Category: culture
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What I Used To Think About Gender
I used to think I was progressive until one day, in the shoe store, my four-year-old son held up a pair of glittery purple Mary Janes and asked whether he could get them. Those shoes prompted a journey of self-reflection that left me re-thinking what I thought I knew about gender.
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Ukraine, Race, and Our Double Standards for Empathy
Americans’ reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown the depths our compassion. But our ability to view Ukrainians as like “us” cannot be untangled from our propensity to view white people with greater admiration and empathy than we do Black and brown.
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Manifestation is the wellness industry’s version of the prosperity gospel.
Manifestation can sometimes feel like the wellness industry’s version of the prosperity gospel. Both imagine Jesus and the universe as benevolent capitalists who measure success in coins and job opportunities, granting them to the people who figure out the right way to ask for divine blessings. This can be especially problematic when we forget the role that privilege plays in our success.
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We can’t always afford to be passionate about our jobs – and that’s okay.
Our society has created a myth around passion and the workplace. This myth says that when you’re 18, you need to find something you’re passionate about and figure out a way to get paid for it. If we can’t, we feel like failures or sellouts. But the truth is that not everyone can afford to be passionate about their jobs – and that’s okay.
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Take Up Space.
One of the messages I would love to give young women, particularly young Black women and women of color is this: Take up space. So often I see women defer to others to confirm their feelings and to validate their opinions. I see them soften their recommendations with caveats, their emails and text messages with exclamation points and emojis so as not to appear too much, too rude. I say this like I’m talking about other people, but I’m not. I’m talking about myself, too.
well. 