1/I'm a woman who's experienced some very woman-defining things (patriarchal cult, sex work), and I find myself skeptical of cultural narratives around womanhood. The narratives feel like a collective illusion; we continually apply powerless narratives to women (e.g., your-
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2/bodily insecurity is the fault of media) while assigning power narratives to men (e.g., your body insecurity means you should work out more). I think society actively encourages women to experience greater pain in response to things that aren't inherently painful.
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3/I get to have these opinions because I'm female. I've gone through the same female things, and so society doesn't crucify me quite so fast as they would a man for questioning womanhood narratives.
But having the sense that womanhood narratives have issues, really opens-
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4/the door to other narratives having issues, even if I haven't shared that experience. I suspect many cultural narratives around probably every single identity-based experience (gender, sex, race, country) have serious issues, and I no longer consider collective agreement
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5/of people inside those narratives to be good evidence that those narratives are healthy, trustworthy, or unquestionable.
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