Life & Love

The sun is just beginning to set on another Valentine’s Day when Serena Kerrigan, a 27-year-old confidence coach-cum-entrepreneur-cum-certified internet personality, bestows upon me an unusual gift: the diary she began keeping after her first kiss in the fifth grade. In a little over an hour, the lights will go up on her third live show—a

At the beginning of the pandemic, my editor and I used to fantasize about “the dad in the basement.” This was a father who, every morning of the pandemic, kissed his children goodbye and walked downstairs to his home office, where he worked uninterrupted all day long. He did not do Zoom calls with his

Growing up, I developed a clear idea through TV and movies how to think about trans people. I believed trans people were duplicitous; I believed they were pariahs; I believed they were worthy fodder for ridicule, but never—ever—worthy of love. But I also knew I was trans. It took me until I was 30 to

Not long after she entered graduate school, Molly* started dating Jim, a rather neurotic man who was notorious for sleeping around. He was the kind of guy who had issues with intimacy and ingrained sexism but tried to soften the blow with self-awareness. “I like you so much, but I couldn’t possibly be with you,”

Your miscarriage is “over,” however you might define that term. Maybe it’s marked physically: your body has recovered, your doctor clears you to try for another pregnancy. Maybe it’s emotional: you’re no longer crying about the baby you never got to meet every day. (Just most days.) Maybe it’s the practical reality that you’re in

We might’ve graduated from sweatpants to bottoms that actually button and zipper—well, it depends on the day, we suppose—but protective face masks continue to be part of our daily ensemble. Masks are a great way to protect yourself and those around you, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be stylish. After accumulating a 500,000-person waitlist,

For the latest installment of ELLE’s partnership with The Delacorte Review, two Iranian writers, Mahsa Afarideh* and Somayeh Malekian, spoke to women—specifically mothers and daughters—about their candid experiences and the generational trauma borne out of spending their formative years growing up in Iran. Below, read an excerpt of their reporting. There have been so many

Cunt. Whore. Bitch. These are just some of the words my fellow Moms Demand Action volunteers and I have been called over the past nine years. We’ve become experts on the nexus between misogyny and gun culture because we’ve lived it—in person and online—since the day we decided to stand up to the gun lobby.

“I believe women are hypergamous. It’s an observable fact,” my date declared matter-of-factly as we stared at each other across the abyss of Zoom. About an hour earlier, when the evening started going downhill, I began writing down the words I didn’t understand but knew I’d heard before. So, I added “hypergamous” to the list.

Sarah Cohen and Eric Hinman who live in Moab, Utah love doing outdoorsy activities together—everything from mountain biking to hiking, and even BASE jumping (jumping off of high objects like buildings or mountains and using a parachute to descend safely to the ground.) Invitae Carrier Screen invitae.com $250.00 And the couple’s next adventure might be

On the first day of class in September 2014, my undergraduate students stared at me, surprised. They were expecting an instructor who looked more conventional, more white, more male. Yet there I was, a butch-of-center Black woman, with a boyish haircut and a men’s button-down shirt, teaching their first English class at New York City

If Carli Lloyd’s career as a professional athlete could be summed up by one image, it might be the one that went viral during the Tokyo Olympics: Lloyd, on the field, alone, running wind sprints in the 93 degree heat. The U.S. Women’s National Team had just suffered a crushing defeat to Canada and after

Women showed up to vote in record numbers in the 2020 election that narrowly gave Democrats control of government over all three branches of government. For their victories up and down the ballot, Democratic candidates have women to thank—and they should do so by focusing squarely on the priorities and needs of the women who

Like the rest of the world, Tanja Krupa had no idea what was about to happen. It was January 2020 and Krupa, a 41-year-old mother living outside of Detroit, was full of hope. She had a happy marriage and a thriving business running wellness workshops. A series of surgeries after a near-fatal car accident were

Natalie Egan photographed in New York City in July 2021. Blouse, Another Tomorrow; Skirt, Alexander McQueen; Chain, Medallion; Bracelet, Foundrae. James Emmerman Back when entrepreneur Natalie J. Egan was a self-described “bro,” when sports metaphors rolled off her tongue and she tossed Frisbees over employees’ desks, she walked into a board meeting of the tech

Last weekend, my family of four—my husband, 5-year-old son, 22-month-old daughter, and I—went to the zoo. We played on the playground, saw the giraffes and lions, and ate a picnic lunch. This may not sound remarkable, but for us, any outing is an expedition. My husband, healthcare activist Ady Barkan, has had the neurodegenerative disorder

For much of 2020, I was in Portland, Oregon, where I live part-time. During my quiet, solitary existence, I was surrounded by nature. I became more attuned to the magic of trees and birds. A robin built a nest on my deck for the first time in the seven years I’ve lived in my Portland

A year ago, my husband and I were sitting on a beach in Lake Tahoe watching our one-year-old son play in the water, talking about the money we were putting aside for his future, something we had started doing while I was still pregnant. Finances played a big role in both my and my husband’s

Damien Maloney In the fall of 2015 and spring of 2016, Sarah Delashmit, a thirtyish woman from Illinois, attended Camp Summit in Dallas, Texas, which since 1947 has served children and adults (“ages 6–99”) with disabilities. Delashmit had muscular dystrophy, and was paralyzed from the neck down. She had a sophisticated power wheelchair and breathing

Most days, Olivia* feels like she’s drowning. Overwhelmed by the stress of protecting her two young children amid a contentious divorce from her abusive husband, she is too afraid to make the phone call herself, so she asks a friend to set up an appointment with Renée Monteil of Sacred Moon Doula. When Renée arrives

Doreen* had been bullied since middle school because of her looks. People called her fat and ugly, at what felt like a ceaseless pace. She didn’t feel sexually or romantically desired. Boys didn’t treat her the way they did her more attractive friends. Having a sex-positive attitude was even tougher growing up in a religious

When Aimee* and her boyfriend broke up in late 2018—the end of a two-and-a-half-year relationship after she found out he’d been cheating on her—she didn’t expect to get anything else out of it. But then, as she was looking into buying a house earlier this year, the 20-something healthcare worker had a surprising revelation. Below,

I was a candidate for Congress in 2017 when the #MeToo movement gained widespread coverage in the media. The public reckoning over the last several years has forced accountability for some high profile people in power for what was once considered acceptable, tolerable, or at worst, a gray area in workplace behavior. As one of

Just last April, I snapped a photo of myself proudly wearing a “Cuomosexual” shirt and uploaded it to my Instagram story. Cut to this week, when I typed the word “FINALLY!” in a text thread with friends as Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced his resignation. After state Attorney General Letitia James found he had sexually harassed