Black cinema will not end the demonization of young black men, but a movie like Fruitvale Station offers us a necessary insight into the consequences. When
When you’re overweight, your body becomes a matter of public record in many respects. Your body is constantly and prominently on display. People project assumed narratives onto your body and are not a...
When she grew tired, she crawled into her empty bed, lay on her side, traced the slight indentation where her ex-husband used to sleep. This is my life, she said to the empty room. I am grateful. Then...
When people wield accusations of privilege, more often than not, they want to be heard and seen. Their need is acute, if not desperate, and that need rises out of the many historical and ongoing attem...
There are many instances in which an unlikable man is billed as an antihero, earning a special term to explain those ways in which he deviates from the norm, the traditionally likable.
Nunca conhecerei nada além disso. Nunca conhecerei nada melhor que isso. Aí, penso: Se eu sou realmente infeliz, se minha vida é realmente tão difícil, por que ainda não faço nada? Com frequência, eu...
No one shines more luridly on this faux-real stage than a woman. Whether it’s a modeling competition, a chance to compete for love, a weight-loss challenge, or a look into the lives of an aging magazi...
I’m only one feminist, but I’m confident we’d be just fine if all were right with the world.
It makes perfect sense that many of us obsess over our bodies. There is nothing more inescapable. Our bodies moves us through our lives. They bring pleasure and pain. Sometimes our bodies serve us wel...
It had never crossed my mind before that it was possible for a child to be educated in this country and make it to college unable to read at a college level.
If I must share my story, I want to do so on my terms, without the attention that inevitably follows. I do not want pity or appreciation or advice. I am not brave or heroic. I am not strong. I am not...
I was so lonely I was willing to tolerate these relationships. The faint resemblance of human connection was enough. It had to be enough even though it wasn’t.
I wanted to tell him I saw the exact same things he did, that this country was a lot for anyone to take, but it was easier to pretend I didn’t. Back
I stared at the woman who betrayed me. I shouted, How could you? We are both daughters of Dessalines. She stood perfectly still. She did not blink. She did not look away with her dry eyes. By
I often write stories about women who are perceived as cold and resent that perception. I write these women because I know what it’s like to have so much warmth roiling beneath the skin’s surface, rea...
I love being with someone who is endlessly interesting because we are so different. Wanting to belong to people or a person is not about finding a mirror image of myself.
I don’t understand women like you, he said, winding down. You could have made things easier for yourself. Would it be so hard to play nice with me? I don’t understand men like you. You could have made...
I don’t know how things got so out of control, or I do. This is my refrain. Losing control of my body was a matter of accretion. I began eating to change my body. I was willful in this. Some boys had...
I disavowed feminism because I had no rational understanding of the movement. I was called a feminist, and what I heard was, „You are an angry, sex-hating, man-hating victim lady person. This caricatu...
I am no stranger to dieting. I understand that, in general, to lose weight you need to eat less and move more. I can diet with reasonable success for months at a time. I restrict my calories and keep...