t see mine. […]
Read MoreSo Kaitlyn did the very stupid thing and eliminated the only sane, respectable guy left on her season of The Bachelorette. Bye bye, beautiful Ben H., who made an impression on us all when he made an awkward sex education lesson somehow romantic. You were always a little too smart for Kaitlyn, lovely Ben, who found […]
Read MoreI didn’t meet anyone else with herpes for nearly a year after getting diagnosed. That’s a lie—of course I did. There was the guy who have given me herpes in the first place, and statistically I knew dozens, hundreds, thousands of people with the same virus over the years. I learned after I began publicly disclosing […]
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I took a break from Bachelorella recaps because much of this season has been composed of cringe-inducing group dates and unnecessary confrontations. But I needed to come back this week because, in case you hadn’t heard, Kaitlyn got laid on national television. Reactions to Kaitlyn gettin’ some swung in two directions: the online media rolled […]
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I think I texted him that I needed to talk and asked if we could meet up. I might have called him directly, but my voice was shaking and brittle and I knew he would hear it. So I think I texted him, and he must have called me instead of answering the text—he liked […]
Read MoreQuick Bachelorette recap this week because let’s be honest, not a lot happened. Tony weirdly showed his temper when he had to sumo wrestle and left the show because he’s a pretentious little pissbaby. Clint and JJ are faking a gay romance to get more screen time and it’s kind of biphobic and would make for […]
Read MoreIf this letter seems late, that’s intentional. I wanted to wait until you needed it. Tomorrow you’re moving to Berkeley and you’re going to need a friend. Nowhere is going to feel like home in the same way campus did, but it took college a long time to feel like home in the first place. […]
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Ella Dawson 