Member-only story
Identity
What Does Your Profile Picture Say About You?
I’ll tell you about mine
Growing up on the Canadian prairies, farm life and farm culture was conservative (still is).
What do I mean by conservative? I mean the men ruled the roost. The women were servants. The news and media were geared towards production, money, and kingdom.
Perhaps when I say conservative, what I really mean is patriarchy.
It was a meat and potatoes kind of life. I had no idea what an avocado was, let alone sushi.
It was also a meritocratic world: Working hard meant you were worthy. Working hard meant you could earn your time to play hard. Working hard meant working like a man.
So that’s what I did. I worked like a man. So much so that I got a reputation of being one of the hardest workers around.
“Oh that Lisa? Oh man, can she work! She doesn’t whine, never complains, ain’t afraid of getting dirty. If you can hire her — do it, you won’t regret it.”
Yup. That was me. I’d work 16–20 hour days. I’d make it my mandate to outwork anyone who owned a penis. I became one of the boys. I rejected all things feminine (even my body rejected menstruation and growing breasts which I now have a healthy dose of each).
