Internalized Misogyny and Me

When I was much younger, I mistook glorifying my more masculine traits for feminism.

It started as young as five or six when I asked Santa for a tool box “with real tools” for Christmas. The 1980s era department store Santa was taken aback and asked if I was sure I didn’t want a doll. I thought for a moment and said “maybe a Mr. Mouth game and some books, too...but don’t forget my toolbox!” The Santa laughed, called me an unusual girl and posed for the picture.

The story didn’t end there.

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Birth Control and Beyond... Teaching girls about different uses for hormonal birth control.

I was sixteen the first time my mother mentioned menstruation to me. She was concerned because she had assumed I hadn’t had a period yet. My first period came just shy of my thirteenth birthday and I had taken money from the household change jar to buy supplies at the local 7-Eleven. She was sad that I hadn’t come to her, but I wasn’t capable of starting that conversation as a twelve-year-old.

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