Throughout history, women have been on the chopping block of society, constantly ridiculed for our very own nature, and never able to please the judging eye of the patriarchy. Even today it feels like every other week there is news of another one of our rights being tested or stripped away by those in power, and it’s easy to feel helpless. But where can we find hope? The easiest answer is in each other. We can reach out to each other in the darkest of times and boost up our girls, even if we are down. Women are able to build community wherever we go and that can be observed from a global to a local scale. Even on campus at App State, women are supporting women in the tiniest of ways.
In my short two semesters at App State, I have collected pictures of just a few of the small messages that women have left for each other around campus (mostly in our bathrooms). These small notes display our support and love for each other, for strangers who share our struggles and I hope you too can feel just a little bit of that love of girlhood.
It’s safe to say that the girls on campus are extremely proud of each other for simply surviving in this world. It’s not easy being a woman and we can all relate to that, so why not show some support for each other in our own spaces to make each other smile?
Sometimes it’s easy to put ourselves down or even forget how truly amazing we are. We are the reflection of generations of women who had to fight for our rights to vote, to be recognized as our own people, to have the right over our own bodies, and to have access to higher education we sometimes might even take for granted.
One of the most beautiful messages I have seen is an acknowledgment of everyone’s struggles. It is okay to feel, there is nothing wrong with our emotions as many would try to make us believe. We do not know what our peers are going through, but we know that we can always use someone in our corner. We accept our moments when we are not okay and we know how to support each other. As some caring anonymous woman briefly put it, “It gets better – you deserve love and safety.”
Another common quality in many of the messages to one another is that of the struggle of a single day. We may be stressed, sick, or hurt for days in a row and it is easy to feel the burnout that comes with it. I’m no stranger to being hard on myself when things get tough, and messages like this remind me that there will always be another day to improve upon. If we make it through one day then we can make it a week, then a month, then a year. If one of us succeeds then we all succeed.
As women, we must care for each other because sometimes that is all we have. With a world that is constantly at odds with our very existence, it is important to stick together. No matter where you are, you are loved and cared for by all the other struggling girls out there. From the women at App State to the women all over the world, you are doing the best you can and that is all that matters.
