Not Your Perfect Feminist

Image Courtesy: Antonio Rodriguez, Adobe Stock

I am not your clean-cut slogan

not the cropped quote beneath a pastel square

not your pat-yourself-on-the-back diversity hire.

I walk in with bold lips, sharp hips

a laugh too loud for your board meetings.

You want me either righteous
or radiant
buttoned high at the throat
or split down the thigh.

But I learned early
that the world loves a woman easiest
when she edits herself.

So I keep the heels.
Keep the eyeliner winged like warning signs.
‘Keep the body,’ you said
would cancel out my mind.

I can cite theory

with my makeup on
with my legs crossed wrong.
Can march at noon,
make out at midnight.

My skin is not surrender.
My beauty is not betrayal.
Desire in my own hands
is still power bigger 

than you can fathom.

I will not dim myself
to fit your version of freedom.
I refuse to disappear
to be taken seriously.

I am not your perfect feminist

Not enough in some ways, 

too much in all the others.

Still I take up the space that I’ve earned

unsoftened, unshrinking

and perfectly unapologetic.

Strike Out,

Orlando

Written by: Juju Gordon

Edited by: Delaney Gunnell & Arsheeya Garg

Juju Gordon is a journalist for Strike Magazine Orlando. She is a senior at the University of Central Florida studying Psychology on the Neuroscience Track with a minor in Creative Writing. Outside of writing, she finds the most joy reading, taking photos of anything and everything, and obsessing over fashion. Through her work, she aims to shed light on perspectives that often go untold. For inquiries reach out to jujuclarinet@gmail.com or @jujukitty52 on Instagram.