Gaslighting

I’m incredibly tired of seeing myself bastardized and killed on TV. As an avid connoisseur of pop culture and popular television, the practice queerbaiting the audience and/or killing minority characters is a distressing trend that contributes to the continuing prejudice against LGBTQ people across the United States and around the world. Pop culture influences the citizens (and leaders) of our nation, who then vote and promote policy, which shapes the future citizenry, who then vote...and the…

Charlotte Perkins Gilman weaves into her story, “The Yellow Wallpaper” the lineage of the subjugation of women inherited via the slow, relentless process of disenfranchisement and marital subjugation, and delivered by the hidden hand of paternalism. The narrator experiences her life much as a nesting doll, immobile: a mind trapped in a woman, a woman trapped in a marriage room, womankind trapped by the institutions which they have no power to control, yet are complicit in maintaining. Engels,…

into a deep cycle of self-doubt, because I knew that every sentence carried the weight of having my mother deny it. Photographic proof or other documentation be damned - her reality is the only one that has ever existed. With abuse tactics like gaslighting, my parents made it very difficult for us to follow a trustworthy narrative. My sister and I often compare notes to find we were each given completely different versions of the same story. With such inconsistency, it makes sense that adult…

“The Girl on the Train” and “The Good Girl” are both novels which fall under the psychological thriller genre. The Girl on the Train recounts the tale of Rachel Watson’s life after her divorce, and her interaction with the current wife of her former spouse. The Silent Wife, on the other hand, documents the relationship struggle and its consequences of Todd Gilbert and Jodie Brett. Both the novel have differing plot but gives us the similar feeling of suspense and anxiety while reading them. In…

Mob Mentality is based on the fact that there is power in numbers, and when one person enables another into a specific belief or mind set, there is an obvious ripple effect. When challenging a group as an individual, it is hard to be taken seriously as when going against a group as there is the looming dread of belittlement. The possibility that because an opinion differs from the rest, it is seen as inherently incorrect and that there was something wrong with them for thinking that way. Mob…

America has elected an extreme narcissist to be President. We have to learn what narcissism is, what to expect, and how to handle it. Autocratic leadership is the natural political expression of a narcissist. Mental health professionals can not speak out about a person they have not been authorized to diagnose (although a few have spoken out). While this makes ethical sense from their professional perspective, it leaves us without authoritative information. For now, this means that the…

An Angel Rides With Death – My Abusive Relationship Survival Story – 5 Years Later Have you ever felt so confused, so helpless, and so filled with terror that you just checked out? I don't mean for a moment or two while you get your bearings, I'm talking a full-on, lights-on-nobody-is-home, my-soul-just-left-the-building kind of way? I'm talking a huge part of your own personality and everything that makes you who you are disappearing and piloting your body around like a machine for years? I…