Emily McCombs

Bio

Emily McCombs is a writer, editor, and general Internet Lady. Previously the Executive Editor of xoJane, she now works as a freelance writer and editor and digital media consultant. She will never stop oversharing.  

Emily McCombs Articles

The ladies

6 Ways To Stop Hating Other Women

We were at a karaoke bar on a weeknight. I was sitting near a wall-length mirror, and I felt self-conscious about my body. 

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"Sexual assault isn’t something that can be chalked up to our immature teenage brains, or something most teens dabble with, like drinking. It isn’t a youthful mishap or a misunderstanding." Image: Unsplash, Luke Porter

9 Stupid Things I Did In High School, That Were NOT RAPE

18-year-old high-school student David Becker got probation for assaulting two unconscious classmates while they lay in bed after a house party. But that was just a youthful mistake, according to his attorney. “We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19 years old, and we shouldn’t be branded for life with a felony offense and branded a sex offender. Putting this kid in jail for two years would have destroyed this kid’s life,” said attorney Thomas Rooke.

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The damage can be treated, but it can never be undone.

What '20 Minutes Of Action' Does To A Rape Survivor's Life

According to Suicide.org, about 33 percent of rape victims have suicidal thoughts, and 13 percent of rape victims will attempt suicide. Often this happens many years after the assault. Rape isn’t a crime that ends when the physical act is over — it is a crime that lingers.

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"When you’re wearing your belly-covering guitar, people will think you’re a real cool rock lady who spends the time when she’s not writing songs totally probably going to the gym." Image: Thinkstock

13 Totally Practical Ways To Camouflage Your Problem Midriff This Summer

It’s summer, and if there’s one thing we can be sure of, it’s that you’re disgusting. You think you can just stuff any old body into a bathing suit? You need a special license for that. Nobody on the Internet even wants to masturbate to you!

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"I’ve needed a happy place lately. My lifelong chronic depression, usually well-managed by the medication I take daily, is having one of its occasional flare-ups." Image: Pixabay, kerttu

How Walking Around In The Cemetery Is Helping My Depression

...[B]eing among the dead rightsizes my problems, makes me feel small like staring at the ocean. After all, we are all being carried along toward the same inevitable fate as the men and women whose headstones I pass on my daily strolls. The best we can hope for is that someday someone will stop to calculate our ages and wonder about our lives after we’re gone.

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A woman's place is in the White House.

Hillary Clinton: Dolls, Books, And Hair Ties, OH MY

This may sound weird, but I want my own Hillary Clinton doll. I want to have her give State of the Unions on what’s in my fridge. I want to dress her up in tiny pantsuits. (I’ll place them over the one she’s already wearing.)

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Image Credit: Flickr/Katjusa Cisar

I'm A Recovering Sex Addict; Here's Why I Don't Judge Anthony Weiner

Snickering at Anthony Weiner masks the brutal and difficult reality of coping with sexual addiction.

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I somehow manage to forget from one summer to the next just how frustrating it can be to merely exist in public spaces when it’s warm outside. Image: Yegide Matthews/ Unsplash.

Summer Shouldn't Be Open Season On Women's Bodies

I decided to spend a few hours running errands in the summer sunshine while audaciously wearing a loose-fitting baby doll dress, comfy flats, and a denim vest. Apparently my need to keep my legs ventilated served as a Bat-Signal to the fine men of Gotham, who were drawn by its golden glow to yell stuff at me every five minutes.

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I went to the pet store, peered into some glass bowls, found a reasonable facsimile of the original fish, and voila: Boonga Two-nga. Image: Thinkstock.

On Killing And Replacing My Kid's Fish

My son is particularly anxious about death. He’s generally sensitive — he’s yet to make it through a full movie because anytime there’s a minor conflict he gets too upset and we have to turn it off. We left Zootopia in the theater when the big animals were being too “mean” to the rabbit. We left a screening of Toy Story in the park because he got too anxious when Woody and Buzz got left at the gas station. (We didn’t make it to the genuinely terrifying broken toy hybrids.)

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I’m sure the Pokemon Go phenomenon will fade before long, but for the moment it’s just plain FUN that might even be good for you. Image: Eduardo Woo/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0).

6 Touching Stories From People Who Are Alleviating Mental Health Issues With Pokemon GO

I’m sure the Pokemon Go phenomenon will fade before long, but for the moment, it’s just dumb FUN that might even be good for you. The game cannot fix and should not distract us from the shit-fucking terrible goddamn week we’ve had in the world, but it can remind us that we all need to practice self-care, whatever package it comes in.

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