Secondly, you can spend your whole life being a story that happens to somebody else. You can twist and cram and shave down every aspect of your personality that doesnt quite fit into the story boys have grown up expecting, but eventually, one day, youll wake up and want something else, and youll have to choose. Because the other thing about stories is that they end. The book closes, and youre left with yourself, a grown fucking woman with no more pieces of cultural detritus from which to construct a personality. I tried and failed to be a character in a story somebody else had written for me. What concerns me now is the creation of new narratives, the opening of space in the collective imagination for women who have not been permitted such space before, for women who dont exist to please, to delight, to attract men, for women who have more on our minds. Writing is a different kind of magic, and everyone knows what happens to women who do their own magic - but its a risk you have to take.
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About Laurie Penny
Laurie Penny was a contemporary English journalist, columnist and author. Laurie Penny is a British journalist and writer. Penny has written articles for publications including The Guardian, The Spectator, The New York Times, and Salon. Read more on Wikipedia →