Learning to Love Being ‘Selfish’ 

Maybe it’s increasingly restrictive abortion laws, or perhaps it’s just the state of misogyny more generally but, lately, I’ve been thinking about what is expected of us as women in today’s society. It’s why the messaging behind the documentary My So-Called Selfish Life, about women’s choice not to have children and how that can be seen as ‘selfish’, has stuck with me. Not having children somehow remains taboo, but faced with a litany of stark realities – global warming, overpopulation, gun violence and, most plainly, the respectable lack of desire to have a ‘traditional’ family – it is becoming more of an attractive choice for many. I’m proud to surround myself with women comfortable enough to have these sorts of conversations, touching on the choices we make and the reasons we make them. My hope is that more conversations – with women and men – might be started by films such as My So-Called Selfish Life, which is why, for this week’s list, I’ve chosen five pieces of pop culture presenting norm-defying views on womanhood. Let’s keep talking.

Dua x

1. Bad Feminist – Roxane Gay
2. Queenie – Candice Carty-Williams
3. The Vagina Monologues – Eve Ensler
4. King Kong Theory – Virginie Despentes
5. The Second Sex – Simone de Beauvoir

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