The spring is a time that’s meant for new beginnings. When vegetation seeks new life after many months of lying dormant. This was my favorite time of the year. It was 2015. There was snow on the peaks of the mountains but deep inside the valley it was beginning to warm up. The smell of …
When I was 9 years old my parents placed me into Taekwondo lessons. Unlike the others, I was not taught discipline, commitment, and self-defense. There, I was taught by a male instructor, more than twice my age, what it means to be a victim of molestation. The sexual exploitation went on for a while. It …
Being raised in a Catholic Arab household, the subject of sex was considered taboo. The mere mention of sex outside of marriage was sinful, blasphemous, and would be met with reprehensible scolding. This left me, an Arab American woman, to feel absolute shame when I lost my virginity at 17. Losing one’s virginity, as pictured …