They said I couldn’t do it.
They said it would’ve happened by now.
They told me to give up, to move on, to admit defeat.
I’m here today to tell you: never give up on your dreams.
When you tell a woman she must pretend a man is a woman, you’re asserting the right to control her speech and perception of reality, while also trivialising and devaluing her female-specific experience. You’re asking her to agree that ‘woman’ is a concept men can embody at will.