Women's Liberation - Tumblr Posts

I was hesitant to write this post, but I want to talk about why so many women and teenage girls are getting double mastectomies.

The justification a lot of trans people use for elective double mastectomies is that "top surgery" helps people feel comfortable in their bodies. Traditionally, this surgery was restricted to transmen. In the recent decade, however, nonbinary identified and even non-trans identified women have been getting mastectomies. I remember clear as day when my coworker (who identified as a "cis" woman) told me that at 18 she was planning on saving for top surgery. I myself got my breasts removed when I identified as nonbinary, having been on testosterone for 2 years.

It's important to remember that no person is born wanting surgery. Society creates conditions that are hostile to women, GNC, and gay people, and this hostility encourages a dissociated state. The body is removed from the mind - instead of the body being an intrinsic part of your personhood, a mechanism through which we experience the world, it instead becomes ornamental. This is perfectly represented by all forms of non-reconstructive cosmetic surgery, which risk people's health for entirely aesthetic reasons.

So, why do teen girls want to remove their breasts? For those of who experienced unwanted sexual advances from a young age, the answer is intuitive. Breasts are inherently sexualized. They are not seen as a vital organ that contributes to bodily function and health, but as a decoration, the only purpose of which is to attract men and feed babies. In this way, a woman's breasts do not even belong to her. When men openly gawk at a woman without a bra, when relatives grope at her as a pubescent girl, when we are exposed to an endless stream of hyper-sexualized images of women with their cleavage out, a message is sent loud and clear: existing in a female body is unsafe.

I want to make it very clear that an elective mastectomy and the practices of breast ironing are very different, but there are commonalities in that attitudes behind both. Breast ironing is done to pubescent girls in order to "prevent" her being sexually assaulted or harassed by men, sometimes including male relatives. When I hear stories of girls in the West starving themselves and binding to hide their chests, I can't help but see similarities. When I was binding and restricting calories as a 15 year old, I would have said I was doing it so that I could pass as a man. But I would have been lying to you. I was lying to myself. I didn't hate my breasts because I was "born in the wrong body." I hated my breasts because they were used to justify my sexualization. From my perspective they put me in danger.

We often hear that women's rights in the West have been secured, but you need only look at the war on women's bodies to see that that is a fantasy. When young girls constantly receive the messaging that your curves and boobs WILL attract men and that you will be objectified for it, many will try to opt out.

Take Liv Hewson, for example.

She says herself that her anorexia was a manifestation of "gender dysphoria," but the question remains - where did this dysphoria come from? Why would anorexia develop as an outlet for it? What makes more sense: a young woman was born hating her body and her breasts because she has a gendered, non-female soul, or that same woman hates her body because she has been conditioned as such by a patriarchal society, the same society that encourages extreme self harm and body modification through a multi-billion dollar cosmetic industry?

Gender dysphoria in young women needs to be demystified. It's not special, it's not unique. It is NOT evidence that she needs invasive surgery or steroids to feel comfortable in her body. It is evidence that she is in pain. In order to address the rising rate of transition in young women, we must first acknowledge the conditions that nurture this form of self-hatred.

Transition IS a feminist issue. It is just as relevant in Western feminism as tackling the beauty industry, female sexualization, and violence perpetrated against women through porn. All of these issues are deeply interconnected. When we approach dysphoric women with compassion and encourage them to perceive their bodies as a part of themselves that deserves to remain intact and whole, rather than as their enemy, we take a necessary step towards female liberation.

now that it's actually IWD...

Happy International Women's Day to:

women of color, lesbians, ace and aro girls, trans women, bi and pan girls, disabled and neurodivergent women, Jewish and Muslim women, women who fight for equality and their right to be heard, women who are driven, women who are career-oriented, girlbosses, women who want children and women who don't, mothers, women who get called "bossy" and "shrill," polyamorous women, women with multiple partners, young girls who are figuring out their place in the world, women who are sex workers, women who have survived abuse and women who didn't, autistic women, gnc women, women who get talked over, women who are told that their thoughts don't matter, fat girls and skinny girls, women who have had an abortion, women of low-income, women who are homeless, women with big noses, women with acne or a skin condition, women who work in STEM, unconventionally beautiful women, women who have depression or anxiety, women who rely on aids, deaf and blind women, women who have intrusive thoughts, women coping with PTSD, and women with chronic illness.

we are beautiful, and we are strong. but we are stronger together. Happy International Women's Day.

Facts! I want to not apologize for existing from now on!

(This behavioral pattern is so severe that even my family is concerned)

Habit shift #23 - Don’t apologise for existing

- practical actions that can be taken to fight internalized misogyny

Why: “Sorry, but…”, “Excuse me, I think that …”, “… if that make any sense … “, “maybe we could consider”, … Sorry, sorry, sorry. Women are always apologising for existing and having opinions. How often do those words pass our lips, “sorry” and “excuse me”? For things as mundane as needing space to pass by or a little quiet to work in? For things that require no apologising for, like expressing our thoughts, our beliefs, our opinions? For things as important as  refusing insistent male advances or putting an end to misogynistic jokes and exchanges? We are taught from infancy that we should be discreet and silent, that we should stick to the kitchen and the child-rearing. That we are stupid and vapid and just good enough to clean and reproduce. We internalise it to the point that we can’t seem to stop apologising for daring to open our mouths, whatever the setting. It’s not a question of politeness, or of good manners. It’s our socialisation in a misogynistic system which taught us that what we have to say is worthless, hence the “sorry” and “excuse me” which spill endlessly in our language. But we have nothing to apologise for. We are allowed to exist. We are entitled to our opinions. Disagreement is not the subject; we can be wrong and still not have to grovel every time we speak. We have a right to make mistakes and to speak out of turn and to say inepties. And more often than not, what we have to say is important and smart and brilliant and needed to be said. Our words don’t deserve an apology, they deserve ovations and praises.

How: So stop apologising for existing. Make the conscious effort not to tame down your words. It’s a long road, because you have to pry away a deeply-entrenched habit. Bannish “sorry” and “excuse me” from your vocabulary. Forget the words that dilute and weaken your positions, like “maybe” and “perhaps” and all their declinations into “in my humble opinion” and its variations, especially when you’re talking about a topic you’re trained in or you’ve done some research about. You have a brain, you can rely on it, stop shooting your own statements in the foot. Don’t sell yourself short. Let others deal with your brilliance (they’ll survive). You don’t need to make yourself palatable. Thank people for their kindness, patience and understanding if you do make a mistake, but otherwise don’t apologise. You’ve already done it enough for a lifetime.

I was one of the ignorant and now I'm educated. Very informative!

‘My Hijab Has Nothing To Do With Oppression. It’s A Feminist Statement’

Not all Muslim women cover their bodies. Not all Muslim women who do are forced to do so. Like freelance writer Hanna Yusuf, who chooses to wear a hijab in a daily act of feminism. In a new video for The Guardian, Yusuf challenges stereotypes by setting out to reclaim the choice to wear a hijab as “a feminist statement.”

For more on on how the hijab helps women reclaim their bodies watch the full video here.