Here at Flavorwire, we pride ourselves on not only writing some of the best content on the internet, but keeping an eye on all of the great writing that other folks on the ‘net are doing, too. Today, we have a personal essay from Jamie Lee Curtis about opiate addiction in the wake of Prince’s toxicology report, a cover story about the popular girl-group Fifth Harmony, an interview with Jeffrey Self about his new young adult novel Drag Teen, and a firsthand analysis of The Girlfriend Experience’s portrayal of sex work exposure in the corporate office space.
On Huffington Post, actress Jamie Lee Curtis, on the heels of Prince’s toxicology report results, comes clean about being a former opiate addict that his been in recovery for 17 years.
Prince’s toxicology results were reported yesterday in the New York Times, and they revealed that Prince had a problem with pain pills. As a recovering addict herself, Jamie Lee Curtis took this as an opportunity to call for help when it comes to our treatment of opiate addiction, an all-too-familiar cause of premature death.
Prince was toxic. I can relate. I was toxic too. I too, waited anxiously for a prescription to be filled for the opiate I was secretly addicted to. I too, took too many at once. I too, sought to kill emotional and physical pain with pain killers. Kill it. Make it stop.
On Dazed , Anna Freeman talks to comedian Jeffery Self about writing his new young adult novel, Drag Teen, which follows the life of a teenage drag queen.
Jeffery Self, already somewhat of a star in his own right based on his wildly popular LOGO TV show Jeffery and Cole Casserole, just released a new book called Drag Teen. If the name didn’t give it away, the book follows a teenage drag queen, but also will tackle hard topics like homophobia, loneliness, and queer identity.
Drag queens and their unapologetic gospel of excess is what inspired the concept for Drag Teen. The exuberance of drag performance is something teens can often only dream about as they battle with sexism, homophobia, racism, self-esteem issues, to name a few, and a yearning for acceptance largely dictates the personal narrative. ‘The inspiration was both my love of drag queens and my personal yearning to embody the kind of confidence displayed by drag queens,” Self explains. “There’s something so authentic about being so outrageous and I’ve always wished I had more of that in me.’
On Vulture, Lux Alptraum talks with a sex worker to break down The Girlfriend Experience’s sextape plotline — analyzing how accurate the portrayal is.
For the past month, writer and sex educator Lux Alptraum has been analyzing each episode of the new Starz series The Girlfriend Experience, putting it through the test as far as how closely it resembles the experiences of an actual sex worker. In this post about the series’ eighth and ninth episodes, Alptraum talks to a sex worker who has also juggled sex work and a corporate job to see how realistic the idea of exposure is in this situation.
I was adamant about keeping my day job separate from my whore job, but the head of the mean-girl clique found out about my sex website and spread it around the office, hoping to have people turn on me. She wanted to shame me. As soon as I found out, I confronted her and sat down with her in a conference room and asked her why she cared about my life outside the office. She was shocked to be confronted — it completely caught her off guard. My heart was racing like crazy, but I spoke to her matter-of-factly and refused to allow her to shame me.
On Billboard , Chris Martins presents a cover story for the girls of Fifth Harmony as they gear up to release their sophomore album 7/27 at the end of this month.
Right now, Fifth Harmony can be found sitting at number seven in the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart for their most recent single “Work from Home.” They are the first girl group to chart in the top 10 in eight years, back when Pussycat Dolls were still reigning supreme. Their unique spot on the chart is a testament to just how large of a cultural force these five are, and with the approaching release of 7/27, the girls are ready to show the world what they’re capable of.
Whether you catch the members of 5H on a good day or a bad one, they’re clearly straining to prove to the world, and to themselves, that they have some say in their own damn lives. But for now, writing music remains just a hobby. ‘We all have our own sessions,’ says Hansen. When Jauregui adds, ‘That’s something we love to do…’ Kordei finishes the thought: ‘…in our spare time.’