We gotta start teaching our daughters to be somebodies, not somebody's

"We gotta start teaching our daughters to be somebodies, not somebody's"* is the best quote I've read regarding self esteem in young girls and the advancement of women's rights in a long while.

Why? Because I was on a cheer squad with a girl who thought I was progressive because I wanted to go to college. On her cheer application she wrote that her biggest aspiration was to be a stay at home wife, "as women should". Because I have friends who find their self worth in the boys they date. Because women all over the world go their entire lives basing what they do, how they feel, and how they act off the opinions of men who have no idea what it is like to be female. Because I have been told more times than I count that some man is going to come along and tame me someday. Like I am a piece of property to be claimed by a brave pioneer. If that's the case, I prefer to remain the wild, wild, west. Thanks. Because when girls get raped there is a small amount of them who think it is their fault, not the rapists. Because women continually justify the abuse they receive from their partner. Because women still believe they belong to whoever they are in a relationship with, like a pretty thing, to be fucked and looked at, but never to feel, speak, or voice opinions. And until these opinions change and we agree as a whole that women are equal to men and belong to no one but themselves, we cannot achieve true equality with them.

That's why.

*Quote by Kifah Shah