The World Wants Women Smaller

Matelli Graves

The world wants women to accept less: less freedom, less imagination, less room to shape the future. Our world has grown more restrictive, not more visionary. Fashion is faster like the climate rushing toward the end, and the media treats women’s freedom as a brand, and everything is capital.

None of this is accidental.

This is a critical time where women must refuse to adjust their expectations towards a downward spiral that centers on men and puts women in the shadows. We must still believe in every shade of the palette; we must not be afraid of the diversity of colors of the rainbow.

Systems that benefit from women’s silence and exhaustion work best when imagination shrinks. They rely on the reality that you believe that a future of freedom is not possible, but instead, you think that this is a man’s world, and there is no way out. Instead, it’s best to believe that women are being pushed back to margins and that no matter what you do, the forces of the imperial system are too strong to fight back.

Instead, you must refuse. Refuse to play small, refuse to play a role. You must treat equality and equity as inevitable and the liberation of women as the chosen timeline. The future is plural in that, across race, class, body, and identity, it shapes culture together rather than through the filter of a dominant lens that prioritizes money and control over humanity.

Our sustainability, dignity, and autonomy are political requirements and not lifestyle choices. The future does not move forward on its own but only when women have access to own their existence and body.