Lynne's Story

When I was around 10 years old, one summer, I was living with my father and his 2 lovers. I’d gone to a yard sale earlier in the day and bought a pair of flip flops that I adored for like 0.25.

After that, my dad and one of his lovers took me to the mall for some errands. When we got out of the car, in the mall parking lot, is when they both noticed my new sandals.

They seemed mortified, positively aghast. “You’re going into public! And now you look like that.” I remember my cheeks burning, and feeling absolutely overwhelmed with shame.

I remember standing against a wall outside the bathrooms later, just feeling so incredibly uncomfortable in my body and clothes because of how heavily criticized I was.

I threw the sandals away.