hey dont cry okay? women with broad shoulders
me da miedo cuando sales
sonriendo pa' la calle
porque todos pueden ver
los hoyuelitos que te salen
not enough secret gardens and hidden passageways and bookshelves that open to a mysterious library these days. get working on that girls.
Honestly shoutout to The Social Network for giving us the line “you’re going to go through life thinking that girls don’t like you because you’re a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won’t be true. It’ll be because you’re an asshole” because if that doesn’t epitomize women’s feelings for entitled male nerds I don’t know what does
I don’t know; I kind of think that our culture is based around systematic denial of human limitations. I mean, there’s the eight-hour work day (which is about 4 hours longer than most people are consistently able to remain productive); buffing your qualifications on job applications (which everyone needs to do to some extent, because everyone else is doing it); the expectation of multitasking, even though it’s not really possible; academics are running around with impostor syndrome, ultimately because there’s only so many books that an individual is capable of reading, while a bunch of liars and grifters pretend that they’re experts at *everything* and are held up as thought leaders. Billionaires are held up as if they’re just incredibly hard workers, photoshopped movie stars held up as if they’re just incredibly beautiful. We feel guilty for not being something that never has and can never exist.
I saw a little girl today who was absolutely riveted by the life in the rotting seaweed around the harbour. I love seeing these little moments, because it takes me back to some of my first experiences as a ‘young naturalist’ of sorts.
I was nearby, photographing and identifying pollinators: I was just about to go over and ask her what she had found…
Both of us had our moments shattered, however, as her mother started screaming at her about getting her clothes dirty. Unfortunately, I also have memories of moments like these, where the female obligation to be decorative trumped my right to be fascinated and curious about the world around me.
She immediately started crying when he parents took her by the arm and led her away.
For those of you who are parents or caregivers, think of what is means to prioritise a child’s appearance over her learning and interests. It’s not fair to socialise girls this way: it breeds self-consciousness, insecurity, and I’m absolutely sure has a direct link to why girls and women are under-represented in the sciences.