Cover Photo: A black and white photograph of Marilyn Monroe and the writer Carson McCullers. McCullers has her hand on Monroe's cheek and is planting a kiss on her opposite cheek while Monroe smiles widely.
Photograph via Nyack News and Views

For Queer Girls, Simping Is a Love Language

I’m embracing the label, with all its yearning, try-hard connotations, because desire shouldn’t be embarrassing and love does require trying hard.

Quillette

I wasn’t even consciously aware that I liked girls then, but I immediately internalized that my impulse to please a person I cared for—especially a girl—was something to be ashamed of. Throughout my adolescence, I was terrified of wanting people too much, certain that being honest about my feelings was a recipe for losing them. In retrospect, I realize that this belief came from a fear of my own sexuality, a deeply ingrained idea that wanting to do the kinds of things boys on the teen romance shows did for the girls they loved was unnatural. This was sexism in addition to homophobia: I thought the girl should be the pursued, not the pursuer, that a truly worthy girl wouldn’t have to try this hard.

Basic InstinctSingle White Female Chloe

Election


the girls who get it, get itothertoo much

Emmeline Clein is a writer living in Brooklyn. Her criticism, essays, and reporting have been published in outlets including The Yale Review, VICE, BuzzFeed, and Berlin Quarterly.