I have a confession to make: I’m sick of #MeToo. Whenever I see the hashtag, I feel dread. I lived through rape, abuse, and torture, so this is, in one sense, a personal reaction — reminders of familiar traumas make me hurt. That’s on me. No one else is responsible for my mental health. ButContinue reading “I’m a Rape Survivor With #MeToo Fatigue: Here’s Why”
Category Archives: The F-Word
I talked about abuse and made you uncomfortable? Good.
“People mistake vulnerability for intimacy. It’s not just annoying, it’s damaging.” — these words from my friend and Anti-Nihilist Institute co-founder Anna Lind-Guzik have been knocking around in my head lately for a reason. Vulnerability is a useful tool of connecting to one’s audience. This isn’t just true of confessional writing. When I began to openContinue reading “I talked about abuse and made you uncomfortable? Good.”
My theory of seamless love
“There’s making love, there’s sex, and then there’s fucking.” I forget who said that to me when I was young and impressionable, but it made sense at the time. Making love was what people in “The English Patient” did. It was very serious and probably set to violins. Sex was what people did when theyContinue reading “My theory of seamless love”
The humiliation of “real Russian women” – and why conservatives get off on it
“A woman owes it to everyone to be beautiful!” “You’re not a real woman if you don’t look feminine enough!” “Some guy’s dick didn’t get hard when you walked by? Kill yourself, you ugly piece of shit.” “Too many guys’ dicks got hard when you walked by? Kill yourself, you sad whore.” As some peopleContinue reading “The humiliation of “real Russian women” – and why conservatives get off on it”
I was raped a few years ago
I was raped a few years ago. I had liked and trusted the guy. It had started out as a completely consensual encounter. But at some point, after he had me alone, he began to hurt me. When I asked him to stop, he continued. He got off on my pain and terror. He wasContinue reading “I was raped a few years ago”
Natalia A. 