Our world makes sure we know that girls don’t get to have things, that we must confine ourselves to the roles pushed on us from outside, with labels like polite, subservient, and compliant. We’re judged by how feminine we are, ridiculed for that same femininity (or lack of it), and have our ideas and insights minimized or credited to men. Do we look right (are we slender, conventionally pretty, white)? Do we sound right (are we soft-spoken)? Do we apologize for existing and retreat when challenged (because only difficult people take up space)? It’s so much easier just to follow the path
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