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GIRLHOOD / Apparently This Is How We’re Coping

Apparently This Is How We’re Coping

Apparently This Is How We’re Coping

On Rescripted’s weekly standup this morning, we acknowledged what everyone’s been feeling: things are heavy right now. With everything happening in Minnesota, layered on top of the general state of the world, it’s hard not to walk around with a quiet, background sadness — the kind you don’t always have language for, but definitely feel.

Then, in that same meeting, we pulled up analytics, which is where things took a (kind of hilarious) turn.

Our top articles right now are about orgasms, vibrators, ultra-thin condoms, and peeing during sex. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry — and yes, we did laugh, partly because it felt absurd and partly because it felt painfully accurate.

At first, the contrast was jarring. But the longer I sat with it, the more it made sense. When everything feels overwhelming, abstract, and wildly out of our control, we reach for what’s closest and most immediate: the body, sensation, and questions that start with is this normal? and end with please tell me I’m not alone.

Sexual health content, it turns out, isn’t just about sex. It’s reassurance. It’s grounding. It’s a way of checking back in with ourselves when the world feels chaotic and unrecognizable: proof that even in hard moments, our bodies still exist and still want connection, comfort, and maybe five minutes of relief from the constant dread.

I don’t think people are reading these articles because they don’t care about what’s happening. I think they’re reading them because they care so much and need somewhere personal and human to land, even briefly.

Sometimes coping looks like grief or rage, and sometimes it looks like Googling why you pee when you orgasm and feeling deeply, embarrassingly relieved by the answer. That’s not unserious; it’s human nature.

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