Callout

Women, equal to men? No!

I write historical fiction not about gender equality, but about the superiority of women, who are invariably smarter, stronger, and more courageous than any man in my books. This I believe to be true jn life.

Ask most any woman who is partnered and she will tell you: She is the competent one. She does the planning and execution of the important tasks in the partnership/household because he simply cannot, or because she can do it better.

Men know that women are the smart, strong, capable ones, which is why their egos are fragile, causing them to resort to brute force and lies to hide their incompetence. They rape us to steal our power. They abuse and even murder us to intimidate us into silence. And, their most effective trick: They teach us to hate ourselves.

I grew up in a household with a pornography-addicted father who beat my mother, took the entire family to watch X-rated movies when I was very young, and otherwise buried himself in the television and his bottle of Jim Beam.

My mother, herself a victim, routinely beat, betrayed, lied to and about, abandoned with the “silent treatment,” harangued, deprived of sleep, and otherwise emotionally and psychologically abused my sister and me as a way of venting her rage. She also took us to church.

Living as an object

I watched, listened, and learned from an early age how women suffer, placate, equivocate, and live in fear of men and a male god, even while knowing in our hearts that we are not less-than. We call for “equality” because we can’t admit—even to ourselves—that we are superior to men in every way.

Like my sisters around the world, I was groomed to live as an inferior being. The porn movies taught me that, despite my formidable intelligence, my true value lay in my sexuality. Men reinforced this notion by sexually harassing and assaulting me throughout my life, in school, at work, in relationships, and even within my own family.

Men sexually accosted me against my will many times but, even more often, I objectified myself, re-enacting the porn scenes I’d seen and debasing myself with humiliating acts as I was programmed to do.

This is how growing up female distorted and diminished me. I’ll bet you have similar tales.

We are Goddesses

At church, I learned that men are closer to God than women, that women must submit to their husband’s will, that women must not instruct men, that that God is male, and made man in His image. Woman was an afterthought: inferior.

Even during my most devoutly Christian years, I knew these claims to be false. I knew myself to be smart, capable, and strong. I never knew a boy or man whom I thought superior to me in any way.

My story is one of rising up to break free of patriarchy’s constraints, including those that appear self-imposed but that, in fact, were forced upon me by a society that prizes men and devalues women. It’s one of learning to listen to my inner voice, which is the voice of the Goddess, and to honor myself as a divine being.

I’ve felt at one with the Goddess many times. Whenever I engage Her I wonder why I don’t do so daily, and the answer is that I have so much to do just to survive every day.

And part of that work—the most important work I do—involves writing the stories of women who’ve claimed their power and potential. In this way, I light the way for you, my sisters and daughters on the path to empowered and autonomous lives.