One way I respond to her statements about what holds back women is to feel how they apply to my own art practice/life, then turn them around, and affirm the reversal:
i stand up in front of the world, unique and sovereign.
I have found reversed statements like this both bracing and encouraging. They have given me courage on days when being an artist feels so hard, such a waste of effort and precious time.
i throw prudence to the wind and
try to emerge beyond the given world
I can even try:
i have this madness in talent called genius
and if that sounds too much, I can still ‘try on’ the statement or ‘hold it against me to see how it might fit’.
This OWN-TURN-OWN practice of working with de Beauvoir’s words has been very formative for me. It has given me energy to continue on bad days, and to place my work in a larger perspective. It moves beyond a reprimand into spine-strengthening encouragement.
Next time: Themes and metaphors in Chapter 14, all the words
