Excerpts from The Meltdown of the Phantom Snowflakes by Laurie Penny

I highly recommend you read the rest of the article, because it’s super worth it, and follow Laurie Penny on twitter (@pennyred). She’s written lots of things I really really really appreciate. Can give you recs if you want. Captioned below.

excerpts from The Meltdown of the Phantom Snowflake, by Laurie Penny:

*[snowflake]

“Are you a strong woman?”

[illustration of 3 male journalists staring out of the screen]

[illustration of a woman looking down to the side, uncertain. there are snowflakes around her.]

I’m small, sensitive, prone to anxious overthinking

[illustration of same woman looking out of the screen, a snowflake on her jacket]

moved to anger, I’m far more likely to cry than throw a punch

*[snowflake]

to demand “strength” from an oppressed person is to excuse their oppression

to label them weak for voicing anything that looks like dissent

[illustration of the faces of 3 different women, each looking our of the screen and each sad.]

if they cry out for justice they are crybabies

*[snowflake]

[black background, snowflakes falling to white hills, with the following words]

millions of snowflakes together can make an avalanche

a hurricane

a killing frost

[end black background]

make me brave

i don’t care about strong.

*[snowflake]

illustrated by Sylvia Morris