The Future Is Female
When Brit Marling’s NYT op-ed piece popped up on my social feed I initially swiped over the click-bait headline. After a friend shared it with me a couple days later, urging me to reconsider, I bit the bullet.
The Illinois native’s thoughts hit a nerve, bringing dormant emotions to the surface. Within the piece, Marling shares her personal experiences within the Hollywood system before offering a more macro-focused critique of gender inequality.
In doing so, she puts the very history of storytelling within her sights, taking aim at the hero’s journey and arguing (with great conviction) that the very foundations of narratives are skewed in favour of men.
To realize that our conception of women, as portrayed within the arts, has been handicapped by thousands of years of patriarchal domination is a tough pill to swallow.
As I digested her potent argument I found myself returning to her post and eating humble pie. Marling’s fear of sticking her neck out and drawing the ire of her peers hit me like a tonne of bricks. It helped me comprehend how hard this decision had been. How such vulnerability threatened to derail her steadfast beliefs.
Marling’s decision to face her fear head-on is a story of courage. Her dream to invest within new mythologies both thrilling and inspiring.
Confronting our discomfort is how move forward.
It’s how we inspire the future.
Xo