Many thanks to The Bitter Southerner for publishing “Concealer”. The idea for this essay had been percolating in me for some time, and more than a few of the songs from Dancing With The Beast touch on the ideas in this piece – perhaps most directly, “The Boy From Rye”:

…that moment when adolescent girls realize they are not the central characters in their own lives anymore, but prizes to be won by the alpha boy. The unspoken but understood idea we must compete with each other sexually is devastating to women. It taints some of the strongest and most important relationships in our lives; at worst, it destroys them, or prevents them from ever happening. It divides us; and divided, we never know the power we would have had together.

In addition to “Concealer”, the lyric video for “The Boy From Rye” has been released today.