A video, entitled “Be A Lady, They Said”, has been posted on social media by Girls. Girls. Girls. Magazine. And it’s gone viral, for good reason.
It features Cynthia Nixon (of Sex And The City) reading a piece of writing that was originally published in 2017 by Camille Rainville, a 22 year-old undergraduate student at the University of Vermont. After penning this powerful piece on the dichotomies of women, she shared it with close friends on her personal Facebook page, after which the post began to travel through social media circles anonymously. Now you can find it on her personal blog site, Writings Of A Furious Woman.
Camille says of her blog
“I hope to continue to channel my myriad of feelings [sic] through this medium in the future. My pen and paper serve as a form of therapy for my often serpentine mind. My thoughts are certainly not an expansive reflection of every individual’s experience and can only encompass my own experiences as a woman…” And yet, her words seem to resonate, in some way, with us all.
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Be A Lady, They Said: first two paragraphs
Be a lady they said. Your skirt is too short. Your shirt is too low. Your pants are too tight. Don’t show so much skin. Don’t show your thighs. Don’t show your breasts. Don’t show your midriff. Don’t show your cleavage. Don’t show your underwear. Don’t show your shoulders. Cover up. Leave something to the imagination. Dress modestly. Don’t be a temptress. Men can’t control themselves. Men have needs. You look frumpy. Loosen up. Show some skin. Look sexy. Look hot. Don’t be so provocative. You’re asking for it. Wear black. Wear heels. You’re too dressed up. You’re too dressed down. Don’t wear those sweatpants; you look like you’ve let yourself go.
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Be a lady they said. Don’t be too fat. Don’t be too thin. Don’t be too large. Don’t be too small. Eat up. Slim down. Stop eating so much. Don’t eat too fast. Order a salad. Don’t eat carbs. Skip dessert. You need to lose weight. Fit into that dress. Go on a diet. Watch what you eat. Eat celery. Chew gum. Drink lots of water. You have to fit into those jeans. God, you look like a skeleton. Why don’t you just eat? You look emaciated. You look sick. Eat a burger. Men like women with some meat on their bones. Be small. Be light. Be little. Be petite. Be feminine. Be a size zero. Be a double zero. Be nothing. Be less than nothing.