”I have lost count of the number of times men, both older and younger than me, have told me that I look young. They act like it’s a compliment, but it is so not a compliment. Women are meant to be flattered by being told we look young because, for a woman, looks are the most important thing, and youth is the best look of all. But in informing me that I look youthful, or that I don’t understand because I’m too naïve, or asking me if I’m a student when I am clearly a tenured lecturer, these men strip from me more than a decade of professional experience and expertise. The so-called compliment is, in fact, an instant demotion.”
© 2018 Emilie Pine, Notes to self.
Tag: Emilie Pine
Pointless judgements
”When I look at women—whether they’re dancing naked onstage, or they’re in a magazine wearing a bikini—I do not really care if they are smooth or hairy. I do not care about their bodies and what they do with them. I do not care if they think hair is unsightly or unsexy. Because I am not really judging them, I am judging myself. I judge myself for not sufficiently grooming my pubic hair. I judge myself for not shaving my legs as often as I could. I judge myself for not shaving my underarms at all. I judge myself all the time. And this constant act of judgment is the most pointless thing I have ever done.”
© 2018 Emilie Pine, Notes to self.
Bleeding
“Famously, the trick to good writing is bleeding onto the page.“
© 2018 Emilie Pine, Notes to self.
Eye contact
”We rarely make eye contact for the fear of tears we’ll see.”
© 2018 Emilie Pine, Notes to self.
Mother Nature
”The one person I confide in is the GP, until she starts talking about “Mother Nature” and how I need to “let nature take its course.” This seems inestimably stupid to me and I retort that no one thinks it’s a good idea to let nature take its course when someone has cancer.”
© 2018 Emilie Pine, Notes to self.
Done
”I am done living and writing that story. This is the moment that we get to look around, find our own balance, and enjoy the view from where we are.”
© 2018 Emilie Pine, Notes to self.
How I feel at (almost) forty years.
Writer's Debris 