I didn't make it to the Women's March this past weekend, but along with having some serious FOMO, I held the spirit of The March close. I've been doing a lot of reflecting, researching, and reading on next steps to take, and how to make The March meaningful for more than just it's record-breaking numbers by taking weekly action to, ya know, smash the patriarchy. (The Women's March website, The Indivisible Guide, and Jennifer Hoffman have great resources on how to get started. If you know of others please post in the comments below).
But before we can (or, as we) fight for equality (between genders and within genders) and reproductive rights, we need to wave the white flag on the war against our own bodies. Women have been conditioned to strive for prettiness, instead of power. We've been told to get smaller. But not too small. Be sexy. But not too sexy. We've been manipulated into thinking that we need to diet, exercise, and self-loathe our way to a "better" body when the reality is, it has always been a man who defined what the ideal female should look like. We, along with our sisters, mothers, aunts, and grandmothers unknowingly bought into this game our whole lives... striving for the unattainable "perfect" body.
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