By Rae Garringer — 2017
In July 2013 I founded an oral history project called Country Queers out of intense frustration at the lack of rural queer visibility.
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CLEAR ALL
By not allowing her path to God to interfere with her sexuality, Lisa Grushcow ‘embraced both parts of her identity’—and now, as Dan Bilefsky finds out, she’s working to make Judaism more inclusive for women.
She likes pink, will dance to Blurred Lines, occasionally fakes an orgasm… and worries that the sisterhood would not approve. America’s brightest new essayist talks about the dark side of her fierce, funny writing.
Motherhood is an identity that calls for women to forgo belonging in their romantic relationships, professional aspirations, and even the public sphere in exchange for isolation and disconnection peppered with private praise drowned out by public critique and social exclusion.
Osaka’s mental health challenges are nothing new in her isolating sport. What is new is the acceptance she’ll face—and the paths back—if she takes a prolonged break.
In the past few weeks, my journey took an unexpected path but one that has taught me so much and helped me grow. I learned a couple of key lessons.
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Through the size of her platform, however, and her decision to choose well-being over pursuit of a Grand Slam title, Osaka offers the promise of bringing mental health awareness—both inside and outside of sports—to an entirely new level.
By withdrawing from competition citing concerns over her mental health, Biles showed that resisting expectations can be more powerful than persisting through them.