🅷🅴🆁𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚢 ❥

Telling a girl that she is not like most girls isn’t a compliment.

In my opinion, It’s the biggest insult.

Trying to make a female feel empowered by belittling her sisters,

mothers, aunts, cousins, and friends is insulting, degrading, and pathetic.

Commenting “delicious” or “yummy” or “ mmmmm🤤🍆👅👀💦” on a females picture isn’t a compliment.

By writing words commonly used to describe food that we eat, you are

degrading women and equating their worth to a piece of meat that you can’t wait

to “take a bite of.”

Society has conditioned men to view women as sex objects and to any man

reading this, it’s genuinely not your fault, you’ve been conditioned......

This isn’t an @ men post it’s an @ society post.

However, if you feel offended by reading this then I STRONGLY urge you to do some self reflecting and make any and all necessary changes.

The phrase “boys will be boys” is still used to excuse horrendous

behavior.

Boys will not be boys, boys will be what we teach them to be and so far

we have taught them that “locker room talk” is still acceptable.

We have taught them that girls dress to please them;

girls grow up being dress coded and PUNISHED at school for wearing

clothing that “distracts the boys” (my high school legit tried to ban yoga

pants because they were too distracting for the boys..............)

& thus, in light of yesterday being International Women's Day I

figured it would be appropriate to again remind everyone that FEMALES DO NOT

LIVE TO PLEASE MALES. Our every action is not committed with the intent on getting males attention.

Contrary to what society conditions men to think, we are in fact human

beings not solely sex objects.

We do not dress to please men.

We don’t post pictures to excite men.

We DO NOT wear no bra to turn men on...

Nor does our not wearing a bra act as an invitation for men to be creepy

& weird🙄

Our bodies are not societies or men’s to do what they please with.

Our bodies are not the problem.

They were never the problem.

The problem is how society sexualizes women’s bodies.

“Revealing” pictures like the ones I post aren’t the problem.

The problem is the general response to those “revealing” pictures.

The problem lies in the fact that posting “revealing” pictures makes my

peers fear that I will be denied a job.

The problem lies in the fact that the “revealing” pictures I post paint

the picture to some that “I’m not that intelligent” that “I’m too much” that I

want attention and am “attention seeking” and “asking for it”

By posting pictures like the ones I post, I’m not asking for it &

i’m not unworthy of respect

I’m claiming my right to MY body,

I’m claiming my right to MY freedom TO MAKE CHOICES regarding MY BODY.

I’m standing up for my beliefs and fighting for equality.

I’m attempting to reclaim women’s bodies, sexuality, and safety.

The power of a woman isn’t defined by what she wears but by her

possibility to make choices for herself.

The way she dresses & what she decides to post are some of those

choices that SHE gets to make and that speak to the amount of power that she

would like to claim.

The patriarchy existed long before women posted pictures of themselves

on Instagram.

Sexual violence existed long before women wore tight jeans, short

skirts, and crop tops out to bars and clubs.

Misogyny existed long before women even knew it was wrong.

Do women have to post “revealing”pictures or wear less clothes to feel

empowered? Of course not.

Nudity empowers some while modesty empowers others, but society and men

alike do not get to determine that one form of empowerment is better than the other.

Although we’ve been conditioned to believe so, a woman does not

have to be modest in order to be respected.

We live in a society where women are constantly judged for what they do

or don’t wear, post or don’t post, say or don’t say and do or don’t do and it’s

time we question how we judge ourselves and other women.

We must ask ourselves where our definition of “appropriate” and

“inappropriate” came from and what those definitions are further

perpetuating.

Why are elementary aged girls taught that if they wear spaghetti straps

to school they’ll “distract the boys from their learning”?

Why is the female nipple still censored on Instagram?

Why do women who breastfeed in public receive looks of disgust and bewilderment?

What’s equality if a man can walk around topless but a female cannot?

Why is the girl with an only fans account considered indecent?

If society doesn’t respect a woman based on what she is or isn’t

wearing, then society doesn’t respect women PERIOD.

The amount of respect a woman receives should NOT increase or decrease

depending on what she is or isn’t wearing.

Women are worthy of respect no matter what they wear or don’t wear.

Unfortunately, we live in society that has conditioned us to believe

that less clothes equals less respect.

We genuinely think that it is morally okay for a shirtless male to look

at a shirtless female and belittle her

Worse, we tell her that if he takes advantage of her, it’s her fault

because she was “asking for it”

We genuinely think that the less clothes warrants less respect,

& thus, I will continue to wear and post and say and do what I

please despite what that may look like to others.

I will continue to refrain from wearing uncomfortable and unnecessary

bras despite the fact that that proves time and time again to be too

“distracting” for males because in the words of Angela Davis; I am no longer

accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.

👄

You see, feminism isn’t about making women strong. Women are already

strong. It’s about changing the way the world perceives that strength.

Likewise,

Women don’t need to find a voice, they have a voice, they need to feel

empowered to use it and people need to be encouraged to listen.

No doubt my words will be deemed as “too much” for some & what I

wear in my posts will be deemed as “not enough” for others, but I have a voice and a social platform that puts me in a position to reach people and to be heard and as Lily Tomlin once said; “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was somebody”

I am somebody.

I’m a female with a voice and a mind and opinions that deserve to be

heard.

I am passionate, I am strong, I am brave, and I am fierce.

I know my worth. I embrace my power. I say if I'm beautiful. I say if

I'm strong. I say if I am important.

It is me and ONLY me that gets to determine my worth. I, alone, am in

charge of how I show up in this world.

I am the main character in MY story and will continue to step into my

power by claiming what is rightfully mine.

Jane Goodall told us that what we do makes a difference, and we have

to decide what kind of difference we want to make

and I have decided what kind of a difference I want to make and am determined to see that I succeed in doing so.

We cannot and will not become what we need to be by remaining what we

are.

Stepping out of our comfort zones and dismantling century old versions

of who and what women should be is not and will not be easy, but it is long

overdue. It’s time we stop remaining in the boxes we’re put it. It’s time we

stop staying inside the lines. The lines were only drawn to keep us confined, they were intended to prevent us from claiming and owning our power. They were meant to imprison us and keep us from stepping into our magic.

So, decide what kind of difference you want to make and do it on purpose;

break out of that box.

Cross that line.

“Mis-behave”

stop watering yourself down to fit in a glass that you were never supposed to fit in to.

be "extra” be “too much” and allow yourself to overflow right out of that glass.

Be rebellious.

No doubt people will be outraged; they’ll call you names, and try to shove you back inside that glass, or put you back into the box, or push you back inside the lines.

Be rebellious anyway, speak up, step into your power and remember;

in a world that demands you to obey the wrong rules: Being rebellious is right."

Let’s be rebellious together, let’s fight back together because yes, one woman can make a difference

BUT

T O G E T H E R we can rock the world and the world most definitely needs a little rocking

so that history can finally stop being read over and over again and “her story” can finally be heard.

- Yours Truly <3