Dear Little Ones: How to Thrive in a World that Fears Strong Women
A Grandmother’s Guide to Resilience, Love, and Fierce Femininity
To My Beautiful Granddaughters,
Hi, it’s me, Grammy Hansen. You are all still very young, and I am worried for you. But you are yet unaware of what is on the horizon for you. I long to gather you up in my arms and shield you from a world that seems hell-bent on killing your spirit, your joy, your very humanity. I fear that the darkest parts of mankind will feel even more emboldened now to treat you like a commodity, expendable to their needs.
You might be growing up in a world that wants to snuff you out for good, one that hates you just because you are feminine. Embodying the feminine, it dials up immense fear in those who are insecure, for it reveals how weak their bravado and machismo are.
You see, patriarchy, a system built on suppressing the feminine, fears us, believing strength lies only in muscles, power, and glory. It loathes vulnerability, fears love, and oppresses and mocks anything it does not understand.
You, as a young girl on a journey to womanhood, embody everything that patriarchy hates, instilling paranoia in those who heed its siren call. But fear not, little one, your grandma has been through this before…
