They’re tired of the aggression. — A woman goes to a coffee shop to do some work. Out of nowhere, a random dude shows up. He starts moving her stuff and putting his things on the table. When she asks what he’s doing, he says he’s just “testing how nice you are.” It’s a thing. Apparently…

There’s a simple solution. — “Hey, what about her?” It came from some dude, talking about my mom to one of his buddies. I was standing in line with her at the post office. I was eight. They leaned back and watched us. They started making comments about me. My mom told me to ignore…

I wish I’d figured it out sooner. — I remember my first attempt at small talk. I walked up to my kindergarten teacher and asked her what she was doing. She said, “What does it look like I’m doing?” Wow. Okay. I decided to leave her alone. For days, I tried to figure out what I’d done wrong…

You can just be. — There’s one thing a teenage girl can always count on, and it’s some rando telling them to smile. It happened to me all the time. One guy was fond of saying, “You look like a lost little kitten.” Every day, I looked forward to going home and listening to sad…

It’s not a super great idea — Let’s face it, men aren’t doing so well. They’re having meltdowns when they find out their attractive coworkers already have boyfriends. They’re posting anime girls on their dating profiles, telling women not to bother contacting them unless they meet the standards of a cartoon. They’re falling behind in school. They’re…

On the lie of friendship — When my mom died, I didn’t want condolences. I didn’t want cards. I didn’t want phone calls. I didn’t want to stand around listening to everyone else talk about how much they missed their moms. I didn’t want to talk about it with anyone. I wanted to be left alone. …

Our toxic relationships with wealth. — I love history. In 1910, the U.S. federal government passed the White Slave Traffic Act. They did it in response to the rise of prostitution. Basically, women were selling their bodies in order to escape poverty and abuse. The government did almost nothing to address the actual circumstances leading to…

It’s not that complicated. — It’s 1 am, maybe later. I’m tired, but I feel like I should be doing something. I feel like I haven’t earned the right to sleep. Maybe if I get a head start on tomorrow’s goals, I’ll finally feel like I deserve it. “I’ll relax later,” I say. Maybe you…

They’re not what you think. — Recently I found myself asking this question: “Why aren’t you more successful?” Everyone defines success in their own way, but most definitions have a few things in common. They share a degree of recognition and financial independence. Even if they talk about meaning and purpose, most of these people still…