‘At Least You’re Young Enough to Start Again’: What Not to Say to a Friend Getting Divorced at Thirty
An Exploration of Desire: Recognising Asexuality, Alongside Illness and Trauma, as Valid
As a teenager, I fantasised about the perfect kiss. Kissing in heavy rain, in someone’s car, in a booth in a bar I would someday be old enough to go to. I watched teen rom-coms and read YA romance – enemies to lovers, friends to lovers, slow burn – and pictured carving out a love with someone like that. I rarely thought about sex. When I did, it existed in some faraway land that I did not feel any big need to visit…
‘I Don’t Know How to Flirt in My Mother Tongue’: What is the Love Language of an Expat?
I truly learned how to have sex in English, if sex is a learned thing. I read its dictionary in people's beds after I moved to London. My first long-term relationship was with a Brit, and the following one as well. The things I asked for, what they asked of me… I only knew one language to say those words in…
How To Recognise The Signs of Coercive Control and Regain Your Sense of Self After Abuse
Although awareness has increased in recent years around coercive control and there has been more education on what this level of abuse entails, there is a gap in the literature on how we can recover and reclaim our identity after escaping this trauma. The first step in recovering from coercive control is understanding the severity of it and recognising it as abuse. It should not be underestimated...