Member-only story
Canceling Themselves: Inside the Wild World of Over-Opinionated Support Groups
From Brunch to Arson: The Shocking Downfall of a ‘Safe Space’ Meeting
We met every Thursday at 8 pm.
At first, there were only a handful of us. Each plagued by their own misdoings. Each sharing the secret shame of what brought us all together. But in time, the meeting room grew into a large hall accommodating 200 people all suffering from the same affliction.
I tried explaining to friends what had happened. My best mate called it ‘ridiculous’ and told me to ‘get a life’. My family shrugged and quickly changed the topic to parenthood and why I was yet to conceive a child and that time was not on my side. My sister even had a spreadsheet of facts detailing the optimum period for child-rearing. I was almost too far gone on the scale. “It’s not too late,” she said, pointing to the dead zone of infertility. I asked them, “How could I possibly be thinking of children when my life had become so stressful! When the entire planet was against me!” They told me to stop being so narcissistic.
Thursday was my safe space.
It began in the basement of the local library, where the walls were plastered with motivational posters that read “It’s okay to change your mind… unless someone…
