Not Here to Be Liked

by Michelle Quach

This is the male gaze, I realize. It’s wonderful and horrible at the same time.

“You cannot compare the life you and your sister have to mine,” she always says. “It’s too different. You are too lucky.”

Part of this is due to the fact that my counterauthority, also known as American culture, seems itself divided. Was hooking up with Len stupid or empowering? Did I lose any self-respect in the process? Am I going to get hurt now?