Thread by @monaeltahawy

#ThisIs54

📷 @rerutled

At a time when it seems that every time I look away, my body has changed, I post #ThisIs54 to say “Here is a middle aged woman. Look."

feministgiant.com/p/essay-my-des…

For too long, I had been told I “didn’t look” whatever age that I was. It was said to me as if it were a compliment. It was not. It was instead the loathing of aging that we are socialized into.

And so I post my picture to say #ThisIs54 📷 @rerutled

Not for all the money in the world would I go back to being younger. My 20s without exception and at least half of my 30s were miserable because I felt I had no power.

And now here I am, with more power, being told I “didn’t look” this age I feel I’ve finally earned. #ThisIs54

I have walked towards my desire by claiming my age.

To desire and to be desired is political. How we fuck and who we fuck is political.

I could not say I stand in the power of my age, until I insisted I be seen in my age, as I was. feministgiant.com/p/essay-my-des… #ThisIs54

As Muriel Rukeyser wrote in her poem Käthe Kollwitz:

"What would happen if one woman told the truth about

her life?

The world would split open"

Let us split the world open. #ThisIs54 feministgiant.com