Stigma

Slut-shaming is how we explain the gendered double standard of sexual respectability: It’s women taking flak for the sex we have, while men are applauded for simply “doing what men do.” Image: Thinkstock.

How STI Stigma Perpetuates Slut-Shaming

Four years ago, I could be found most mornings at the same café with the same blue notebook and a mug of hot coffee. I was trying to write the story of how I got herpes.

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Slut-shaming is how we explain the gendered double standard of sexual respectability: It’s women taking flak for the sex we have, while men are applauded for simply “doing what men do.” Image: Thinkstock.

How STI Stigma Perpetuates Slut-Shaming

Four years ago, I could be found most mornings at the same café with the same blue notebook and a mug of hot coffee. I was trying to write the story of how I got herpes.

Read...

Getting Herpes Was A Gift

In STI support communities, many refer to the person who gave them herpes as their “gifter.” This might sound strange, since I’m sure a sexually transmitted disease is not a gift anyone wants. But, looking back on my past nine months with herpes, I think this is an apt term.

Read...

Getting Herpes Was A Gift

In STI support communities, many refer to the person who gave them herpes as their “gifter.” This might sound strange, since I’m sure a sexually transmitted disease is not a gift anyone wants. But, looking back on my past nine months with herpes, I think this is an apt term.

Read...
It's going to be OK! #STDAwareness month. Image: Thinkstock.

11 Questions I Asked Myself During My First STD Scare

For some of us, our first real taste of adulthood comes from sitting alone in a clinic, waiting to get our ding-dongs tested.

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It's going to be OK! #STDAwareness month. Image: Thinkstock.

11 Questions I Asked Myself During My First STD Scare

For some of us, our first real taste of adulthood comes from sitting alone in a clinic, waiting to get our ding-dongs tested.

Read...
I expect we all fantasise about being a superhero sometimes, but even Superman has kryptonite. Image: Matthew Williams.

Daddy Isn't A Hero — He's A Real Man Who Has Depression

These are precious years; years that pass too quickly as your little ones speed towards adulthood and the ever increasing awareness that their parents are fallible. What I never wanted, nor expected, was for these years to be punctuated by my second spell of severe depression.

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The ones who sneer, judge, and make ignorant comments (or worse) — they’re the weak ones. Not you.

I'm Coming Out: A Paranoid Schizophrenic Talks About Stigma

I made the decision to come out of the mental illness closet and face the world without fear or shame. My son will grow up in a house that doesn’t stigmatize mental illness, but instead, strives to understand it.

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