presenting new Jocker

Kink shaming, yay!

His kinks actually sound so boring and commonplace that they border on stereotype, really.

It was that exact size.

So... he's single now?

IKR? Almost makes you miss these days...

For the record, in Trinidad, we have the most national holidays in the entire world, and we still manage to get all the schoolwork in. We're also on the British term system though with a Christmas, East and August break rather than semesters, so I dunno if that plays into it.

I don't doubt for a moment someone could have PTSD for working in a violent and threatening environment and witnessing acts of violence. The thing that I and others find so distasteful is her unrelenting navel-gazing that reduces the other victims - often the direct victims - of this same violence to nothing more than…

If schools go year round, that should be a conscious policy choice, not something we fall into because we added so many holidays into the school year.

I've seen that a lot, too. And while there are some excellent conflict reporters out there, there are MANY more who are just like your ex, as I'm sure you know. They go out not because they have a burning desire to tell the untold stories etc., but because they are basically just fucked up, and then seeing extreme…

This is a reason I really think schools should just go year round. More holidays during the year helps break things up without the brain drain that happens in the summer.

Well, Chavez didn't set off a genocide, so the right choice was made.

Okay, though, as someone currently working in international development - there is a difference between "supporting aid workers because their work can be psychologically and socially traumatic, even secondhand" and "making the story about aid workers rather than the people living those traumatic experiences…

I have such a hard time with her because my wildly abusive ex (who was a big fan of McClelland's article) was a war correspondent who did the same thing - made a show of being aware of the stories of others but when it came down it could only make it about himself and his suffering, and later tried to capitalize on…

For me, it's as though she just discovered PTSD and zOMG it's a thing that can happen to her! ALL ABOUT HER.

I don't understand why you couldn't respond to the question posed, or engage in a thoughtful dialogue in response to criticism of your piece?

I didn't say you believe everyone's pain is equal. The part about the hierarchy of pain in my comment is directed towards the poster above you who made the comparison about broken arms. We can agree to disagree whether your experience is relevant or not. You feel it is, I feel it is not. And a family memoir, to me,…

But then why write about your experiences before interviewing the subject of this story/post? It's like you're trying to have it both ways. On the one hand you acknowledge that your story pales in comparison to the other stories of the people who lived the trauma and that you do not feel like you deserve sympathy. But…

Call me an unfeeling weasel, but this to me in the epitome of First World narcissism.

I'm confused - was Mac McCelland raped when she was in Haiti? I don't ask to be insensitive, this is my first introduction to this matter and its not clear to me from the story.