notoday&fasfem ring
And that moment arrives. You had an idea, a plan, a dream. You have already begun to make it happen, in real life or in your imagination. Doesn’t make big difference in which one of those. But here we are now, and bumps appear in your road. Things get harder, your feminine side, the softer one that helps you feel and create, is being bullied. You don’t need this. You ‘re thinking about giving it all up.
It is understood. No one wants to be treated like that. But you keep forgetting something. This side of you that feels like keeping you behind, is actually your super power. Malleability. Yes, you are malleable. Remember all you have been through. How many times were you told you should give up, that there’s little room for you here, that your sensitivity is a fault, your ideas a utopia? More than few.
But you are still here, aren’t you? You bend but you don’t break. Just change shape, get sculpted and polished and beautiful. Yet, your essence remains…
You are like a jewel.
We, Maria and Ioanna, are so much aware of this. We really know and get you. So we have decided to become a reminder for you. With a piece of silver. Maria sculpted it and Ioanna infused her symbolisms in it. And metal became ring. A ring to wear in your small finger, with your feminine power graven on it, made of silver, tough yet malleable.
To look down at it and remember. That we all are in this together.
Now move on…you ‘ve got this!
The notoday&fasfem ring has been created as a love song to femininity and with a strong belief in gender equality. So we have decided to donate a part of the money you will pay for it to Diotima Centre as a support to their cause.
* By donating to Diotima Centre, we help women and femininities, who lack the financial and social resources necessary to live a life free of gender-based violence.
** You can find the ring at notodaystudio .
Sex and the Female
There was this episode at the first season of Sex Education where Maeve decides to have an abortion. The young girl got accidentally pregnant but was not sure about her feelings towards the boyfriend or motherhood altogether. She was the traumatized child of a drug addict mother, so charismatic yet so confused. The abortion clinic was a place where she could find comfort and care during this horrifying moment in her life..
In case you have been wondering - I know I have - clinics about birth control are not newly established facilities. The first ones were mobile clinics established by Marie Stopes, a controversial yet most influential figure in the British birth control movement. Stopes had published the book Married Love back in 1918, one of the first books ever to explain sex and sexual pleasure openly which was very much denounced by medical professionals, even though loved by the public.
Women back then you see didn't have the right to choose whether or not they wanted to be mothers. Sexual pleasure was out of the question for them as well. Even by early feminists who believed that a wife had the right to refuse sexual demands of her husband as a way of limiting the size of their families. Contraception existed of course but it was condemned by church and society in general. Methods included vaginal sponges soaked in quinine, injections of alum and water into the vagina and sheaths. All the above leaded to the fact that most women were almost always pregnant or breastfeeding.
Margaret Sanger knew all about that reality as her mother had died at the age 49 after 18 pregnancies. Qualified as a nurse, she saw impact of multiple pregnancies in a poor women. So she decided to act. In 1916, Margaret opened America's first birth control clinic in Brooklyn where the newly developed diaphragm was promoted. The clinic was of course illegal and 9 days after its opening Sanger was arrested. The publicity around this though kickstarted a birth control movement throughout the US.
No woman can call herself free who does not own and control her body.
Margaret Sanger
Sanger was of course a person of her time. She favored birth control - actually the first known use of the term was included in her radical feminist magazine ‘The Woman Rebel’ - but condemned abortion. She considered it a dangerous and something that should be prevented by proper use of birth control methods.
Biography of Margaret Sanger as a comic
by cartoonist
Peter Bagge
We should note here that both Sanger and Stopes were accused of eugenics. I understand this can frustrate you quite a bit. But before condemning a person about a certain behavior, we should consider the actual establishment they were acting through. Eugenics unfortunately was a common attitude among intellectuals at that time. No one though can deny the fact that their work on birth control was pioneering. They set the pace for birth control and abortion rights demands which re - emerged in the 1960’s to this day. Sanger as matter of fact was the founder of Planned Parenthood that continues to offer sexual health care globally. There is an organization's written opposition about her racist beliefs of course…..
Poster by Britain’s Health Education Council in 1969
But is birth control the only solution? I am thinking of Maeve again. A young girl who accidentally became pregnant. Birth control methods didn't work out as expected. How many women out there have been facing the challenge of an unwanted pregnancy every day? Becoming a mother means so many things - the impossibility of unbecoming a mother being one of them. You can’t go back you see. Motherhood will stick with you no matter what. So you should at least be able to understand and consider facts before you decide to take action…
Human beings with wombs have been in such a different place from those without them since the dawn of time. In the first book of German criminal law Constitutio Criminalis Carolina written in 1532, abortion was punishable by drowning. Yes, women were drowned. Only them of course. Not their male counterparts. They were usually not even exposed. Because their body, incapable of pregnancy and giving birth, was giving them the right to do so. But what about a woman’s rights?
As women keep on dying or being seriously injured by committing to illegal abortions to this day, abortions have become central issue in feminist movements. Abortion laws have gradually been reforming over the years from early 1900s to 1970s, which was the decade with the most significant changes over this issue. The legal case that led to abortion being legalized at federal level in the US was Roe v. Wade in 1973. It concerned Norma McCorvey, who had become pregnant with a third child in 1969. Her case was constructed by Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington, two lawyers who filed suit on her behalf under the alias Jane Roe. The case finally reached the Supreme Court which ruled in favor of Roe declaring Texas laws unconstitutional. Abortion fell within the parameters of the right to privacy.
For more information about the case you can click to the buttons below:
Abortion had been legalized beyond the States as well. In 1971 the Manifesto of 343 was signed by 343 women who had had illegal abortions in France. The text which was written by Simone de Beauvoir was the following:
“One million women in France have abortions every year. Condemned to secrecy they do so in dangerous conditions, while under medical supervision this is one of the simplest procedures. We are silencing these millions of women. I declare that I am one of them. I declare that I have had an abortion. Just as we demand free access to contraception, we demand the freedom to have an abortion”
Those women had the courage to declare publicly what was held a secret since forever. And it had a huge impact because three years later the first female minister in the French government, Simone Veil, was appointed Minister of Health. Veil drafted and pushed through the Veil Law which legalized abortion during the first trimester despite all the violent attacks by the far - right.
I will share a conviction of women, and I apologize for doing it in front of this assembly comprised almost exclusively of men: No woman resorts to abortion lightheartedly.
Simone Veil
Little did these remarkable women know about what the future held. The Roe v. Wade case has been recently overturned…In a historic and far-reaching decision, the U.S. Supreme Court officially reversed Roe v. Wade on June 24, declaring that the constitutional right to abortion no longer exists.
Writing for the court majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that the 1973 Roe ruling and repeated subsequent high court decisions reaffirming Roe "must be overruled" because they were "egregiously wrong," the arguments "exceptionally weak" and so "damaging" that they amounted to "an abuse of judicial authority."
The decision, most of which was leaked in early May, means that abortion rights will be rolled back in nearly half of the states immediately, with more restrictions likely to follow.
The news rapidly spread around the world. Marches were organized, TV panels were on fire, forecasters gave their opinions out loud…Even in countries like Greece where abortion laws seem to be unchangeable for the near future, people became peculiarly numb. And worried. And angry.
I, for sure, became worried. And angry at the same time. How was I suppose to process this? My mind was flooded with images of women like Maeve trying to find a solution for dealing with an unwanted pregnancy in a country were abortions are illegal. Images like the paintings of Paula Rego’s Abortion pastels series that were favored around the web these days.
I googled the triptych and stared it for a few minutes. Such despair…These women so strong yet so devastated. Looking into the void. As you can tell by the surroundings, they have been under procedures which were no legal nor safe. You can also tell that these women are not passive. They own their decision and the pain that comes with it.
But they deserved better, didn’t they? They shouldn’t have been alone. They should have had proper medical care. They should, in Paula Rego’s own words, have had the right to choose:
A woman’s body can never be considered her own after all. Patriarchy and its manifestations has intruded into the way the female body exists and dominates it. Somehow, after all these years, we keep coming back to same notions. I try to find the root of this need to exploit and suppress. Could it be intimidation by the Other? The one that has no male genitals. The one that bears the ability to bring new life into this world. The one that is sexually more complicated yet quite fascinating..
Maybe this is where it all comes to. Females shouldn’t express their sexuality because it threatens the conservative ideals about them. They should not express their desires nor their fears. They should be obedient. And were they daring enough to act, they should deal with the consequences of a sexual encounter all by themselves. Them sluts!
As I was starting to get even more frustrated, I came across this article in the 13nth issue of Riposte. It was about academic Katherine Angel and her book Tomorrow Sex Will Be Good Again: Women and Desire in the Age of Consent . There was something about her witty smile that instantly made me feel like there is hope. Made myself a cup of coffee and went through her interview.
-In recent years two requirements have emerged for good sex : consent and self - knowledge, she mentions. Consent as a yes or no dichotomy can’t be everything we want it to be. Language cannot say everything, especially for women, who have not been given the chance to shape it according to their own needs and desires.
So I am beginning to get it now. Consent is a way of making sure the sexual act should move forward but most of the time women do consent under the fear of taking a huge risk. Fear of being called sluts, of facing some kind of violence, of becoming pregnant. That can be worsen by the fact of not being free to decide over the unwanted pregnancy, even though it is her own body under that circumstance. All in all, a woman never feels truly free to experience pleasure …
Why is it so terrifying for our society to admit that women want to experience pleasure without wanting to become a parent? Why do we keep punishing them for being sexual beings like the rest of the animals on the planet? And let us not forget - Katherine notes, the long history of considering sex as something (mostly heterosexual) women give in exchange for other things. Like there is no female desire, they only act on gaining profit to get what they really want. And they should be punished for such behavior. Absurd but true.
Is there any hope? I am thinking yes. There is. Stay with me here…
We should consider that women still feel the need to be sexual, to find joy, to move forward and beyond stereotypes. They fight, and push and demand change. Researching for this article made that quite clear. I began to smile.
It is really difficult to upturn beliefs that have been established for centuries. I can understand that now. People tend to fear change. They feel safer doing what has been done. Those who are privileged lack the tones of empathy that it takes to step back and acknowledge the inequity. We see it literally everywhere. What started in the US this summer has allowed voices from the darkest corners to rise again and spread their poison. We witnessed that from a man of the cloth recently in Greece claiming that raped women who got pregnant enjoyed the intercourse…These are dangerous people who belong in the past.
We need to survive. Women need to survive. Should you ask for my point view, they also need to thrive. So we will do whatever it takes to save the hardly gained rights and push for more. Until every human female on the planet has the right to own her body and her choices. Until equality becomes reality.
Maeve chose to have the abortion alone. But there was a gentle male friend of hers who decided to be there, who wouldn’t leave her helpless. Who supported her choice. Who even stood up against anti abortion protesters outside the clinic. Who gave her a hug afterwards and asked nothing in return.
Maybe there is still hope.
*If you are facing the abortion dilemma yourself and are in need for some privacy, click here for useful information.
A mommy's tale
Just as I was sitting down to write, all of a sudden, Les Jours Tristes by Yann Tiersen’s soundrack for Amelie movie was on the radio. Dropped the pencil and keyboard and rushed to find and play the album. It was since the day we were coming back from hospital with our newborn Nike that those sounds have reached upon my ears. I was at the back seat with the sleeping baby next to me, watching Athens city lights fade away. Even though my house is so close I felt like I am kissing the city goodbye…
Following days were chaotic. “It’s only natural” everybody reassured me. “Your life now changes for good”. But while sitting among breast pumps and dirty diapers, in the few moments of the day that my thinking wasn’t blurred, the little voice in my head kept asking : “You will write again. Won’t you?”
I am not the kind of woman who looked forward to becoming a mother. According to societal norms I was late to the motherhood game-39 years old-and lucky to have played it without trouble. A kind of luck I was too sleepless to realise back then. I had just finished my Msc in Fashion studies, thesis composition pending, and dreamt of creating fasfem.com. These were parts of my the dreamlife I wished to create for myshelf. I was collapsing to the idea of giving it all up. “Fashion and culture through feminist lens”. How on earth does this feel relevant while googling about breast feeding tips and going back to work 20(!) days after delivering?
There comes to mind an older statement by Marina Abramovic who confessed to have gone through three abortions because she was convinced that becoming a mother would put an end to her artistic endeavors. So this is where it came to. We have created a world where women have claimed their rights after decades of feminist battles and at the same time time are sent back to 1950 the moment they become mothers. They are forced to deal with delimmas and proconceptions that no man - and sometimes even childless women - ever have to in the course of their lives. Academic Andrea O’Reilly had to create the term “matricentric feminism” about this and point out the gap in the feminist theory concerning motherhood and the way it is perceived by society. Because “women have been oppressed by patriarchy both as women and mothers”. She was referring to all mothers, not just the biological ones.
And now come to mind pregnant Slick Woods walkin down the catwalk at the Rihanna Savage x Fenty NYFW September 2018 fashion show. A glowing godess who few hours after the show gave birth to a healthy baby boy. Radiating creativity and power. Stating she “can do whatever she wants”. Of course she can. She just delivered a complete human being to this world.
Women as mothers - according to behavioral neuroscience - develop ecxeptional resilience and out of the box thinking skills. Their creativity is at a peak moment with intuition and empathy following along. But society chooses to ignore these traits and trap new mothers into a never ending role exchanging game. Instead of supporting them providing care and facilities, new mothers are forced to fit into molds out of their shape, burdened with guilt, denied the right to express their unique identities. Just to become “good mothers” whatever that means.
With few delays and lots of support from my loved ones, I managed to complete my thesis. With much more delays and guilt for stealing away precious time with my daughter, fasfem.com was launched. I realised that when I allow whatever feels natural to me be expressed I become a better mother. And as a mother I am more creative and effective. Because time is limited so I do my best with what I have. After that, I enjoy returning to my family and smile. A smile that nearly got lost for good. So I am commited from now on to talk about these staff bacause someone has to in order to witness real change.
The album stopped playing. How majestic the music of Yann Tiersen! I am thinking…in an imaginary scenario of a sequel of Amelie the heroine could become a mother. Is it possible for her to stop being this sensitive creature who spread the joy all around, to lose her identity, just because she had to take care of a little baby? I wonder….
Credits:
This essay was firstly published on ELLE Greece magazine, March 2021 issue, as part of the article “Φωνές Γυναικών” .
Drawing “Radiant Milk” by Hein Koh.
"I want a wife"
I belong to that classification of people known as wives. I am A Wife. And, not altogether incidentally, I am a mother.
Not too long ago a male friend of mine appeared on the scene fresh from a recent divorce. He had one child, who is, of course, with his ex-wife. He is obviously looking for another wife. As I thought about him while I was ironing one evening, it suddenly occurred to me that I, too, would like to have a wife. Why do I want a wife?
I would like to go back to school so that I can become economically independent, support myself, and, if need be, support those dependent upon me. I want a wife who will work and send me to school. And while I am going to school I want a wife to take care of my children. I want a wife to keep track of the children’s doctor and dentist appointments. And to keep track of mine, too. I want a wife to make sure my children eat properly and are kept clean. I want a wife who will wash the children’s clothes and keep them mended. I want a wife who is a good nurturant attendant to my children, who arranges for their schooling, makes sure that they have an adequate social life with their peers, takes them to the park, the zoo, etc. I want a wife who takes care of the children when they are sick, a wife who arranges to be around when the children need special care, because, of course, I cannot miss classes at school. My wife must arrange to lose time at work and not lose the job. It may mean a small cut in my wife’s income from time to time, but I guess I can tolerate that. Needless to say, my wife will arrange and pay for the care of the children while my wife is working.
I want a wife who will take care of my physical needs. I want a wife who will keep my house clean. A wife who will pick up after me. I want a wife who will keep my clothes clean, ironed, mended, replaced when need be, and who will see to it that my personal things are kept in their proper place so that I can find what I need the minute I need it. I want a wife who cooks the meals, a wife who is a good cook. I want a wife who will plan the menus, do the necessary grocery shopping, prepare the meals, serve them pleasantly, and then do the cleaning up while I do my studying. I want a wife who will care for me when I am sick and sympathize with my pain and loss of time from school. I want a wife to go along when our family takes a vacation so that someone can continue to care for me and my children when I need a rest and change of scene.
I want a wife who will not bother me with rambling complaints about a wife’s duties. But I want a wife who will listen to me when I feel the need to explain a rather difficult point I have come across in my course of studies. And I want a wife who will type my papers for me when I have written them.
I want a wife who will take care of the details of my social life.
When my wife and I are invited out by my friends, I want a wife who will take care of the babysitting arrangements. When I meet people at school that I like and want to entertain, I want a wife who will have the house clean, will prepare a special meal, serve it to me and my friends, and not interrupt when I talk about things that interest me and my friends. I want a wife who will have arranged that the children are fed and ready for bed before my guests arrive so that the children do not bother us.
And I want a wife who knows that sometimes I need a night out by myself.
I want a wife who is sensitive to my sexual needs, a wife who makes love passionately and eagerly when I feel like it, a wife who makes sure that I am satisfied. And, of course, I want a wife who will not demand sexual attention when I am not in the mood for it. I want a wife who assumes the complete responsibility for birth control, because I do not want more children. I want a wife who will remain sexually faithful to me so that I do not have to clutter up my intellectual life with jealousies. And I want a wife who understands that my sexual needs may entail more than strict adherence to monogamy. I must, after all, be able to relate to people as fully as possible.
If, by chance, I find another person more suitable as a wife than the wife I already have, I want the liberty to replace my present wife with another one. Naturally, I will expect a fresh, new life; my wife will take the children and be solely responsible for them so that I am left free.
When I am through with school and have a job, I want my wife to quit working and remain at home so that my wife can more fully and completely take care of a wife’s duties.
My God, who wouldn’t want a wife?
A 70s feminist manifesto
The above essay was published in Μs. magazine co-founded by Gloria Steinem and Dorothy Pitman Hughes in 1971.
Judy Brady Syfers has brilliantly outlined in this short piece the labor performed at home in addition to the paid work. A labor that mostly burdens women until this very day…
*Sanitized
I was trying on giving meditation a chance the other day. It seemed like a sane thing to do during this maddening period. So I joined a facebook group Marije - one of my favorite creatures of this world - has recently created. It was a live meditation session guided by her. When asked to journal about what would make us utterly satisfied, I found myself writting down with every tiny detail what would a day at a fasfem studio would be like. I saw the colours, I smelled the air, I felt at home. Marije was impressed by the vividness of this visualisation. I was impressed!
You see deep down there, at our core, our truths hide. Our truest truths. The ones that have nothing to do with others’ expectations of us. And now that we spend so much time with ourselves more than ever, those truths finally find the crack to emerge from.
Times are unprecedently hard. Beyond every wild science fiction scenario. Because the scenario has a writer who knows how to end it. COVIT-19 pandemic story has no such thing as a creator - even though conspiracy theories keep trying to convince us otherwise - to reveal the end. All we have are the facts.
People getting infected rapidly is a fact. Number of deaths augmenting day by day is a fact. The tremendous need for social distancing is a fact. The extreme danger the elderly, the sickened and the poor of this world are facing is an absolute fact. Domestic violence increasing numbers another fact.
But a fact also is that scientists all over the world work non stop to find ways to deal with this. A fact is that clothing brands - from collosus to small businesses - create and donate tons of face masks. A fact is that our neighbours started checking up on us. We started checking up on them as well. Nature started to breathe, to be heard of even in big cities, to get clean. I mean squeky clean. Like our hands are suppose to be every time we wash them.
To be sanitized.
As if I was trying to exorcise the conspiracy theories, I came up with my own theory. Maybe this is the time to clarify. To clean up the mess. Don’t get me wrong. I am not about to overwhelm you with productivity and self - optimization tips. During such times all of these feel superficial. And futile. What I mean is that it might be the time for humanity to gain its…humanity back. We have lost so much of it along the way. We worship emptyness and vain in some people. We marginalize other people. We stick to patriarchy and all it’s abnormities. We overconsume and exploit surroundings in unsustainable ways. We keep inventing wars. Our system is rotten and feeds off its own rotten flesh. It has to change.
To be sanitized.
As ourself needs to. You can’t clean the outside when the inside of you is still infected. So give yourself the time to think. To slow down and evaluate the situation. What weighs more in the scale of your soul? How does it make you feel? What has your current way of living offered or deprived you from? It is right there inside of you. The people you adore, the one’s who uplift you, the places you wish to live, your values, your emotions, your ethics, the things you wish to create, to offer. The life you deserve to live. Pouring out of you. So pure. All you have to do is to let it rise. To get rid of the unnecessary.
To be sanitized.
Skirt. Or trousers. Feminine. Or masculine. Delicate. Or strong. Symbolism on our everyday essentials. But there should be no rules.
Oh, that piece of clothing. The skirt, you know. Which has been walking hand in hand with the feminine but for rare exceptions such as the Scottish kilt. Social codes have charged this garment with gender stereotypical use and prejudgment about the wearer’s personality.
That hasn’t always been the case. In ancient civilizations skirts were considered as a piece of clothing comfortable and appropriate enough to be worn by male and female equally. It is of important significance though to note the different attidute towards the hemline. For the female wearer skirt’s hemline has been considered a measure for modesty rather than aesthetics. The shorter the hemline the more controversial the outfit.
And trousers? Well that is a different story. In Western society it was somehow decided that trousers were masculine enough to not be acceptable for women. You see trousers have become the garment of comfort and power. Traits that a woman should have never dared to claim. The first woman who had decided to wear trousers in public - Luisa Capetillo in 1919 - was sent to jail. Virgin Atlantic female flight attendants were allowed to wear trousers earlier this year…
Men on the other hand who dare to put on a skirt? Who enjoy pastel hues or bold flowery prints? What about them? We all can recall memories of this eccentric classmate being bullied about his sartorial preferences…
But what is eccentric anyway? And who has the right to decide what is and what isn’t?
It is that antithesis between masculine and feminine imposed on trousers/skirt designs that makes it so interesting to want to wear…both. Because no matter what we were raised to believe, humans are complicated enough to have many sides. And those sides should be expressed far and beyond social stereotypes.
A person is made of particles that interact with each other and create his/ her /its unique identity. Fashion is a means of identity constraction; one can be vulnerable to or empowered by it. So please do yourself a favor and choose to wear whatever makes you feel being in your own skin. Allow your uniqueness to flourish. Our world needs it.
Pic from @lasyanebo.brand
Kardamili
What’s the sound of travelling? It seems easier somehow to think about smells, tastes, colours when recalling summer holidays…but what about the sounds?
Let me describe you the music that Kardamili brings back to my ears…A synthesis made of my daughter’s laughter while fastening her at the car seat to start the drive to Messinian Mani once again. Of lots of cicadas’ voices when arriving at our home away from home, Melitsina. And then warm welcomings and sounds of careful stepping into the stone path that leads to our room.
The first splash when diving at Ritsa beach crystal waters; the undrewater peace afterwards. The clinking of cutlery while eating at Elies restaurant delicious, homemade, perfect food. The sound of waves when walking by the shore to enjoy the sunset and of playground chains as I swing my Nike back and forth. The air breeze as wandering inside the Leigh Fermor house. Those walls create their own music full of stories and bird songs to eavesdrop.
And then there is the night sound. Soft jazz while enjoying a glass of excellent wine at Plastiras with chuckles and giggles on the background. Barking from dogs while strolling around Ag. Nikolaos fishermans’ village. My daughter’s laughter again when chasing them! The stillness after she is put to sleep and we get to enjoy another glass of wine on our porch listening to night birds and falling stars…yes they do make a magical sound, I swear they do!
Kardamili was my first vacation with my baby girl, our first trip as a family, a summerwater love song.
Have a wonderful and rejuvenating August!
Blood
Fridays are for pleasure. I’ve managed to secure this for myself. I don’t feel guilty to devote some of my time to what I cherish most about work. My site and my writings; my photography and inspirational readings; my reasearch around style and female empowerment. Mood is at its best on Fridays.
But this Friday morning I cried hard. I was late in my period. Eventually blood found its way out of my body. Am I sad because I’m not pregnant? No…I am sad because I feel so bloody relieved not to be. At the age of 42, being healthy and accidentally pregnant should count as a blessing not as a curse! But not for me. I was terrified of the prospect of having another baby…And - don’t get me wrong - I love babies. I adore my daughter. But I despise money and time shortage and low back pain that comes with it!
You see, I am not privileged enough to be able to quit working for as long as I need to. There is no such thing like paid maternity leave in my profession. If I do quit working, we are going to be so short in our income it will suffocate us. Nike doesn’t deserve this. My husband and I either. Moreover, I wouldn’t have time to work on my fasfem projects. And my spine is quite as sensitive as it is…
Our societal norms expect women to create and expand families without providing them the tools to survive. We are trying to balance work, housework and family emotional labour while being pregnant. A true juggling act. As a result our bodies ache and our minds get blur. Our identity gets lost somewhere between the constant demand. Sometimes even our sanity….This has got to change.
So here I am feeling relieved and - after putting these thoughts down in paper - not so guilty anymore. And calm. And would like to be hopeful that soon the day will come that all the above won’t be an issue anymore. That the ones who give birth to this world will be treated as the complicated and magnificent creatures they are. Not as reproductive machines who need to quit most parts of their identity in order to support a family.
I intend to work for it.
Would you care to join me?
Sharing your thoughts below could be a good start…
* pic by @brunomarcal