Modern Women: November Writing Prompts
Your monthly invitation to delve a little deeper.
October, the month of the wild woman, the wise woman and the hag. Wherever you are in the world and whatever you’re personal background, the imagery of witches can bring up a lot. As does the natural world shedding all that it no longer needs. Both can be catalysts to view our own experiences of femininity and the expectations placed on women.
I knew when I offered you the theme of labels that you would delve deeply into feminism, our collective daily experiences and how those have shifted over the years and within your own lives. I expected you to share with the community how you’ve been shaped by those labels, and how you have discarded them like itchy clothes which no longer fit, or to be honest, never fit in the first place but where gifted to you and you were still the ‘good girl’ and didn’t want to refuse them.
What I hoped for though were the stories of relabelling yourselves deliberately, of taking back the autonomy and power in some of the words used about us and shaping them in your own image. You did that and so much more.
It has been a powerful month of poetry, fiction, articles and essays, and I have found myself impacted by your words in ways I am genuinely grateful for.