How News Genius Silences Writers
The very loss of control that boxed me into writing just for my site has been exacerbated by a tool originally built to annotate hip hop lyrics.
Read MoreCategory: Tech
Peeple Launches Today. Here’s Its Plan to Profit from Harassment
Peeple is back, and it’s worse than ever.
Read MoreA Friendly Reminder That You Don’t Know Me
An odd thing happened this weekend: an idiot on Twitter really wanted my attention. I say idiot because this young gentleman truly seemed to be stupid rather than malicious in his persistent need to speak to me despite my obvious disinterest. This young gentleman joined Twitter just to communicate with me, a suggestion he denied […]
Read MoreWhy STDRegistry.com Is Disgusting, and Outing Your Ex as STI+ Makes You an Asshole
I stopped. I went back and read the paragraph again. STDRegistry. STDRegistry. No. Absolutely not.
Read MoreEverything 2015 Taught Me About Harassment
It would be easy to say 2015 was about herpes. In reality, this year was about my voice and the Internet and growing up and falling short. I conquered some demons by capturing a specter in words. I gained a few thousand Twitter followers. I broke my own heart and never wrote about it. I moved into […]
Read More“Who Has The Time To Count Facebook Likes?” Fuck You, I Do.
I get so pissed off when people rag on social media. You know that conversation, usually at a cocktail party (oh who am I kidding, I’m twenty-three and I go to cramped apartment parties or loud bars where I have to strain myself to reluctantly listen to sermons about modern technology), when someone you thought […]
Read MoreTo The Woman Who Announced Her STI on Snapchat
I learned about you when I Googled myself—as a narcissist is wont to do—and discovered I’d been mentioned in an article about you on the Daily Star. I’m not entirely sure why my efforts to destigmatize herpes were mentioned in the article, which was a masterpiece of stigmatizing, sensationalized journalism that in no way respected […]
Read MoreDear Internet Commenters Who Really Don’t Want Herpes,
Your Facebook comments have made me think. I’m not being facetious—whenever I read a comment from someone (usually a man) upset that rejecting someone who has an STI makes you a bad person, I wonder why you are so alarmed and defensive. When have I ever said that turning down someone herpes+ makes you a […]
Read MoreWhy “Peeple” Is Dangerous To Survivors… and, Really, Anyone
UPDATE 3/7/2016: Peeple has launched, with a new paid “truth license” that allows you to read hidden reviews to come soon. You can read my latest take here. I work in social media. It is part of my job to stay up-to-date on the myriad new social networks that spring up like weeds every day. Some […]
Read MoreA Lesson In Herpes Stigma, Via Facebook Comments
The classic mantra of reading, writing and merely existing on the Internet is “Don’t read the comments.” Internet comments, and Facebook comments in particular, are widely discredited as a cesspool of nastiness and trolling. If the writer or subject of a given article is anyone other than a straight, white man, the comments are even worse. […]
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