Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman

by Lindy West

They were picked by bad people, people who hurt them on purpose, eroded their confidence, and kept them trapped in an endless chase. The real scam is that being bones isn’t enough either. The game is rigged. There is no perfection.

There are no “good” abortions and “bad” abortions, there are only pregnant people who want them and pregnant people who don’t, pregnant people who have access and support and pregnant people who face institutional roadblocks and lies.

How hard would you breathe if you had to carry me? You couldn’t. But I can.

Sincerity is an easy target, but I don’t want to excise sincerity from my life—that’s a lonely way to live.

The idea that a relationship is a “failure” simply because it ends is a pessimist’s construct anyway. Dad loved lots of people, and then found the one he loved the best.