Originally writen on Substack, published on October 15, 2026:
war rooms
I wanted to erase
the messages embedded within me,
the narratives that had been
force-fed to me that
somehow my beauty was
the most powerful part
about me, that somehow it was
an instrument.
For although beautiful women are
privileged, that doesn’t make us
more powerful
more equal
more ferocious.
But it’s an investment, my girlfriend told me.
About treatments and
waxes and injections and implants and laser
and fillers and facelifts and liposuction
and starvation.
But what gets us into board rooms
and war rooms?
Beauty doesn’t;
it’s not an investment.
It’s not power.
It’s propaganda.
It’s pain.
It’s control.
It’s unnecessary sacrifice and
fatal health risk.
Money, ambition, and masculine energy
get us into those positions and
that was what I wanted
in the end. I
no longer wanted to be the trophy wife, I
wanted to be the rich fat cat
smoking a cigar in a black and white pinstripe suit,
ready to crush the world
under her feet.
Patriarchy harms both women and
men, but the difference is in
its choice of weapon:
we send our men
to war and our
women under the knife to be sliced and diced;
we convince them it’s voluntary,
we convince them that it’s their own
choice.
And by we, I don’t mean me,
but those powerful men,
in penthouse suites
that I will never have access to, but
am so desperate to rip apart
and dismantle.
This is one of the poems from the book I’ve been writing:
I wrote Love Propaganda while coming out of a toxic relationship. Growing up, I was continually told that the formula to being happy was securing a relationship, getting married, and having kids. But these ideas didn’t lead me to happiness; they became a prison instead. Love Propaganda is an illustrated collection of poems that analyzes the societal constraints that women experience. Love, longing, heartbreak, past memories, beauty standards, and institutions, have all held me back in some way. But, there is a way for us to break through these constraints and reclaim power for ourselves.
Coming out October 27!! ORDER THE BOOK NOW:
I personally recommend Lulu for paperbacks.
