Queenie

by Candice Carty-Williams

Is this what growing into an adult woman is—having to predict and accordingly arrange for the avoidance of sexual harassment?

I mean – is it? It’s a question me and my female friends still ask of society. I personally think it’s a huge part of being a woman, or even being a girl. I remember first being aware that my body was an ‘issue’ for men around me when I was around seven. I was told that I should cover up around a male family member, and I remember being completely baffled as to why. As I got older, this got worse, more frequent. Plus, paired with blame culture, it became clear when I hit my teens that simply existing in a woman’s body was political, was up for question, was up for debate. Adding to that being in a hypersexualized black woman’s body. In essence, Queenie is constantly asking all of the questions that we as women are always asking.