Decent people can also help by not making things worse, and by avoiding cruel and thoughtless stereotypes. When you announce that people who have died by suicide are cowardly, you’re sending a message to depressed people fighting suicidal thoughts. The message isn’t one of perseverance. It’s one of worthlessness. When you say that the victims of

As useful as trauma can be as a lens to understand our pain and the paths our lives take, it is also a limited one. Too often sex workers and women who sell their sex appeal are treated like trauma zombies, unthinkingly carrying out their self-destruction, led along by pain from childhood.