06/28/2026
Not long ago, I came to a realization that changed the way I understand so much of my life.
For years, I believed the trauma I experienced through adolescence, and the abusive dynamics I found myself in with men, began in those relationships. But I've come to see that, for me, the story started much earlier.
When I was a young woman awakening to my own eroticism, femininity, and the quiet power I felt in my body, I received an immense amount of ridicule, judgment, and harassment from other girls and women.
Without realizing it, I learned two devastating lessons: that my eroticism was shameful and something to exile from myself, and that women were not safe.
So I disconnected from a part of myself that felt deeply alive, seeking safety, belonging, and validation through my attachment to men. That search eventually led me into relationships that caused profound pain.
For a long time, I believed those relationships were the origin of my wounds. Now I understand they were a continuation of an earlier disconnection.
This realization has shown me how deeply I've lived without trusting women, and how much that has cost me. The sisterhood I've longed for could never exist while I believed other women were unsafe.
Now, some of my deepest healing is happening through women: friendships rooted in honesty instead of comparison, building community, and restoring vulnerability with my own mom.
I've also realized that when we disconnect from who we are to preserve connection with others, we teach ourselves that belonging requires self-abandonment. From that place, we become more vulnerable to relationships that don't honour us.
I believe women's healing depends, in part, on our willingness to truly see one another... to recognize how often we've been taught to compete, compare, or fear one another, and to meet those wounds with compassion instead.
Imagine what would be possible if another woman's radiance no longer felt like a threat, but like permission.
Because every time a woman rises fully into herself, she reminds the rest of us that we can too. 🌹