Girl Power

I’d like to start off this post by stating the obvious: yes, I HAVE done a “Girl Power” blog post before and it’s actually my most popular post on my whole blog. But now that I have a podcast, I would like to make an episode based on my blog post. But I decided to kind of reconstruct my old post and make THIS one. I’ll still keep up the old post (You can find it HERE) and you can read the cool quotes from cool people including a top model, an artist, and a female-led website. For this post, I wanted to express the feelings and emotions of women who come from different backgrounds and have different life stories. To see what women think about BEING a woman. I had one

restriction for the questions I asked: the answers had to be positive. I don’t want this to be a man-hating post, I want this post to be UPLIFTING for females. For girls who want to read about girls who empower each other. 

So now, to start this off, I asked “who do you look up to? It can be anyone, even if we don’t know them!” Here are some answers:

Emily: “I look up to all of my amazing friends who are women and some awesome women who are or have been in the show Wicked because they are all very strong and wonderful and they tell a story of empowered women through the show."

Robyn: “In terms of famous people, I really look up to Emma Watson and Michelle Obama. Both home themselves in such a regal way and speak about issues facing women in such an intelligent and logical way that it gives such good examples of feminism. On social media, I follow pantsuit nation (more political but very girl power), and girls love travel which is an amazing group which is all about support of other women and their journeys of self discovery or just discovery.

 As far as women in my actual life I have to say my grandmothers. My mom's mom (who recently passed away) raised 4 children while pursuing her masters in education and working as a teacher. She was both strong and kind and I'm honored to have known her. My dad's mom is a scientist like me and is honestly kind of a badass. She eloped with my biological grandfather because their families didn't approve and after she had children, and he passed away, in her 50's she lived in the dorms while she went back to college. She challenged what it meant to be a woman by working in the sciences and not letting age determine who or what she could be. Both women traveled the world and it made them understanding and compassionate towards people of all backgrounds”

I then asked: “What does being a woman mean to you in our society these days?”

Emily: “Though it can still be scary sometimes, I think being a woman in society now has become something much more positive because we have so much more support and the social constructs are starting to shift. Being a strong woman is not a bad thing, and this is so, so important for society to understand”

Robyn: “Being a woman these days means not sitting quietly anymore. It doesn't mean being mean or talking down to anyone else. It doesn't mean hating men, but it does mean not saying thank you when someone makes a comment that makes you uncomfortable. It means pointing out things that are sexist and that it's not okay. It means fighting for what you want and who you want to be and that it shouldn't matter whether you are a man or a woman. Honestly being a woman these days means working towards there being a day when there is no difference between being a man and a woman in society”

A new question I thought of was “How can someone (or how do YOU) show compassion with other women?” I was excited to see these answers because it shows how we can be nice and support each other!

Emily: “I think something women can do to show compassion to other women is simply be supportive of your friends and any other women you encounter. Believe women, give them support, show them they're important and that what they think and do matters.”

Robyn: “I show compassion by being supportive. One of the biggest issues with women finding their voice is that they feel that no one will listen or that what they say doesn't matter but by just being there or listening or giving words of encouragement, you can lift someone to a place where they think they can make a difference and once they think that, they are much likely to actually be able to.”

On Instagram, I put this question on my Insta Story: “What do you love about being a woman?”

Mel: “I love that, as a woman, I can experience and express every emotion. I love that I can dress

feminine or masculine and no one would question my sexuality.”

My go-to question is always: “What does being a strong woman mean to you?”

Jen: “It means being independent on my own, financially and emotionally.”

Mel: “I think the most remarkable thing about women is that we do so many things—work, school, manage families, hold relationships together, take care of people, etc—and the amount of stuff we deal with would cripple most. But we do whatever we need to stay afloat and keep going. We are fighters. Every single woman I have ever met has had a million things going on, and they push through every challenge and keep going to better themselves and/or their family.”

Katie: "Standing up for yourself. Taking no crap but also being empathetic and caring at times."

Helene: "Getting back up, time after time!"

I decided to ask a fun question, too: What’s your favorite girl power songs(s)?

Emily: “Honestly, Defying Gravity from Wicked is a song that I feel very empowered by. And Girl Almighty by One Direction of course”

Now for our “special guest” on this post, I decided to ask artist and coolest babe ever, Sophie Brampton. I was so giddy when she responded to my questions because I’m just a stranger with a lil’ old blog who loves her art. I went right in and asked her two questions, (1) who do you look up to and (2) what do you love about being a strong

woman?

(1) Sophie: “I'm inspired by women who stand up against the norm and aren't afraid to make their beliefs known! Some strong woman that I'm inspired by include Florence Given, Munroe Bergdorf, Deborah White (the guilty feminist), Chidera (@theslumflower) and my mum and grans !!”

(2) Sophie: “I love that I have become someone that is open to learning about different views and experiences and that I stand up for my views on”

 (YOU CAN FOLLOW THIS WONDERFUL LADY NAMED SOPHIE ON INSTAGRAM, JUST CLICK here ! YOU CAN ALSO VISIT HER WEBSITE  here )

I'd like to thank every woman who took time to answer these questions. I appreciate you all to no end.