Growing up in the world that we live in, we are constantly indoctrinated with the concept that somehow being a woman is less than. We are told that we are not as strong, we are not as rational, we do not deserve the same rights or pay as men, and that our only real value is to produce children–specifically male ones. “Like a girl” and the word “pussy” are still used as extremely common insults, focusing on the fact that being a woman, or being feminine is a bad thing. Women are devalued from the moment that they are brought into this world, and then made to feel as though it is their fault that for not being enough.
If a woman wears makeup, she is trying too hard, but if she doesn’t, she needs to try harder. If a woman has sex, she’s a slut. If she doesn’t, she’s a prude. If she wants to be a stay at home mother, she’s lazy and living off of her significant other, but if she focuses on her career and her children are in daycare, she’s a negligent mother. If she likes watching or playing sports, she’s too manly, but if she doesn’t she’s too delicate and feminine. If she wears shorts and dresses and tank tops, she’s showing too much. If she wears more conservative clothing, she’s not showing enough and needs to loosen up. No matter what a woman does, something is found at fault with it.
So, if we can’t do anything right, why are we trying so hard to? The world has already told us that we are not enough, and that we are too much. That we’ll never be right no matter how much we try. That we are weak and unworthy of respect. And the box they want us to fit in is lined with spikes and rusty nails. So, why would we keep trying to make ourselves small enough to fit inside that fatal box?
My proposition is that we take back our right to be women. To be too loud or too quiet. To love deeply, or superficially. To be big and bold. To do whatever we want with our bodies, and to not let the judgment of others shame it into hiding. To be fierce and to be soft, too. To be an athlete, or an artist, or a data analyst, or a teacher, or the president, or anything in between. We women are the future. It is time to take back our world from the shallow rhetoric that we are not strong enough to run it. It is time to live like a girl.