Girlhood is Survival.

Chynna Ratner

12 minutes ago

2 min read

It’s not all men, but it’s always a man.

The idea of girlhood is so beautiful and magical, but it’s also a way of staying alive. The idea of girlhood becomes a lesson in monitoring our every move, altering our entire lives under the guise of making better decisions "for ourselves."

But in reality, we’re making every single decision, every day, to remove every possible opportunity for a man to take advantage of us.

“If he hits you or picks on you, that means he likes you.”

"Don't wear that, you'll distract the boys in class."

"Just smile and say thank you, don't make a scene."

"Don't hurt his feelings, just give him a chance."

"Why did you go out dressed like that if you didn't want attention?"

"He worked so hard for his career, don't ruin his life over one mistake."

WE are doing EVERYTHING, and THEY are doing NOTHING.

WE are forced to PUBLICLY share our traumas, our assaults, our deepest pains, to ATTEMPT to get men to hear us. It’s a sick cyclical cycle that happens every few years, that always dies out.

Something major finally comes to light, we women — RALLY, we share, we fight, we scream, and sometimes the ONE thing that came to light gets resolved, and then everyone high fives, says “good job we made some change”, and then turns around and continues on with life.

I AM TIRED OF FIGHTING FOR SCRAPS. We need to stop accepting food thrown on the floor.

Here is my lovingly stern request to women:

—————

I need you to leave your shitty boyfriends and husbands, if they aren’t speaking up, leave.
Stop sleeping with men who don’t care about you, they don’t deserve your magic.
Dump your friends who wouldn’t come to bat for you/fight for you.
Believe other women when they tell you what happened to them. Full Stop.
Help other women when you see them in bad situations (you know a man won’t do it).
Protect yourself. Get a knife (stab not slash). Get a gun (responsibly).