Did you really think it would be so easy? Insert here and watch us born again, in your own image no less? But why are we still playing along? We are a culture intent on destroying our women by middle-age. We work too hard and we care too much. Go, go, go, go we tell our girls, achieve, be beautiful, be good. Screw that! Why are you always trying to save us from ourselves, our true selves, the parts of our coding so exquisitely tailored to channel forms of abundance you wouldn’t even recognize. Problem is, so many of us have been pulled so far into your worldview that we can’t even see these gifts anymore.

Ironic, especially considering the abundance we bring you. Forget money, fame, power… whatev. Women extend your genetics through time. We make you immortal… which last time I checked was priority numero uno for most of you guys. I am a feminist because I believe men and women are of equal value and should have equal access to quality of life… but quality of life is a charmingly subjective bit of business.

While every human experiences a unique world through the miracle of their individuality, we function as a society by honouring our language code and patterned expectations of behaviour. Hence, the trouble with Donald Trump’s consummate breaking of both! And wouldn’t cha know, we have such an investment in this shared reality that we actually believed he might “change” when he took office. HA!!!

Millions of bright, loving, sane women rejected Hillary Clinton for this lunatic? Ya, I’m pissed! But I get it. When a hand reaches out to you (no matter what size), you’ll grab it. And how many women survive their struggles every day by re-creating their own man, the one they chose, as hero? We story our world to make it livable, because really, there’s shit we all go through that wouldn’t be bearable without a few rewrites, and Disney is brain-bait for a reason. Plus men are so darn lovable it’s disorienting. But what happens when we send back the script?

Men, seriously, stop trying to save us! Stop trying to drag us into your story! We’ve got this. And women, for the love of gawd stop buying in!! Donald Trump is a wakeup call. Dare to define your own quality of life! Own your own value hierarchy. This madness has to stop. We have to write a new story together. We need to support business models that celebrate our female strengths and passions, that honour and reflect the glorious female brain. We could actually reengineer our culture so we aren’t pushing burn-out by 50 – which is when things get really interesting anyway. And our girls! Our girls! Let’s teach them to learn their bodies through their own eyes and hands, so it always belongs to them. I’m in my 30s and I love that the texture of my skin is changing, because my body is my playground and every day is a curiosity satisfied. And I do mean satisfied!

So many men have tried to “save” me from my precious, magical self: strong men, neurotic men, wild men, giant men and gentler, more manageable ones; men with PhDs and big chairs, men with soft fur and men weathered tough like old sailors. I’ve climbed mountainous men and danced with timid ones in all their dark corners. Because of my father I have always been their equal – a remarkable gift. But just the first step, because it’s only now that I’ve built, with my own hands, a story strong enough to hold fast in this Trump tornado. So strong in fact, that men, you’re welcome to come in to shelter from the storm.