This week, Kaye Toal writes about volunteering at an abortion clinic and what she wishes people understood about abortions. Read that and other essays from Gawker, Harper’s Magazine, Medium, and more.
"Volunteering at an Abortion Clinic Made Me Lose Patience With the Abortion Debate" — BuzzFeed Life
Anyone who really wants to understand what’s at stake in the debate over abortion should spend some time outside the places where it happens. For two years, Kaye Toal's job was to walk patients from their cars to the door of an abortion clinic, shielding them from angry protesters. Those two years were exhausting and revealing. "There are protesters who claim they are there out of love, and maybe some of them are," writes Toal. "But the protesters I saw that day, and many days since, were not." Read it at BuzzFeed Life.
Haejin Park / BuzzFeed / Via buzzfeed.com
"Dear 14-Year-Old Boy, You Are Not Entitled to Sex" — Medium
In a powerful letter addressed to his teenage self, Hanif Abdurraqib details everything he wishes he had been taught about sex. The letter criticizes the way boys are taught to become men, how they "become men" at the expense of women's bodies, and how patriarchy hurts not only women but men as well. "Patriarchy impacts everyone more severely than it impacts straight, cis-gendered men," Abdurraqib writes. "But it will also hurt you. It will also limit your imagination, the type of good that you allow yourself to be. It will limit your ability to love and be loved for far too many years." Read it at Medium.
skipsterling.com / Via medium.com
"Winter Is a Black Hole: How I Deal With Seasonal Depression" — Gawker
Seasonal depression is a very real thing. In an essay for Gawker, Dayna Evans describes what it feels like to her. "November is usually busy enough to stave off the desperation that will hit later, thankfully. But the fear and paranoia are there: The sun is setting before 5 p.m. and one night spent bored and alone in the gathering dark might pull me under permanently." Though there's no foolproof remedy for the winter blues, Evans shares the ways in which she deals with seasonal depression. Her essay alone is a source of comfort. Read it at Gawker.
jimcookeillustration.tumblr.com / Via gawker.com
"I Forgot to Find My Husband at a Black University" — BuzzFeed Ideas
Jamilah Lemieux was told to find the love of her life at Howard University. At that time, however, she barely liked herself. "It was hard to walk into the club or the ‘Caf with those pretty slim girls who had been high school dance captains and debutantes without feeling like I just didn’t have what it took to find that husband I had come to find," she writes in a piece for BuzzFeed Ideas. Read it here.
Chris Kindred for BuzzFeed News / Via buzzfeed.com