One of the most insidious aspects of the patriarchy is the way it pitches women against one another. Even the women in our matrilineal line.
When we don’t speak about this, we can inadvertently assume that:
- the self criticism that women direct toward their bodies, and
- the existence of imposter syndrome vis-a-vis one’s ability to achieve great things in the world,
are reflections of a person’s innate self belief and resilience. Or that the source of that internal critic is connected exclusively to individualised experiences or the behaviour of specific mothers and what they modelled for their daughters.
To a certain extent, that’s true. Individual behaviours and relationships have a huge influence over the way we make our way through the world.
However those individual behaviours and relationships don’t function in a bubble.
And so self criticism and negative self beliefs amongst women and girls, can’t only be viewed through the lens of the individual. These things must also be understood at the collective level.
When viewed collectively, we see that over a billion girls across the globe — from vastly different cultures and ethnicities — are learning these things from their mothers.
