Being a girl nowadays is quite complicated. We have a lot of pressure on our shoulders. People are looking at our every move and it can become really overwhelming, especially if you don’t have the right support system. But, when you are diagnosed with an illness, it becomes all the more as difficult to get by.
We all know the symptoms of certain diseases: extreme weight loss, hair falling, constant fatigue. However, what do you do when your disease isn’t physical, but mental? Mental health issues aren’t something we talk about very often. No one can see it, so people don’t always know how to react. Even worse, the people who are affected often don’t know how to act themselves. Sometimes, they don’t even realize that there sick.
Jenn Hayward, comedian on the Ottawa scene didn’t know that she had a problem for many years until she was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
In our current society, young women often feel the need to follow trends and fads. Some of these trends are downright ridiculous. It’s unacceptable when perfectly healthy girls, as young as 8 years old, decide to go on a diet because they think they are too fat. They are comparing themselves to Photoshopped women in magazines or girls walking the runway in high fashion shows. It’s not okay when a girl doesn’t love her body the way it is. It’s not okay for a young girl or boy to want to end their life before it even started.
In her show Jesus Even Loves A Crazy Horny Feminist Jenn Hayward shared stories of some of her toughest moments in life. Most notably, when she tried to kill herself at eleven years old and her subsequent quest of finding a place to belong.
When I bought my ticket to see her show, I never thought that I would shed a couple of tears and reflect on many points that she brought up during the show.
Indeed, it was a humorous show. When she came out on stage, she starting interacting with the audience and making sexual jokes. However, there were two parts to her show. The stage was divided in two settings. In one part, she would be a crazy horny feminist and the other side she would be really serious and emotional. The staging was perfect for the viewers to really understand borderline personality disorder. This illness is sometimes called emotionally unstable personality disorder, which means that the person has various mood swings that affect their self-esteem and the way they sees themselves.
Jenn Hayward draws us into her world by being herself and not holding in any emotions. She wasn’t afraid of criticizing the religion she grew up in: Christianity. She was really involved with the church growing up and she did many mission trips because she was seeking a place to fit in. She hit rock bottom at one of those trips and that’s when she decided to part away from the church.
Jesus Even Loves A Crazy Horny Feminist also talked about female issues like dealing with infertility and adoption. Jenn Hayward didn’t hold back on sharing some of her memories on those topics. I think it takes a lot of courage especially for a woman to open up about her infertility. Jenn talked on the behalf of many women when she said “it made me feel less of a woman”. She explained on top of everything she had to deal with, this particular problem didn’t help with all of her issues.
We often say don’t judge a book by its cover, so I say don’t judge Jenn Hayward’s show by its shocking title. Whenever she is in town again or a town near you, take a few hours of your day to go see her show. It’s the perfect combination of comedy and drama.
If you should remember one thing when you go see her show, it’s that she has two messages for society: The first one is to love yourself, otherwise, you will never allow someone else to love you; Second, there is no real cure for mental health issues, but you can learn to accept that people around you are different. Different will never be bad, it may sometimes be intimidating, but when we are aware of that, it makes the world a better place.
Picture credits: