Trafika Europe 14 - Italian Piazza

Irene Chias

other ward and I’l l let you see the woman who got beat up.” Then I hear them snicker.

CHAPTER 3: DECOMPRESSING I close the door of my apartment behind me and I feel a l ittle better. Then I take a moment to marshal my thoughts and the energy I’l l need to go on with my night. Maybe even my l ife. So: I have endometriosis. A minor condition, and one without symptoms for which doctors recommend hormonal treatment, which is to say taking a birth control pi l l. That means that, even though the doctor told me they are paraphysiological pi l ls, my butt wi l l probably swel l , I’l l have more cel lul ite, and my breasts wi l l get hard because of a pain in the mammary gland that wi l l be more or less constant. It means I won’t get pregnant because a condom accidental ly breaks, my skin wi l l become blemished if I expose it to the sun too much, and I’l l have to have an EKG every six months to monitor the situation and ultimately decide if I should undergo laparoscopic surgery. Oh and also: there are scary men with a chi l l ing penchant for laughing about sexual torture just because it ’s sexual , because it strokes some reaction in their minds. There’s a cultural bias that normal izes enthusiasm for anything sexual , even if it ’s something violent and coercive that creates and

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