The Rise of the Detestable Woman: Why Readers Crave Recognition More Than Reassurance

Last week, an ex-boyfriend DM’d me about an excerpt I shared from my upcoming poetry collection, Portrait of a Person Who Pushes Love Away in Fear of Losing It , in which I labeled myself (ehemm…labeled the speaker) “ a serial cheater. ” His message: i feel like you want to reconstruct shame as something that society just put on you it is and it’s not. You fucking sucked. you should feel ashamed.…