Women don’t owe you pretty – it is the title of a book by Florence Given, one I highly recommend to ease you into some fundamentally feminist thought. It is something that you perhaps think you know, but you must learn to embody it as well. No one owes anyone pretty – we are humans, not shiny objects to look at. Celebrate every part of your vessel, it is the very thing carrying you through life. I wrote this poem ‘ugly woman’ shortly before turning thirty. I had been most painfully reminded that many men feel entitled to your body, and what they believe to be beauty, and that they somehow have a ‘right’ to demand your body doesn’t change throughout time – or at least as little as humanly possible. It opened my eyes to who they really are… and how they see me.
FictionbyJo 