So as my patient apologized to me for the inches of her waist and the heaviness of her breasts and the jiggle of her arms, I thought of all the ways that we humans socialized as females are taught to take up less.
Don’t talk too loud.
Don’t be too right.
Don’t firmly state your opinion, instead precede it with an apology and a deferential “this is just something I’ve been thinking”, Lest in a moment of being strong and deft of mind we be renamed Bitch.
Don’t show too strong an emotion, for fear of labels like “Crazy”, or –gasp– “hysterical”, a condition named after what is apparently our defining organ??
From an incredible essay by a friend of a friend. The entire essay is so worth reading.
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