The Stigma of “Clean” Breakups & STIs: How Purity Myths Shape Our Worth
With Mercury Retrograde and Instagram’s inevitable glitches… finally sharing this essay so it reaches those who need it most 🤍
This is about how we use the same stigmatizing language of “clean” and “dirty” for both bodies and breakups—somehow our perceived sense of purity is always a measure of our worth.
“Just as society demonizes those with STIs as somehow ‘unclean’ or ‘unworthy’ of love, we judge those who can’t make a ‘clean’ break. As if messiness in ending love somehow makes us unworthy of finding it again.”
Further, the emotional caretaking expected of women during relationships doesn’t end with the breakup. We’re somehow supposed to manage everyone’s comfort, maintain our dignity, and glow up on society’s schedule—while men get to “process” however they need.
Read the full piece about how women’s healing post-breakup is always too much, too little, and never just right.