22 Things Women Should Be Required To Do
Work on being compassionate towards other women who have lived different lives than you and have made different choices.
1. Learn that there is absolutely nothing wrong with being a “girl’s girl,” and in fact it’s a wonderful thing, and there is no pride to be taken in “not getting along with girls.”
2. Stop brushing off your entire gender by labeling women as “catty bitches.”
3. Stop projecting your personal preferences when it comes to sexuality and femininity onto other women who are not even remotely interested in buying into it.
4. Accept that a woman can fit a perfect description of what society wants them to look like or do, without somehow “betraying” themselves or women as a whole.
5. Appreciate that we all have our own ideas of happiness and success, and sometimes that looks like something out of the ’50s.
6. Stop reinforcing the kinds of names men will call us by calling other women the same thing.
7. Reject the idea that you should prove yourself a desirable woman by deliberately distancing yourself from other women and reinforcing how you are “not like other girls.”
8. Accept that no one could ever even paint a clear picture of what “other girls” are like.
9. Stop holding your fellow women to different standards of sexual expression or personal style than you would men.
10. Learn about your own body so that you can be more cognizant of how to take care of it and demand that it be treated well.
11. Learn about all of the various options of contraception and reproductive health, so that you will always be informed, no matter where you are in the world or what situation you find yourself in.
12. Accept that rape culture is a thing, and that you can possibly be complicit in it yourself, even if it has never personally affected you.
13. Work on being compassionate towards other women who have lived different lives than you and have made different choices.
14. Understand that the kinds of things that interest you don’t necessarily have to interest the rest of women in general, because there is no “women’s interest” or “women’s entertainment.”
15. Have expectations for other women to be humans, and not some perfect, idealized SuperLady.
16. Learn how to respect all women’s bodies and bodily autonomy, even if you disagree with her choices.
17. Reject the idea that there is such a thing as a “good woman” and a “bad woman” based on her sexuality.
18. Know that not every woman is going to want to get married or have kids, and that this is perfectly fine, and it is not your job to change her mind about it or tell her that she’ll come around.
19. Accept that each woman knows herself and her own boundaries best, and you shouldn’t be trying to correct her on them.
20. Learn that every woman deserves respect — trans women, sex workers, women who don’t fit your description of “feminine” included.
21. Stop looking down on things which in no way affect you.
22. Stop telling other women what to do. (Including this, so reject this whole list if you are so inclined. It won’t bother me.) 