Why I Don’t Call Herpes a “Gift”

May 1, 2016.Reading time 11 minutes.

We need to make space for nuance as the conversation about STIs becomes more than the occasional personal essay on a lady blog.

How News Genius Silences Writers

March 25, 2016.Reading time 14 minutes.

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.

You Don’t Need to Forgive People Who Hurt You

February 24, 2016.Reading time 8 minutes.

You do not need to forgive people who have been abusive to you. You do not need to rise above them, or make peace with them, or even pity them. You need to do whatever is best for you.

Why “Peeple” Is Dangerous To Survivors… and, Really, Anyone

October 1, 2015.Reading time 10 minutes.

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 […]

The Conversation That Never Happened: On Herpes and Abusive Relationships

June 12, 2015.Reading time 10 minutes.

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 […]

I went to the Outlander premiere, where everyone laughed at domestic violence

April 5, 2015.Reading time 12 minutes.

I’m sitting in the beautiful Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan, watching a woman be beaten with a belt. The audience around me is laughing, clapping, and whistling. My plus one winces as he watches the scene through his fingers. I listen to the delighted howls echoing through the theater and wonder if I am missing […]

The badass women of TED: or, my second herpes outbreak

April 1, 2015.Reading time 18 minutes.

I have never wanted to be flawless. It took a long time to understand that about myself. I don’t mean flawless in the “***flawless” Beyoncé sense; I mean perfect, undamaged, smooth—what young women are supposed to strive to be. My edges have always been jagged, and I’m a provocative person despite how much I loathe […]