23rd April 2015

Brilliant Quotes on Being a Woman

I started this blog when I still felt like a girl. It was five years ago and despite having a lot of grown up things: a respectable job, a handsome grown man for a partner, a regularly operational vehicle and a healthy collection of high heels. For some baffling reason, I had this vision in my mind that one day I would feel like the woman in Weird Science, who somehow oozes femininity and strength and self-awareness without fear. It was only in the last year or so that I realized that being a woman wasn’t a feeling or an age or an object or even an identifiable trait. It is a decision.

Here’s what I mean. Being a girl is just about the hardest thing a living creature can be on the planet. Short of an endangered species or a blade of grass, the dangers to your life and your soul are constant. You’re constantly being projected on by the world. Rarely do we hear messages that say: “You! You get to decide who you are. You get to decide what happens to you.” This is especially prevalent in other places in the world, but it’s present here in subversive, sick ways that are hard to ignore or forget.

There are literally thousands of ways we could break this down: rape culture, misogyny, unequal pay, the impossible beauty standards, the Welfare system - pick a problem and it doesn’t matter how old you are - the little girl you were at 6 or 11 or 14 was standing in a minefield of dangerous emotional time bombs before she even got her period.

And so feeling “grown up” is impossible. By the time you are objectively old enough to be considered a woman, you’re so beaten down by the world’s expectations that you almost don’t want to be one. At least, that’s what happened to me. Until I started to redefine what being a woman meant to me.

So I started compiling a list of quotes that remind me that being a woman is a choice we make every day. It’s sort of like how Olivia Pope wakes up every morning and chooses to be a warrior. Same idea. Wake up tomorrow and say to yourself: I am a woman. I choose this. And it’s happening on my terms.

“I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay.” - Madonna

“The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.” - Roseanne Barr

“We still think of a powerful man as a born leader and a powerful woman as an anomaly.” - Margaret Atwood

“Bitches get stuff done.” - Tina Fey

“Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, “She doesn’t have what it takes.” They will say, “Women don’t have what it takes.” - Clare Boothe Luce

“People think at the end of the day that a man is the only answer [to fulfillment]. Actually a job is better for me.” - Princess Diana

“I’ve yet to be on a campus where most women weren’t worrying about some aspect of combining marriage, children, and a career. I’ve yet to find one where many men were worrying about the same thing.” - Gloria Steinem

“I can’t think of any better representation of beauty than someone who is unafraid to be herself.” - Emma Stone

“When you love and accept yourself, when you know who really cares about you, and when you learn from your mistakes, then you stop caring about what people who don’t know you think.” - Beyonce

““What’s the worst possible thing you can call a woman? Don’t hold back, now.
You’re probably thinking of words like slut, whore, bitch, cunt (I told you not to hold back!), skank. Okay, now, what are the worst things you can call a guy? Fag, girl, bitch, pussy. I’ve even heard the term “mangina.” Notice anything? The worst thing you can call a girl is a girl. The worst thing you can call a guy is a girl. Being a woman is the ultimate insult. Now tell me that’s not royally fucked up.” - Jessica Valenti

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23rd April 2015

Brilliant Quotes on Being a Woman

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