You’re listening to another episode of the Miss Amanda Chen Show. Everywhere I look today, there is a push for women empowerment. I used to think empowerment only meant strength. And that strength was a result of resilience. And that resilience could only be respectfully achieved by suffering through all the shit and coming up on top. It validated the pain. And it also normalized it. Making the pain something all of us women endured as part of womanhood.
This year, we have all had to build resilience. We have uniquely shared the experience of a global pandemic. And that made me think about strength differently.We’ve all heard the story that not all men are trash, and yet, almost all of us women have experienced trash men. That means all women have allowed trash men to plague the world.
With experience, with endurance, with tolerance, we have granted permission for this type of behaviour to continue. And what’s worse is we have used this terrible experience as a way to come together. Discussing the poor behaviour of men has been a toolbar us to add salt to the wound.
My problem is there is a gate with women movements. The fact that you’ve got to be one in order to participate. And that means you’ve got to be one that has suffered through some shit in order to feel compelled to want to impact change. With that mentality, every woman on earth will have to suffer an injustice in order for feminism to succeed. And now that I think about it, fuck, we’re pretty damn close to that.
The theme of International Women’s Day 2021 is Choose To Challenge.
And with challenge comes change. This year I did something different. Rather than showcasing strong, badass women, I have been sharing male vulnerability. I have been partnering with mens mental health resources, like Tethr, apps that I literally can’t participate in.And in sharing these stories, I now have the opportunity to penetrate the minds of men, to allow space for a unique role as a woman in their lives, and that is a newfound strength I never knew I could achieve.
Today I challenge us to rethink how we define what strength is, and which aspects of our shared experience as women we value over others.
Change begins when we welcome the challenge. Seek to understand, not just for what it can do for you, but for how it an help the larger conversations we are trying to have. Happy International Women’s Day!