Eve Ensler, a badass

Taylor Hembree

@taybayyyyyyyyyy

Eve Ensler, a badass feminist, wrote a book titled “I am an Emotional Creature” (which if you haven’t read, you totally should) and it has changed my life. As if I wasn’t already feminist enough, this book, filled with stories of women across the world, has made me realize that girl power is essential and means more than the saying ‘girls rule, boys drool.’ At the end of the book, Ensler has a manifesta for young women and it is phenomenal.

Manifesta to Young Women and Girls

“HERE’S WHAT YOU WILL BE TOLD:

Find a man

Seek protection

The world is scary

Don’t go out

You are weak

Don’t care so much

They’re only animals

Don’t be so intense

Don’t cry so much

You can’t trust anyone

Don’t talk to strangers

People will take advantage of you

Close your legs

Girls aren’t good with:

Numbers

Facts

Making difficult decisions

Lifting things

Putting things together

International news

Flying planes

Being in charge.

If he rapes you, surrender,

you will get killed trying to defend yourself

Don’t travel alone

You are nothing without a man

Don’t make the first move,

wait for him to notice you

Don’t be too loud

Follow the crowd

Obey the laws

Don’t know too much

Tone it down

Find someone rich

It’s how you look that matters,

not what you think.

HERE’S WHAT I’M TELLING YOU:

Everyone’s making everything up

There is no one in charge except for those

who pretend to be

No one is coming

No one is going to

Rescue you

Mind-read your needs

Know your body better than you

Always fight back

Ask for it

Say you want it

Cherish your solitude

Take trains by yourself to places

you’ve never been

Sleep out alone under the stars

Learn how to drive a stick shift

Go so far away that you stop being afraid of

not coming back

Say no when you don’t want to do something

Say yes if your instincts are strong

even if everyone around you disagrees

Decide whether you want to be liked or admired

Decide if fitting in is more important than finding out

what you’re doing here

Believe in kissing

Fight for tenderness

Care as much as you do

Cry as much as you want

Insist the world be theater

and love the drama

Take your time

Move as fast as you do

as long as it’s your speed.

Ask yourself these questions:

Why am I whispering when I have something to say?

Why am I adding a question mark at the end

of all my sentences?

Why am I apologizing every time I express my needs?

Why am I hunching over?

Starving myself when I love food?

Pretending it doesn’t mean that much to me?

Hurting myself when I mean to scream?

Why am I waiting

Whining

Pining

Fitting in?

You know the truth:

Sometimes it does hurt that much

Horses can feel love

Your mother wanted more than that

It’s easier to be mean than smart

But that isn’t who you are.”

This is the most empowering piece of text I have ever read. Women, please know that you CAN do things by yourself. You can go eat alone, you can shop alone, you can sleep alone, you can say no to sex, you can do whatever you want. Please, use that power. Women are powerful creatures. We feel things so deeply. We express our feelings differently. We handle things differently. Women are powerful. Maya Angelou, Anne Frank, Mother Teresa, these are all women who have impacted the world. Those are just three of the most inspiring and world-changing women on the list. Madonna said something that sums up what being a woman in a professional environment feels like. “I’m tough, I’m ambitious, and I know exactly what I want. If that makes me a bitch, okay,” Madonna said this in 1958.  If people, women or men, are going to consider me a bitch because I know what I want and I’m crazy enough to think I can achieve that, then please be my guest and refer to me as a bitch. In that sense of the word, I will gladly accept the bitch title.

Being a woman is important, even if I do complain when I have my period. Periods do suck. It sucks to have my emotions pushed aside a week out of every month and have them referred to as PMS. My feelings are always validated, whether I am on my period or not.

Women, if you don’t want to shave your legs, don’t. If you don’t want to wear makeup, don’t. Guys, nine times out of ten, girls wear makeup and dress cute for themselves. We aren’t trying to impress you by wearing the latest fashions or by showing off our new Naked pallette on our eyelids.

I just wish that I could impact women in a way that Eve Ensler has impacted my life through her readings and quotes.

Women, we are all powerful and important. Use that. Remember that. Embrace that. Walk with your head held high knowing that you are a woman and are living the legacy of every single female before and after you.

“You is kind. You is smart. You is important.” -The Help