Chelsea Cristene

Anyone who has been a victim of abuse will tell you that the burden of emotional labor is enormous, and that it’s amplified by the pressure to keep quiet.

Thank you, Isolde, for making me pause, for encouraging me to ditch the pocket computer for conversation with someone new.

That’s the thing about perfectionism. When you chase something unattainable, you complete a self-fulfilling prophecy.

When men’s dating preferences were observed, the age of women they expressed interest in never (never!) deviated from the early 20s.

I reject the insistence that a woman can’t choose what makes her feel beautiful without regard for the judgement of others.

I see no such kerfuffle over straight men at gay bars, so it appears that this brand of exclusivity is Dicks Only.

If Trump is right (there’s a first time for everything) and we need to state what a problem is before solving it, then let’s state it now. Radical white terrorism.

Illness is intensely personal, but it never affects the person diagnosed alone.

Knowing a few compulsive liars over the course of my life has taught me some things. Living during Trump’s presidency has reinforced them.

The first rule: Unrequited love sucks. The second rule took regrettably longer for me to get a handle on: My unilateral crush was not this guy’s problem.