Share your story. Raise your voice. Write for us! — You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better. — Anne Lamott Updated January 1, 2023, by Suzanna Quintana, editor-in-chief We are accepting new writers! *Please read through our formatting and submission guidelines if you would like to become a…

I dedicate all my words to those from my past who want me to stop talking. — I used to be a good girl, otherwise known as a girl who only had nice things to say about the men around her and if she didn’t have anything nice to say then she better keep that shit to herself. I also was a tomboy, backyard pool diving champion…

So why do we still believe them over their victims? — In America, a woman is raped every two minutes. Every nine seconds, a woman is assaulted or beaten. 1 in 3 women has experienced physical violence by an intimate partner. 1 in 10 children will endure sexual abuse before their 18th birthday. That’s a lot of victims. And yet, the perpetrators of those crimes seemingly…

You have a lot to say, here’s how to say it — The hardest part of writing down your story is figuring out where to start. Do you begin at the beginning? If you’re writing about your experience with abuse, for example, do you start from Point A and go through the rest of the alphabet until arriving at Point Z? But…

What do we know anyway? — I’ve noticed a trend. With all the articles on narcissists there are to read, lately I’ve seen a growing number of people writing about being fed up with those articles. They’re sick of hearing about it. Tired of reading about it. Stop calling everyone you know a narcissist, they say. …

With friends like these who needs enemies — She was my best friend. Or so I thought. We were inseparable. I trusted her implicitly. She was my maid of honor at my wedding. Our children were like siblings. Our husbands were good friends. Our lives connected on every level. “Okay, I can’t keep quiet anymore,” the woman who…

Use these mistakes as lessons to up your acceptance game — As editor-in-chief of The Virago, there is nothing I love more than receiving submissions from writers who pour their heart into their words, who bravely show up to share their story, who write from a place of honesty… And who follow the rules. Seriously, it makes me giddy. This isn’t…

Time to put your relationship martyr days behind — In my marriage to an abusive narcissist, I was always waiting. Waiting for him to change. Waiting for him to turn back into the man I first met. Waiting on his promises to come true. Waiting for my heart to stop breaking at his hands. And waiting for permission (from…

I’m sensing a trend here — Color me unsurprised that “gaslighting” is Merriam-Webster’s word of the year for 2022. There is a lot of crazy-making going on out there. And a good majority of it is experienced by people (both men and women) who have been in a relationship with a narcissist. For those in the…