We all have it. The wince. The heat in the face. The overwhelming urge to untag, delete, or simply cease to exist for at least twenty seconds. You have it too, when you’re scrolling through your camera roll, or an old message thread resurfaces, or someone tags you in a photo from three years ago….
Scroll through your DMs or your contacts list for a moment, just to realize how you’re automatically categorizing people. There’s the one you’re trying to impress. The one who’s always available when you need an ego boost. The one you keep warm with the occasional like, just in case. The ex you’d never get back…
You know the feeling. Someone introduces you at a party and uses that word. The ‘funny’ one. The ‘quiet’ one. The ‘impressive’ one. The ‘wild’ one. Without even thinking, you say or do things that validate it. And something in you smiles and nods while something else, deeper, thinks: “That’s not all I am.” Or…
https://glassworth.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/consent-isnt-a-checkbox.mp3You can listen to this article as a 21-minute podcast. There’s a moment you probably know. A risky text arrives, and your thumb hovers before you reply. A situation escalates on a date, and a quiet “wait” rises in your chest, but you swallow it back. A vibe is established, and something in you…
What if everything you’ve been told about your first time is a lie? What if the stumbles, the silence, the “Oh, sorry—was that okay?”—are not failures, but the whole point?
You’re lying in bed at 2 AM. Your phone glows in the darkness. It’s not a call, not a voice, just a notification. A ‘like.’ Or a read receipt. Or a meme that says everything and nothing at once.
Your group chats are active. Your feed is full. Your DMs have unread messages.
And you’ve never felt more alone.
It’s like hearing someone whisper your name in the darkness.
There’s a quiet ritual you might know: standing under hot water, scrubbing not only your skin but your soul, too.
Washing away not just dirt. But feelings. The mess of experiencing the world as you are.
Like Hannah does in ‘Unscripted.’
Have you ever looked in a mirror and not recognized yourself?
In ‘Unscripted’, Ben stands in front of the mirror in Alfie’s bathroom, steam still rising from the shower. He gazes at his reflection long and hard, for it seems quite strange to him.
Not because he’s changed. Because he never allowed himself to find out who he really is.
What does it mean when you’ve perfected a technique for showering without seeing your own body? Or filling your wardrobe with baggy clothes? Or working your body in a gym, five times per week?
In ‘Unscripted,’ Ben has been doing this since he was thirteen. Strip fast. Eyes down. Slide into the shower before the mirror can catch him. Let the steam cloud the glass—a small mercy that hides him from himself.
https://glassworth.info/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/unscripted-manifesto-for-healthy-masculinity.mp3You can listen to this article as a 10-minute podcast. As a psychologist with 25 years of experience, trained in 5 forms of psychotherapy, I’ve sat across from countless young men like Eddie, Ben, and the boys in their orbit. I’ve watched intelligent, sensitive adolescents contort themselves into performances of masculinity that leave them hollow,…