Tag: social conditioning
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Am I Supposed to Lie?
Why Are You Coaching Me to Lie? “I have a boyfriend”, I lied. I didn’t want to lie. I wanted to tell the truth- that I was aggressively single. But I couldn’t, because that would be an invitation. So I lied. As a child, I was told lying is bad. So why am I expected… Read more
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The Angry Pink Horse on the Carousel
There’s an angry pink horse on the carousel. All the others seem content to go around and around. But not this one. Its skin is an unnatural shade of bubblegum pink, its eyes bulging with peeling black paint, and its head is cocked at a tense angle- as if it is trying to throw off… Read more
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What a Pedophile Taught Me About Manners
Using My Voice For Good When I was young, there was an older man who orbited my life. I felt uneasy around him, though not necessarily unsafe. Only in adulthood did I come to learn of the multiple allegations that had been made against him involving inappropriate sexual behavior toward minors. I was lucky at… Read more