In the spirit of International Women's day I thought I'd take the chance to send some love and light to my amazing ladies (and the great guys behind them who love, encourage and support their strength). I shared this photo because it captures the message that I want to get across today. It took a lot to get me to the point where I could share a photo of me in my bathers without fear of being judged and I find it somewhat empowering to do so.
We have come a long long way in terms of women's rights and equality but we still have a long way to go. Sexism is still evident and prevalent everywhere, although some more implicit than explicit. The fact that we even have to address feminism shows that there is still work to be done.
I have always been a feminist at heart but it has been hidden deep down because of men in my life who saw it as me being a dramatic girl with too many entitlements. I was not the strong woman I envisioned and being part of a culture where men reign supreme didn't help either. I was being told what to do, what was expected of me, what I should wear and how I should wear my hair. I was given guidelines of who I should be and how I should live my life based on men who couldn't care less about me and I hate myself for following it.
I believe we all know our value and our worth deep down and we start off radiating this positive light and energy. What happens is we step out into the real world where society imposes their stereotypic beliefs and judgements on us and that starts to crumble. I don't think I know of any woman who can honestly say they have never experienced sexism in any form personally, and the "Me too" movement clearly showed that all women have either experienced sexual assault or harassment or know of someone who has experienced it, which is honestly frightening. I refuse to think of my nieces and daughters growing up in a world that is still like this which is why I am coming out of hiding and saying FUCK THAT. A huge screw you to anyone who has ever tried to dull my shine and take away from my self worth. I am who I am and I refuse to let any man control my life or my beliefs.
Now don't get me wrong, there are plenty of males out there who support the feminist movement too, and I am lucky that my partner is one of them. If you are one of these men, I salute you. You should be supporting equality for women because we consist of your mothers, your sisters, your daughters. Your fathers, your brothers, family members, and friends were all brought to life in this world by women. By supporting women's rights you are shaping the future for your family to come. So that your daughter doesn't have to go through the pain and trauma of being put down and abused by males.
We, as women, should love and support ourselves and each other, because it is together that we are stronger. It is together that we can make a difference. We like to point fingers at men saying that they are oppressing us yet we don't realise that we tear each other down over meaningless gossip and drama. We talk about the negatives of other women more than we talk about their positives because that's more acceptable in social groups. We don't compliment other girls because we fear being judged for speaking out. Why do we worry more about artificial appearances rather than a girl's dreams/successes/beliefs? Why don't we care about who they really are on the inside? We pit women against each other as if it is a competition and we take away from other women's successes by justifying that it wasn't deserved. Why can't we all succeed and grow with like minded individuals? We have enough men tearing our success and power down, why are we doing it to ourselves? If we just directed our attention to building and empowering women rather than tearing them down there is nothing that we can't achieve.
Let us help each other, inspire each other and empower each other to be the best woman we can be. Compliment each other and bring attention to successes that deserve to be acknowledged! Spread love and kindness to others, to yourself and to your body. Do what YOU want to do, SPEAK your mind, let your voice be HEARD.
I love everything about this article. Empowering other women and building each other up and freeing ourselves of negative energy from tearing each other down is a fantastic message. I used to work in an industry that was primarily ran by men, and instead of coming together to try to change that, the women in that industry tore each other down to make themselves look better and to climb to the top. If only they could have come together with positive energy towards each other, I feel like they could have built a better work culture and, in turn, could have achieved so much more. This translates to every industry, we accomplish so much more together than against each other. Happy international women's day!!!
Thank you so much for taking the time out to read it. Isn't it crazy how much the biases have impacted us as well? We think there is only room for one of us at the top in a world that is ran by men when we could join together and be a power to change that bias. So many women are quick to judge others and find faults in their successes for no reason other than to promote negativity. Sometime's it's out of jealousy because it makes us question ourselves! Hopefully the future is positive where we can celebrate each other's successes knowing that it does not take any light away from our own! Happy International Womens day to you too! :)
Nice words,this post greatly inspired me
Thank you! That makes me so happy to hear. Happy Women's day lovely!
Love you baby! you inspire me everyday xxx
Love you more you cutie xx
I love your message, I love this article. I love how you have overcome self-doubt and realized that no one can impose their beliefs and guidelines on you. I hope your radiating, positive message can inspire some more women to find their inner strength and confidence and let it shine. It's is always there, often hidden within, one just has to realize it and break the chains that are holding you back.
As someone once said: "Feminism is that radical notion than women are people."
Thank you so much for reading it and understanding the story and message I was trying to portray. I hope that it does spark something in other women to realise who they really are and their true potential that society has told them to keep on the down low.
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Nice post...Happy womens day✌
Thank you! :)
Happy womens day!
Thank you! :)
WOW! Well said! Good on you @thetinykitchen/ Ana! :)
Thank you so much! And thanks for resteeming it!
very ambitious.
Sure am! Thank you :)
This is very empowering! Happy Women’s day 😊💪
Happy women's day to you too! So glad you found it empowering xx
beautiful scenery
Thank you! Rotorua is truly beautiful :)
Thank you for that words, i'm totally agree, we have to support each other, stop competing and star to see how much beautiful we are when we recognize the extraordinary in every single sister 🖤 Greetings from Colombia!!
You are most welcome! Exactly, we can lift each other up instead of bringing each other down! Greetings from New Zealand!
Am inspired thank you so much cheers to the ladies
That makes me so happy to hear. Thank you!
you are strong, you are intelligent and beautiful no matter what, Happy international womans day ana, btw what country you from?
Thank you! I am from Australia but currently living in New Zealand :)
gracia eres muy especial
My espanol is very poor but gracias! Thank you for reading it :)
your post is great, i like this
Thank you so much for reading it! ☺️
What a great idea, providing an audio version of the post. My question is...
How do you do that? Please do explain.
Thanks, and upvoted.
Gary
I agree! A really cool idea and I hope that it gets some recognition.
Also thank you for the resteem Gary :)