I feel embarrassed to write about this struggle, but as Diane [Diane Balser, International Liberation Reference Person for Women] tells us, none of our issues as females are trivial, and it’s important we put attention on all of our struggles.


I’m a thin female. I’m noticing that I am having trouble taking time to eat. This was an issue before this pandemic, but it’s even more pronounced now, to the point that when I stand up, I start to get faint. I will work on the computer without breaks and schedule every part of my day to the point that I will go for long periods without food. I am losing weight because of it. 


A few years ago, I was in the grocery store and it suddenly occurred to me just how much my struggle with food and overwork was connected to sexism. I saw the images on the magazines of very thin women with little clothing on. I thought, “Oh no, I’m disappearing myself.” It feels like society doesn’t want us to exist, to take up space. I have been conditioned and trained to disappear as a female. 


Society has targeted girl children for annihilation, and not just in places where the aborting of female fetuses is more prevalent. Both in the United States and in other Global North countries it can be normal to prefer having a boy. This is framed casually, but it does speak to the devaluing of our bodies and lives as females. It is not small.