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I would like to thank John Hollemans for generously letting me use his photo-studio, and Elis Sõõrd, for being an incredible model. This wouldn't have been possible without you
Elis and I share a similar story. Coming from conservative, ex-communist societies, being a girl always came with its stereotypes.
Whenever my grandma would leave home for a week to visit her relatives, she would always make her husband (my grandpa) meals for the entire week. "Why are you making so much food for him? He can cook for himself"!, I would often ask with genuine confusion""What are you talking about? I am his wife, that is my responsibility."
I always tried convincing myself women have reach the same level of equality as men. Yes, we can vote. Yes, we have achieved many of the things suffragettes and their heirs have been fighting for for years.
But after hearing the same response from my grandma year after year, I have realized all of it is just empty air.
What do all the votes in world mean if we ourselves continue devaluing our own beings? If we persist on subjecting ourselves to the injustice of the system? If we ourselves do not see the power we hold within?
But then, how can this not be?
When a Catholic priest states that a woman's greatest purpose and fulfillment is to give birth to a new life and take good care of her family, how can my religious grandma not believe it?
When my own science teacher tells me it doesn't matter how much I know and work as long as we "work things out" in his office, how do I not question my own self-worth?
Who would have ever thought that a Y chromosome and increased amounts of testosterone would become a justification for being held at a higher level?
If there is something in life I want to achieve, it is to prove, both to my grandma and to myself, that our strength is not predetermined and our capacity is limitless.
Through my education and love of science, I want to prove wrong any conservative priest who ever dared to undermine the aspirations of women and any life path she decides to take.
I want to prove every sexists teacher that I do not need to "work things out" with them behind closed doors in order to ensure myself a successful future.
I want to prove to my grandma, to myself and the world that patriarchal expectations and stereotypes should never dictate a woman's choices nor her potential.
I want to empower women to pursue their own passions so that their destiny is determined by none but themselves.
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