Radical Femininity

The Jig Is Up, Patriarchy

Many of us were promised that working a high power job would save us. That career accolades would complete us. That financial achievement alone would liberate us. It didn’t. Instead, it asked us to deny our cycles, ignore our intuitions, numb our pain, and dress like we aren’t bleeding.

Keeled over, we swallow acetaminophen and deny our wombs the right to rest while continuing to serve others during our visit from Aunt Flow. Aunt Flow asked us to flow, not fawn—and yet, we run the opposite program (fawn, and then fawn some more).

Far too many of us suffer adrenal fatigue, nervous system shutdown, and autoimmune disorders. All meant to get our attention and say: this is too much. Enter: a new handbook for life—one that will sustain us, not destroy us. Hopefully before the damage has already been done.

Women are tired of playing this false game. Nature’s cycles are metaphors for that of our own. Women remembered that nature is sacred, so our bodies must be sacred, too. Women decided to live based on this truth. And, with this wisdom in mind, she took to the chalkbord of her life and wrote new rules to live by. Rules that don’t ask her to compromise her integrity, her values, her natural gifts, or her powers of creation.

She’s not asking society for permission to leave her old identity behind—she’s reclaiming her right to evolve with the winds of change.

It’s a reclamation of rhythm. A return to what’s real.

Because the reality is stupidly simple: Not everyone wants to work (or physically can work) 12 hour+ days, no matter “how good the pay. “ Not everyone wants 5 kids and will try for a 6th. We all want different things, because we are all different. We can’t say that one woman's way is right and another woman’s way is wrong. That is anti-feminist, if you ask me. 

The point is: we finally have choice. We’re no longer performing—we’re finally living authentically.

All Aboard: A Runaway Train Going Nowhere

Many women in their 20’s (myself included) once hopped aboard the boss-girl bandwagon with enthusiasm and pride, only to end up face down on the tracks in their 30’s. Scorched from the endless motion, grinding like train wheels against metal and steel. Burned out. Disillusioned. Disenchanted—as if they merged with the wet laundry hanging out to dry of yesteryear. Flailing with a faraway look that matched the distance between themselves and their souls.

It left us feeling unfulfilled, unseen, unsupported. We were sold a version of success that asked us to work like machines, and not bat an eyelash while doing it.

The lie wasn’t just in the labor. It was in the loss of meaning. The loss of self-actualization. The loss of “to thy own self be true.”

If You’re Reading This, You’re Part of It

This shift is deeply personal. It requires each and every one of us to go within and decide for ourselves what we want our lives to look like. Big Brother is no longer watching. We have to decide for ourselves now, and that can give rise to inner conflict and existential crisis. If you’re reading this, trust that it’s for a reason. If it stirred something in you, be it positive or negative, then I invite you to reflect:

• Where did you first learn that to be a proper feminist, you had to check certain boxes?

• What were those boxes? Who built them, and why? (Includes parts of yourself, both past or present).

• What “or else” stories haunt you? (e.g., Or else I’ll be like my mother. Or else I’ll never be safe. Or else I’ll be invisible.)

• What do you truly need to thrive? Not survive—thrive.

  
  

I’ll go first:

I need freedom & flexibility. I need authentic self- expression interwoven into everything I do. I need solitude and sisterhood, in equal measure. I need to work on my own terms, with ideal clients who resonate with my message, so that I can show up fully without killing off parts of myself in the name of duty. I need ample time for rest and reinvigoration. I need to know my own limits (I’m learning) to not bite off more than I can chew. I need solid boundaries that allow me to soften into my life instead of instigating resentment or reasons to want to escape from it.

Thanks for reading my take on Radical Femininity.

With love,

Eva