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