By Lila Weis, TIWP Student

I am a woman and not your typical beautiful Barbie.
I am small chested.
I am curvy.
I am tall.
I am whiter than white.
I don’t grow the way you do.
I need medication.
I can’t be the woman everyone can be.
I need help in school.
I don’t have many friends.
I am fearful.
I am sad.
But I am also kind
and I am strong.
I am smart.
and I am empathetic.
I am loving
and I am bilingual.
I am good at math.
I have strong legs. 
I have blonde hair.
I am a woman, and I am beautiful.
The way a man makes a woman feel is dependent
on whether the man can think like a woman.
They think they know but they don’t.
If a man tells a woman that they are inferior,
they will believe it.
But if a man tells a woman she’s beautiful,
she won’t. 
Women have struggled so much with positivity
that even when others tell them they are beautiful,
they won’t believe it.
We think they’re lying.
But if we hear it from those who usually tear us down,
we’ll believe it.
How messed up is that?
So at this point, 
take it from me,
don’t listen to other people.
It’s not up to them.
Beauty is not objective or able to be placed into categories.
Aesthetic qualities are not to be classified.
Every woman is beautiful.
Every woman is strong.
Every woman is alive because other women took the chance.
We are the center of all life.
We are the world.