TANYA STEPHENS GO INA DI STUDIO PLEASE

Tanya Stephens
9 hrs ·
I’ve been described as a ‘feminist’, ‘women’s rights activist’, more recently ‘women’s advicate’. I’ve never asked to be labeled any of those things. In fact, I hate labels. I ally with whom I share a goal or goals. The only label I’ve ever taken on is ‘Soldier in the Tambourine Army’, and that one I will wear to my grave. Only I know the significance of the existence of that group to my psyche.
My reluctance to wear any label comes first from the vast expanse that is my personality…no exclusive group can TRULY represent my inclusive personality.
Secondly, when you enter a group you inadvertently inherit whatever stigma is attached to the group via its members and likewise they inherit yours. I’m not keen on having to adjust anything in my reality to protect others. I’m a loner. Ask my closest friends how often they see me.
The biggest reason I avoid tagging myself as a proud member of any publicly active minority is the tendency of minorities to need heroes.
There is no shortage of good people doing hard work for the benefit of the collective, but for reasons I have yet to discover, the humans are disinclined to acknowledge those heroes. Everyone’s attention is fixed on the hype of P.R. and marketing, and although MOST people complain that they’ve had enough of the superficial and want something real ALL run screaming when it’s time to act on their words. People cling to the most visible and vocal person in their social groups even if the visibility ONLY comes from self promotion and the vocals howl in discord.
Am I a feminist? If I need to belong to a group of conformists then hell no. I’m not interested in trading men’s chains for women’s chains.
Do I live every moment of my life consciously projecting the progress of my gender to the best of my understanding? Yes. With each phase of life I enter I bring the experiences and wisdom gained from my past…ALL of my past.
Every human is a hero. We are our own heroes. We all make it through situations others would have run from. We create even as we are created and are our own masterpieces. If we find a group of like minded individuals to travel with it’s beautiful because humans ARE social creatures…but if we don’t we should know that in our lives we are king, and our OWN company is just as beautiful. We need no approval, no validation, and only if we neglect to build monuments will we ever have an expiration. In building monuments honesty is key, and anything built without it will crumble under scrutiny. This is the trouble with the monuments many feminists try to build. Do you know what the males have over us? They are more honest when it comes to praise. A man will say “Is a good mechanic but him is a bloodclaat thief!” While a woman will likely recommend someone worse than herself keeping the bar low enough to facilitate her own eventual undeserving ascent.
I’m not a feminist. If you must call me by something other than my name let it be humanist. I favor no group and I have no ambition to be anything but unquestionably good at whatever I undertake and honest in all my representations. I will not adjust any part of my personality to accommodate others’ lies and delusions. Most importantly I WILL NOT sit quietly while you try to customise a halo to wrap around the horns of a devil I recognize. I will not allow jellyfish to condemn my spine!
Keep seeking your heroes while I keep tending the truth. And no, not MY truth…THE truth.
Peace.