1. "I just want y'all to be honest about......"
YOUR hairs
No one asks males where they stand on shaving. Where do they stand on shaving their chest? Armpits? Other areas? No one cares. We let males make their own choices.
As for Women and girls?
We casually choose to mock, shame belittle, and harass her about her hair. Daily.
I encourage girls I encounter
to reclaim their power.
Not one hair follicle on your body is anyone else's concern. There is nothing that they can do with that information. All people need to be concerned with the health and care of their own hair follicles.
Stop responding to stranger questioners asking you to be honest about something. Send it to spam.
Guard it like your passwords.
2. How many?
Males do not to the doctor and give an account of their periods, number of pregnancies, or number of live or deceased births.
You can't get males to go get one test to save their lives because that test is painful and embarrassing. It is a weird experience. And I'm told by males from that age group that they are moving towards a blood test to detect prostate cancers in males.
Must be nice.
Meanwhile, women and girls continue to be heavily encouraged to go to the gynecologist for pap smears and mammograms yearly since their teen years.
Just to remind you, the pap smear can be uncomfortable and painful for some. For Survivors of various types of trauma, even under the best conditions; doctor, warm speculum, correct size speculum, calming atmosphere, and great staff- pap smears are terrifying.
Mammograms flatten your breasts like morning sausage patties looking for cancer. I support all of this. But while you are spending time, money, and resources searching for ways for males to do the impossible; it would be nice if some of that could be shared to save female lives.
Reminder:
No male has to give a
a metric of anything in their lives
to anyone just to stay
healthy the way that women do.
3. Laboring for People Who Will Not Labor for You
Ladies please take heed and be cautious. Many of these influential women will see women and girls being harmed by males, then look you dead center in your female eye and tell you that such behavior is "why" you should fight harder for males to have more privileges and power.
Actually, I believe that they should. The world could be a better place. Imagine if their podcasts were about ending violence, healing, and protecting the children.......instead of 24/7 sports, criticizing women, and getting more money to hoard.
Imagine
But males do not spend their time, effort, and platforms pressuring one another to perform more labor.
I would be fine with this. Until I see women doing this to one another. (Hey, maybe we should...women start trends all the time. Maybe this is that).
But women do all this pressuring and then take the wrong exit and push for women and girls to do all that labor, wrap it up, bow it up and GIVE it to males of the world who have not and will not do the same for the entire rest of humanity......including their own Mamas.
We should all bear one another's burdens. I have believed in this since childhood. But still, I had to learn that some people that you labor to free will instantly turn around and use the freedom you helped them to secure to put you and yours in rusting chains and shackles.
This truth does not fall along racial or religious lines. Annnnd, that's why we are required to gain wisdom.
Wisdom is a requirement for
longevity in advocacy, activism,
and social alliance work.
I believe that nurturing, empowering others, and encouraging others are superpowers. A lot of women have this power, with most using it effectively in their families, communities, and as teachers and healers. That's a blessing for us.
The engines behind us.
The wind beneath our wings.
Like all powers, individuals must learn to be good stewards of them. Gas, electricity, animals, love, healing.
Doing Hero Stuff
Such is the hero's journey of so many superhero stories.
Superhero learns that they have powers.
Superhero uses those powers in the wrong ways.
Surperhero or someone that the superhero loves gets harmed.
Superheroes must quickly learn to harness those powers in a way that defeats evil and villains while saving humanity.
Your extraordinary gifts hold the key to lifting the burdens of those you seek to protect.
But know this, the raw power you possess is a vessel that must be mastered.
The fate of those you strive to aid rests not solely on the magnitude of your gifts, but on your unwavering commitment to recognize and harness your power.
Remember, the true measure of you as a weapon against terror against women lies not in the gifts you are granted but in your unwavering pursuit of mastering them.
It is through this arduous journey that you will unlock the limitless potential that lies dormant within you.
Your Ignorance Around Black Womanhood Shall NOT Make Work and Unsafe Conditions for Me
