I’m pretty familiar with the concept of feeling like you’re not as good as someone for reasons that you can’t control – whether it’s age, gender, appearance, or really anything, it’s one of the worst feelings to have. This is who you are, and someone isn’t letting you embrace that. That, right there, is painful. A pain, that when pointed out, nobody seems to care. I’m not over-reacting, and he probably wasn’t just joking. I’m a young female, and that seems to make people think less of my character sometimes. Teenage girls can be fetishized, stereotyped, and thought of as the same as every other young female in the world.
When I talk openly about my immense struggle with depression and anxiety, some people like to blame that on the fact that I’m a teenage girl. People tell me that I “don’t understand those feelings yet”, that I “can’t have those feelings yet”. Please, don’t tell me that I’m just hormonal. Please, don’t whisper amongst yourselves that this is “just how girls my age are”. Because trust me, I can hear you.
No – I’m a young, female, human with human emotions. I should be able to say what I want to. To dress how I want to. To present an image of myself that I want to present – without other people paying that much attention to it – but here we are.
It’s my life, and I should be able to live it without having to think about my appearance distracting the boys in my classroom. These are my thoughts, and I should be able to speak them without somebody telling me that I’m too sensitive. I don’t speak about my mental health issues because I think it sounds cool – I do it because it’s important. It’s important for other young women (anyone, honestly) to know that their mental health isn’t a joke, and that it isn’t able to be stereotyped.
That’s what I want to be for the new generation of feminists. I want my music to crush the whole “sensitive teenage girl” stereotype, because some of are just depressed. Some of us are anxious. Some of us can’t handle another man telling us to calm down – and who wouldn’t be tired of constantly being told to be quiet?
I don’t care if the way I look distracts you. I don’t care if my words are too open for you, because this is who I am. I’ve been told that my songs are too sad, that I’m too sad. I just write what I feel.
Dress how you want to. Say what you want to. At the end of the day, it’s you. Your mind. Your life. No one could ever change that – no matter how many times they tell you that you’re just being a teenage girl. Feminism is important. Knowing that being a feminist doesn’t make you sensitive or dramatic is important. Knowing that there is nothing wrong with being sensitive or dramatic is important. The new generation is important.
Find me at: http://www.instagram.com/cloewilder
