idk how many of yall have seen the trend on tiktok where people are making this compilations and montages of different women and setting it to Honor To Us All from Mulan, but holy shit i cant ever scroll past one. i love it when people appreciate women for simply being women. further, i love when women appreciate women for simply being women. at this point there are so many interpretations women have of what it means to be a woman. to some women it means to be a wife and mother, to others it means to be a fighter, and to others it means to rise above systemic ceilings placed in society. every interpretation is valid because you, as a woman, get to decide what womanhood means to you. to me, though, womanhood truly shines when women embrace each other for simply just being. often, i see women put down other ideas of what a woman should be. those who believe women should be wives and mothers put down the women who want to be child-free boss ladies and vice versa. and i think it's damaging for women to put down what another woman thinks women should be.
humans have this odd default love-hate relationship with labels. we love putting people into categories but also hate the limits we feel comes with them. in a way, we rely on labels to express ourselves and feel like we belong. we also lean on labels to define our identities. but the problem comes when we stay in one category and both make it our entire personalities and devalue other categories because they are different. you can be in one category and appreciate or even cross over into other ones. the woman who chose to be a stay at home mom is allowed to appreciate the female CEO. the woman who is a world-renowned oncologist is allowed to appreciate the woman who wants to raise animals on a farm. the montages i've seen show women dancing, singing, debating, teaching, running, swimming, winning, and succeeding not only individually but collaboratively. as parts of teams and communities. it really does give me the most amazing feeling in my chest.
this trend is another display of how womanhood is beautiful. it is beautiful to thrive and succeed as a woman. for me it feels like every hardship endured by the women before me, along with my own hard work, led to every single one of my accomplishments. i feel the pride of multiple generations of women and girls robbed of the chance to be themselves. it also reminds me to recognize the beauty of existing among other amazing women and as part of the history of the ones who came before me. i'm reminded to embrace being someone's legacy.
we must love women for being women and for being human. for being who they are. what i love the most about this trend is that it doesn't tell our women and girls what they should be, it simply thanks them for existing. recognizes them. tells them "we see you, we see each other, and we love that you exist." and it is a wonderful thing to see. we must protect our girls, tell them that only they can determine where they go in this life. and in protecting our girls we must also show them the value of appreciating other women. in a world where meaningful connections have been utterly distorted by social media, it is important to teach the significance of community and of defending each other. standing together. showing love.
it can be difficult to not resent womanhood. and sometimes existing as a woman can be so exhausting. there are no words to ever console women suppressed by systems that go beyond them. it feels wrong to go on this tangent and not acknowledge that there are still fights to be fought. to the women who suffer under oppressive regimes, such as Afghanistan, Iran, the Congo, Sudan, and Yemen (just to name a few), i have not forgotten you and i stand with you always. to those of us in the US afraid for what might be to come, i get it, and we will fight this together. thank you to every woman who simply has the courage to exist, and an extra thank you to the women who are brave enough to fight. you all inspire me.
tl;dr: women <3
stormborns
janainaart
yousharknotpass
germansingergirl
pixelskylines
