• Taking Care of My Sexual and Emotional Health

  by Anonymous

  Names have been changed. I wish you could know who to trust just by looking at them. I was humiliated because the person I thought was my loyal boyfriend was messing around with other girls—and he gave me an STD. When I was 15, I befriended Rob and thought he was the nicest boy I ever met.

• Learning About Feminism in the U.S.

  by Marin Yamaguchi

  In Japan, most mothers stay home with their children. I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about this—I assumed I would be a mom who stayed home with her kids too. But after I moved to New York City from Tokyo, I noticed that most moms work.

• Living in His Fantasy

  by Anonymous

  I grew up with my mom and stepfather, two grown children who threw drunken temper tantrums and abused their kids. During an attack on my body or mind when I was younger, I would slip away to a happy place inside my head, where I felt no fear or pain.

• Speaking Up About Sexism in My Family

  by Mariam S.

  Names have been changed. After 28 days of fasting, Muslim families like mine mark the end of Ramadan with a holiday called Eid al-Fitr. My family invites our friends over for a dawat, which means feast in Urdu, the main language in Pakistan, where my parents are from.

• Discovering Myself Beyond the Binary

  by Andrew N.

  Names have been changed. I was born male. But starting from age 5, I felt perplexed by the gender binary (the belief that everyone is one of two traditional gender identities). I stared up at bathroom signs in confusion. The monotonous blue walls and the faint smell of urine in the boys’ room felt oddly discomfiting, and the prospect of using a urinal frightened me.

• Acting Brave Made Me Brave 

  by Shameera Sheeraz

  When I was 7 years old, an earthquake hit my village of Gujarat, Pakistan. I was sitting in my classroom, looking out the window feeling hot, tired, and bored. Then I felt the ground shake. Seconds later, the whole school shook.