The following quotes come from an essay in the anthology It's So You edited by Michelle Tea. After reader Ms. Varian's essay I was so moved I decided to google her to find out what Fran is currently up to & see if I could possibly even interview her for this blog. I was saddened to see that that she is battling chronic late stage Lyme disease. My prayers go out to her & every person who struggles with debilitating chronic illness. It's hard to feel beautiful when we don't feel well & healthy. If you are interested in helping to heal Fran please visit her webpage. In the meantime here are some quotes from her fabulous essay Lighten Up, It's Just Fashion: How to Be a Gorgeous Revolutionary.
She starts her essay with a quote from Camille Paglia
"We should not have to apologize for reveling in beauty."
Fran's words:
"All the feminist theory in the world cannot prepare you for the heartwrenching, maddening, and completly unexpected experience of coming to know other adult women. Of all that is stolen from us and all that is withheld, the loss of a true and spiritual relationship with beauty strikes me as uniquely tragic and problematic on countless levels."
"Fashion and feminism are both infused with the theoretical and practical limitations and opportunities presented by the female body."
"The belief that my body can easily be taken has been drilled into me since a tender young age. The world is all about power, and money is a bodyguard. This fear of the body I live in, the notion that without my consent my body can and will betray me, has been beneficial to both fashion and feminism in countless, insidious ways. Why, then, do I find myself turning to feminism and fashion time and time again for comfort, for inspiration, and, perhaps most important, for community?"
"I have a fondness for the outrageous, the theatrical, but the unquestionable foundation of my aesthetic is beauty. Simply because I am drawn to it, and because it is the single most revolutionary choice I can make."
"No matter how dim my prospects, regardless of how hopeless I have felt, beauty has always found its way to me and reminded me of the bigger picture."
"...when I dress, I dress to arouse and please my own sense of beauty, my own aesthetic."
"I am interested in preventing, if possible, the sacrifice of our children to this mindless, brutal drone of normalacy that is the enemy of free thought and exploration."
"But we don't have to die by our own hands. We do not have to greive the death of our dreams. If you cannot walk yourself to the movies at night for fear of what will happen to you, you are not free. If you cannot wear whatever makes you feel alive for fear of reprucussion, you are not free. If you cannot allow your spirit to soar because you have never been told it is your inalienable right to be moved by something beautiful, however you define beauty, you are not free. It takes courage to reach for freedom and it requires strength to fight for an authentic life, bot both require far less energy than a fear-bases existence."
"The first step to thinking outside the box is to step outside of it, and for most women that means claiming beauty, claiming ownership, and claiming personal freedom. The battle lines were drawn before any of us were born, and up until now we have not been able to sustain any unified resistance. I can't guarantee you a safe and easy outcome if you fight, bit I can promise I'll be standing next to you. If we have to go down, we might as well go down together and looking fucking fabulous."
We're praying for you Frances!
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