Florence Given

When you look at a woman doing something or you have an experience and it just mirrors your deepest, darkest fears ever.

This has happened to me so many times in my career and maybe four or five years ago now,

I was confronted with so many of my deepest fears.

I've been through so much public shaming on social media since I was about 20 years old.

And it's never been more clear to me in my life that my life's purpose is to help other women become resilient to shame.

Because that is the pattern of my life.

Ever since I was a child,

I've been surviving these rounds of shaming from other girls.

And then in adulthood, that became rounds of shaming from other women.

And it's not because women are inherently catty and cruel and mean.

It's because women are taught that we are only allowed to be a certain way.

We're praised for being one way and punished for another.

And we have these lines in our head of self-expression that we are not allowed to cross.

This is too much.

Don't do that.

Sit like this.

Don't be too clever in class.

Don't raise your hand in class.

People think you're a know-it-all.

Don't make too much money.