Kate

“Multiple conflicting truths can exist at the same time. You can be grateful for what your parents could give you emotionally and feel grief for what they couldn't. You can have empathy for what your parents have gone through themselves, for the trauma they must have survived, and feel angry that you experienced what you did. You can acknowledge that your parents did their best with the awareness and resources they had at the time and acknowledge that their best still really hurt you.”
― Meg Josephson, Are You Mad at Me?

“Women in particular are conditioned to overextend, overexplain, overapologize. We’re caretakers. Nurturers. Peacekeepers. We’re taught to be good girls, cool girls, to agree with everything and everyone, and to give Uncle Richard a big hug, for goodness’ sake, even if he makes us wildly uncomfortable. We’re taught to not be too much or want too much, so we learn to get used to being unsatisfied with our lives. We’re taught to meet everyone else’s needs before our own, and along the way we lose the opportunity to get to know who we really are, what we need, what we like and prefer.”
― Meg Josephson, Are You Mad at Me?

“Picturing fanfic characters having sex? Great. Fine. Sexy. But picturing myself having sex with anyone, guy, girl, whoever, didn’t interest me. No – it was more than that. It was an immediate fucking turn-off.”
― Alice Oseman, Loveless

“I just hate Paris. I’m surprised more people don’t have some sort of allergic reaction.’
Thaniel decided to let it lie, whatever it was. ‘Only you could hate Paris.’
‘Thaniel, I grew up bowing to immediate family. Every random Frenchman thinks that the only proper way to say hello is indecent assault. I thoroughly hate Paris.”
― Natasha Pulley, The Lost Future of Pepperharrow