The Herpes+ Writer Directory

September 4, 2015.Reading time 8 minutes.

Here’s a list of herpes+ writers you need to be reading, AND, if you’re a journalist or an editor, contacting about writing for your publications.

Who Would I Be If I Hadn’t Gotten Herpes?

August 26, 2015.Reading time 1 minute.

The lovely ladies over at Femsplain let me write about my fixation with parallel universes for their August theme “jealousy.” I’m not an especially jealous person beyond the usual who is that girl in that picture with my man moments on Facebook. But I do wonder about the Ella who never got herpes, and whether or not her […]

The Herpes Interviews: The Best Friend

August 7, 2015.Reading time 47 minutes.

I had a secret weapon when it came to dealing with my herpes diagnosis: my best friend. This interview is different from the previous two I’ve done—BFF is not a romantic partner, but she knows me better than any boyfriend ever could. We grew up together in those stupidly formative years of college, navigating hookup culture, […]

TIME Magazine Ruined Herpes Journalism. Here’s How To Fix It.

July 25, 2015.Reading time 36 minutes.

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 […]

Why We Need Clicky, Accessible Herpes Writing Too

July 24, 2015.Reading time 4 minutes.

Another 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 […]

Why Herpes is an Opportunity: Talking Herpes+ with Adrial Dale

July 12, 2015.Reading time 8 minutes.

I 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 […]

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 […]

The Boner Backlash: Stop Telling Me You Would Still Fuck Me

May 17, 2015.Reading time 15 minutes.

I get asked a lot if I have seen a backlash to my herpes activism. The simple answer is no, because it isn’t the backlash people expect. No one is raising ‘whore’ banners against me, and I largely ignore negative comments on social media when the response I’ve met has been so overwhelmingly supportive. There […]

Herpes, Two Years Later: On Sex Without Condoms

May 9, 2015.Reading time 3 minutes.

A hand with red fingernails holds six wrapped condoms above a thigh in a stocking.

Can you have sex without condoms if you have genital herpes?

Everyone at Wesleyan Has Herpes

May 5, 2015.Reading time 9 minutes.

It’s a Saturday afternoon. I am sitting at a table outside of Usdan, Wesleyan’s student center, under a big black umbrella. The sun toasts my exposed shoulders. A student journalist with the school paper asks me questions about my recent, surreal herpes stardom, and strangers at nearby tables peer over at me as I answer because […]