Angsty moms and gaslit girls
a list of encouragements curated to your insecurities
Last year, I began to find myself—completely by accident—writing about women. Even more astonishingly, people seemed interested in what I had to say.
“Why did I write them?” I wondered. “And why do people like them?” As my mom said after reading the comments on “Men’s Jeans Don’t Fit Feminine Curves,” “I don’t get it. What’s the big fuss?”
The answer I came to was that it’s just the times we’re in. “Gender trouble” goes beyond Culture War talking points. It’s something people grapple with in everyday life. From what I’ve observed, it seems like every choice a woman makes—from when (and if) she marries to how she cuts her hair—is always controversial, making it easy to become mired in a perpetual early-mid-late life crisis.
I don’t want to get stuck in perpetual crisis. I want to build my life to last. I wrote these essays in that spirit. So, if you sympathize with any of these “character descriptions,” please do check out the piece and let me know what you think.
A Curated List
For the young mom who’s taken a self-esteem hit from putting her career on pause to raise her kids.
For the agreeable woman who’s felt unsafe but struggles to articulate why. If you’ve been gaslit for insisting on personal boundaries, I hope this helps you stand up for yourself.
For the easily-radicalized Christian—anyone tempted to react to leftist chaos with tyrannical legalism (in this case, where the men are tyrannical and the women bear all the consequences).
For the weird, Christian mom, especially with 4+ kids, who feels othered for her life choices.
On Trans(_)ism
For the body-dysmorphic girl who, for any reason, finds it difficult to live in a female body.
For anyone worried about the birthrate crisis but also creeped out by Elon Musk’s pro-natalist movement.
For the woman of conflicting ambitions, who struggles to reconcile a desire to nurture her children with a desire to do excellent paid work.
For the Christian woman who wants to be able to say with confidence: "Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through Jesus Christ!"
And finally, here are some women I’ve been reading/listening to in the last year on the topic of female embodiment:
the various writers at Fairer Disputations
Next week, I’ll be posting an essay in response to C.E. Erickson’s poem, which I encourage you to read if you missed it last week.
I just want to say I truly loved that piece (the jeans one)! I believe it is how I found your writing! This is a great round up and I will be sharing.
Thank you for the mention as well and I am honored to be in such good company in exploring this topic, you included!
Glad to be in the trenches with you trying to write about womanhood/motherhood. It’s so fraught, yet so in the zeitgeist (and therefore needed!). Thanks for the mention; what a list to be included on!🙏🏼
Also your mom’s comment made me lol. Love how our family members can bring us back down to earth real quick😂