"I love being a girl.
I can feel what you’re feeling, as you’re feeling, your feeling, inside the feeling before.
I am an emotional creature. Things do not come to me as intellectual theories or hard pressed ideas, they pulse through my legs and my organs and burn up my ears. Oh I know when your girlfriend's really pissed off, even though she appears to give you what you want. I know when a storm is coming, I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air. I can tell you he won’t call back - it’s a vibe I share.
I am an emotional creature and I love that I do not take things lightly, everything is intense to me. The way I walk in the street, the way my momma wakes me up, the way it’s unbearable when I loose, the way I hear bad news. I am an emotional creature! I am connected to everyone and everything I was born like that. Don’t you say all negative that it’s only a teenage things or it’s only because I’m a girl. These feelings make me better they make me present, they make me ready, they make me strong. I am an emotional creature!
There’s a particular way of knowing it’s like older women somehow forgot. I rejoice that it’s still in my body - oh I know when the coconut’s about to fall. I know we have pushed the earth too far. I know my father isn’t coming back, and that no one’s prepared for the fire. I know that lipstick means more than show and that boys are insecure and so-called terrorists are made, not born. I know that one kiss could take away all my decision making ability. And you know what?
Sometimes, it should.
This is not extreme ‘it’s a girl thing’ - it’s what we would all be if the big door inside us flew open. Don’t tell me not to cry or to calm down not to be so extreme to be reasonable! I am an emotional creature - it’s how the earth got made, how the wind continues to pollinate. You don’t tell the Atlantic Ocean to behave.
I am an emotional creature, why would you want to shut me down or turn me off? I am your remaining memory. I can take you back; nothings been diluted, nothings leaked out. I love -hear me, I love- that I can feel the feelings inside you.
Even if they stop my life.
Even if they break my heart.
Even if they take me off track, they make me responsible. I am an emotion - an emotional, unconditional, devotional creature. And I love - hear me - I love, love, love being a girl.”
- Eve Ensler (via TED talks)
You would be surprised how many men and women I encounter who scoff at the idea of feminism, who think that we're all squared away, that things are fine. I don't know if it's taking things "too seriously" as is often accused - maybe it's just noticing things people would ordinarily walk by, or accept. In any case, Eve is a fantastic speaker and this is my favourite monologue by her.
