Girl Crush: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Queen B, you’re absolutely flawless, we totally get that. But I’m not writing this post to state the obvious. I’m here to give some love to my new girl crush Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie- who wrote the crazy powerful speech you hear in the middle of the song. 

The speech comes from the essay ‘We Should All Be Feminists’ and though I haven’t read it yet (priority on my to-read list), I have read two other books of her’s ‘Half of a Yellow Sun’ and ‘Americanah’. 

I literally  binged these books. The first book being about Nigeria before, during and after the Nigerian  Civil War and the second about young Nigerians who had moved abroad. Ok, yes-sounds a bit heavy if you’re looking for novels to bring on your next vacation, but if you want true, fearless written books that will leave you more aware of the world, then look no further…

We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller

We say to girls: “You can have ambition, but not too much

You should aim to be successful, but not too successful

Otherwise, you will threaten the man”

Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage

I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is most important

Now, marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support

But why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same?

We raise girls to see each other as competitors

Not for jobs or for accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing

But for the attention of men

We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are

Feminist: a person who believes in the social

Political, and economic equality of the sexes