I’d be grateful if no one else told me to be grateful just to get me to shut up. — I always hear a ton of talk about how the concept of forgiveness gets weaponized to shut up the victims of abuse. This often happens within religious institutions. I know I’ve had my fair share of “you have to forgive” talks with Christians desperate to get me to darken the…

I always feel like somebody’s watching me. — If I had a nickel for every second of my life I’ve wasted worrying about the eyes of men, I’d be Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos all rolled into one, and I don’t know a single other woman who couldn’t say the same. From the time the pink confetti blows out…

Are they really mutually exclusive? — “We’re proud to be the descendants of Confederate soldiers.” “Our ancestors were just protecting their land and their women from the Northern aggressor.” “It was never about anything but states’ rights!” Everyone has heard it all before, though, lately, I feel I’ve been seeing renewed interest in Confederate pride, resurrected…

Before commenting. — I’m not ashamed to admit I was a huge South Park fan back in the day. …

It’s better for women. It’s better for children. It’s better for everyone. — Before any parents reading this jump down my throat, I want to clearly state that the point of this essay is not to say that nobody should become a parent. I am not arguing that no one should have kids. What I am going to argue is that the expectation…

Maybe autistics are cooler than we realize. — My spouse is an airline virtuoso. When we fly long-haul, he often manages to snag us business class tickets using the airline miles he racks up traveling for work. Normally, we have to plan our trip dates around these flights, but it is absolutely worth it. Being autistic makes the…

When nobody gives a damn about my husband’s homeland. — Since April of 2023, my husband’s native land of Sudan has been involved in one of the most devastating conflicts currently on the planet. Millions have fled their home city or the country. Tens of thousands have been wounded or killed. The capital of Khartoum, a city that boasted a…

What you can do to see a person when you look at a woman. — In the first part of this two-part piece, we talked about how men and women alike are conditioned to see women as inferior in a patriarchal society. We also discussed some ways you can tell whether you might be dehumanizing women. …

But too many men don’t see it that way. Here’s how to tell where you stand. — I spend a lot of time in my articles and comments talking about how men as a general class often don’t see women as human beings. However, one of the things I’ve noticed is that dudes frequently respond to this sort of statement with requests for concrete ways to improve. …