If I could give our world one thing

My visions are huge, and tiny at the same time. They are huge because they include the gendered structures that effect all of us, shut in some people in stereotypes or limiting life choices, and give other unjust power. And they are tiny because they concern tiny things like sex cells, small words like pronouns and little everyday events that eventually shape our life. On a very personal level, the issue of forced sterilization in Sweden is extremely important to me. This effectively hinder me and my girlfriend from having babies in the future, but also effect a lot of other innocent people, who should not be punished for being transsexual. We just sued the hospital in our city because they refuse to help my girlfriend save sperm, and I hope this will get the governments' attention. The same law exist in all the nordic countries, so we need to step it up too fight back.

A broader vision I have is a world where both girls and boys can feel invincible. I wish every girl on the planet had the same opportunity as the boys in my part of the world to be raised believing they mattered -- not because a man liked them -- but because they are a unique individual with important thoughts and feelings. If I could give one thing to the world, it would be this. To help girls understand the unjust circumstances that lead to this loss of confidence, and thereby shifting the blame from victims and the people struggling to patriarchal structures. To make girls lift up their heads and speak for themselves.

I sometimes feel I can do this. People often turn to me when they are troubled in some way by the weight of a patriarchal society. It could be a girl whose boyfriend treat her like a an object, someone engaged in a fierce discussion about the need for feminism who need advice or a person who just want to hear that it is never hopeless, despite the overwhelming evidence of injustice. Just as often someone tells me how I give them strength to carry on by never stop writing about what I am passionate about. And sometimes this feel strange. I cannot always get my head wrapped around the contrasting the image of me as this "superhero" a few of my blog readers see me as, and the worrying, borderline naive and ever seeking girl I also feel like. Maybe the characteristic I so hated as a child because it excluded me from important social formations: the inability to be cynical, is what makes me able to balance these two sides. I have a serious condition of always see the positive. I seem to be physically incapable of ending a text with a pessimistic statement.

I definitely have the objectives and I believe I have the capability to be force of chance in my community, but I often feel I could and should do more. How can I reach out further? Where do my experiences and expertise fit in a global context? Where can I find the confidence to speak up, speak out and speak right? I want to take the next step in helping my community, achieving my visions and become an even more effective spokesperson for the minorities who are discriminated against, but it is hard to do this by myself. I know people interested in feminism look up to me and use me as an authority on certain issues, but the people I consult are all in books or far, far away both in time and space. That is not entirely true, of course. My friends and readers give me a lot of input and constructive ideas, but they still expect me to deliver answers. And I think I've reached the point where I need help with that. I need to broaden my perspectives, to feel the helping hand of someone more experienced and to develop further to be able to help more and make a bigger change. I believe being a VOF Correspondent would give me the guidance and tools I need to active this.