(WOMENSENEWS)— Every month as part of the Rising Voices Fellowship, I’m asked to write a blog post on an assigned topic. I’ve written about dress codes, education and fashion.
And every month I’ve had the same debate: Should I share my monthly blog posts on Facebook? While this task may just seem like a matter of clicking a button, it was more to me. Sharing my blog posts on Facebook meant all these people who actually knew me would be reading my thoughts, not just people who were essentially strangers to me on the Jewish Women’s Archive’s website. I’m still not sure why this scared me so much. I guess it felt intrusive. It was as if clicking a “post” button would be the same as giving everybody I knew the key to the real me, which I wasn’t sure I was ready to share yet. It also scared me to share my ideas so publicly as a young woman. We’re so often scrutinized and criticized on social media no matter what we say or do. I didn’t know who was reading my blog posts and whether or not they would leave an offensive or sexist comment.
Don’t get me wrong, I love writing the blog posts. It’s therapeutic to be able to produce long, wonderful, uninterrupted rants. It’s a safe space for me to express my beliefs fully, without anybody arguing with me or shooting my ideas down. This epiphany came to me while writing “An Open Letter to ‘Good Feminists’.” As a young woman, I feel as if I am expected by society to contain my anger or frustration so I’m not seen as “whiney” or “hysterical.” However, when I write, it is about me, not about how others see me. Without anyone to interrupt me, I am free to write without judgement.
I ended up sharing my “Good Feminist” letter on Facebook. Maybe I took the leap because I wanted to challenge myself, face a fear. Though there were future blog posts I kept hidden, I liked being able to share my work as a way of encouraging all young women to realize that their voices should not be silenced by others.
