Stereotypes say that women are supposed to be hypersensitive, always crying about something stupid, or fighting with people over the pettiest of things. Stereotypes say that men are supposed to be emotionless and that they are supposed to spend their days talking about cars and video games and women. Society says that we are supposed to be this way. But I have never been one to believe society has the right to tell me who I’m supposed to be, and neither should you.
Society says that as a woman, I am supposed to be extremely emotional and everyone in my life is supposed to know how I feel with a single glance in my direction. But I’m not like that, and I never have been. I have never worn my heart on my sleeve. I don’t cry in public, I don’t ask for help, and I under no circumstance allow my emotions to takeover and make me say something I will regret. I let that happen once, and I’ll never do it again. Society says that makes me heartless.
Society says that as a woman, I am supposed to be fragile, easily brought to my knees by the smallest of things. But, I’m not like that, and I never have been. I fight to maintain my composure through everything that I am faced with and process my emotions in private. I refuse to rely on anyone, because I never want the people I love to feel used. The people in my life are here for one reason and one reason only. They are here because I want them here. I have never needed them, never needed one, because I never had that as a choice.
Society says that as a woman, I am expected to check certain boxes and fit into a pre-carved square hole. But in expecting this of me, society has assumed that I am nothing more than a woman, and I am so much more than that.
I am more than they think I am and I am more than they give me credit for. I am me and there is not another like me in the entire world. I sleep while the sun is high in the sky, and keep pace with grown men while I work. I write an average of 10-pages a day, by hand, with a wooden pencil and paper. I fight for what I believe in, and I push myself to achieve things that no one expects me to be capable of.
I do these things, not in spite of being a woman, but because I am a woman. I do these things because I am not society’s stereotype. Because I am a fighter, a writer, a believer, a lover, a thinker and someone who believes that the world is mine for the taking.
Society says that as a woman, there are certain expectations I should meet and unspoken standard of behavior I am to adhere to. But, society never asked me what or who I wanted to be. And I’m not the only one. Men are scolded and teased for any and all behaviors outside of the expected norm. And we, as women, spend an incredible amount of time contorting ourselves for the sake of fitting into society’s square hole, when we should be changing the holes to fit our unique shapes.
Stereotypes have been around for decades, but I think that it’s time to challenge them because we are women, and we don’t have to fit into them.
