The Cows

by Dawn O'Porter

Society encourages us all to get, and feel, beautiful. But the minute someone admits to enjoying their own appearance, we think they’ve taken it all a bit too far. But don’t be angry with me for saying I like the way I look. I’m not saying I think I’m perfect, better than anyone else or desirable to all mankind, I’m just saying that body image isn’t something that gets me down. I’ve got plenty of issues, but the way I look isn’t one of them. I can’t be the only one who feels this way.

So go for it, post your feelings online. Even if no one reads it now, there is a little piece of you out there that will last forever, it’s kinda magical!

Say when things are wrong, speak up when you are put down, take control of your own destiny.

I think we’ve got feminism to this place where there is too much talking and not enough action.

If you don’t fight your own corner, you can’t fight anyone else’s.

Be who you want to be, get what you want, and the position of women in the world will change. By helping ourselves we help others. It’s true. If you all went to work tomorrow and told your boss what you want, the pay gap would start to close. And so on and so on. As an individual, you can change the world; why wait for someone else to try to change it for you?

If someone is overpowering you and stopping you getting to where you want to be, then STOP letting them do it. If someone is objectifying you for your sexuality, STOP allowing yourself to be objectified. If someone is stopping you get what you want, tell them. If they still get in your way, move on.

‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’.

Don’t apologise for who you are, and don’t take shit. Don’t be a victim. Feminism needs you to step up. Get what you want. Just go out there, and take it.

Many women don’t choose childlessness, and it’s for them that I want to be a beacon of positivity on the matter. For them there will be grief, of course, such sadness for the thing they always wanted that they might not ever have. But I want those people to know that if they don’t have kids, their lives don’t have to be empty. There are a million ways to be happy, so don’t give mothers a hard time for spreading joy. Just find a way to be as happy yourself.

Keep your eye out for a way to spin this in a way that works for you.