Avatar Korra

When I was a little girl, I would challenge my male classmates to any sort of physical competition. There was something very empowering about wrestling a boy to the ground or beating him in a foot race. From an early age, I always knew I was stronger than most girls. Stronger than most boys too. But the world I grew up in didn't support that notion. I was made to feel embarassed when I out-performed any male, from other women no less. When I would beat a boy in a foot race, I was chastised for "hurting his feelings" instead of praised for being strong. Because women weren't created to be strong. According to the world I grew up in, our sole purpose is to serve the men around us, bend to their every will, and simply be grateful we even get to share the world with them.

It nearly destroyed me as a person. I was suicidal for most of the adolesnce. Unable to appease the women who told me I should be slender, and pretty, and quiet. I took to starving myself and locking myself away from the world. I thought that if I tried hard enough, if I skipped meals, and quit competing with men, that I would finally become desireable to the boys I had crushes on. I was made to feel lucky if any decent boy deigned to give me attention because who I am is ugly and unwanted. I was essentially useless for not fitting into the hole that has been carved out for every woman.

It tore me a part. It made me believe I didn't deserve to be happy; that I didn't deserve to be myself. It brainwashed me into seeking out men that "needed fixing", because my only purpose was to dedicate my life to some smuck who would, hopefully, return my loyalty with love and admiration. What I didn't understand was that all of those woman who encouraged that ideology were, themselves, miserable, suicidal, and losing their minds.

I have come a long, long way to seeing myself as weak and undeserving of love. I am now married to a man that is my equal. Who respects me and views me with the same admiration as any muse in his life. I never understood what a healthy and happy relationship was until I found a way to view myself as healthy and deserving of happiness. Which leads me to the topic of this blog post: The Legend of Korra.

Avatar Korra is a young, firey woman, with lots of muscles, a will of her own, and an unfailing ability to put others before herself. She is, what many people would call, a hero. And she is my hero too. It's partly sad for me to look at a cartoon, this fictional character, and hold her so highly in my thoughts when I know none of it is real. But then I think about little Emily. I think about all those times on the field when I outran a boy, or out-threw a baseball, or beat him in an arm wrestling competition and I think about how sad and lonely she felt. How desperately she was looking for another woman to look up to in her life who was courageous and a fighter, like myself. Then I think about Korra.

I think about all the hope she has given to all the little girls who were created tougher than most who are desperately seeking a hero to look up to. I can see my little body pretending to water-bend in the backyard while fighting off an enemy of good. I want that for the little girls of this world. I don't want them to grow up struggling and hating themselves the way I did. It is perfectly alright to be slender, and pretty, and passive but it should ALSO be alright to be strong, and tough, and resilient.

Women can be heroes too. As women we need to stop preventing our little girls from being exactly who they are meant to be. And men, we need you as our allies to admire our strength instead of taking it as an assault on your ego. I am so proud of what Nickelodean has created. I am so proud that I get to witness the dawning of the age of the strong woman. I see so much of myself in Korra and hope it brings hope and determination to all the other little girls out there who are strong too.

Looking at these photos I am finally proud of the way I look. I work really hard to be strong. I falter, often, but that doesn't stop me from trying. I am not slender nor petite. I am curvy, and muscular, and tougher than most and I finally feel good about that.