This one is for the Yokos and the Courtneys, the women whose talents are overshadowed by the men they dated, their stories shaped by the company they kept.

This one is for the Britneys and Amandas, the women whose struggles with mental illness are seen as as publicity stunts, cheap cries for attention.

This one is for the Amandlas and Zendayas, the women whose self-expression is publicly made fun of, who are shamed for celebrating where they come from.

This one is for the Tinas and Dylans, the women whose stories of abuse have been overlooked or questioned because of their abusers’ “contributions to art”

This one is for the Amys and Janises, whose legacies and life stories are obscured by tawdry tales of drug abuse and vices.

This one is for the Lavernes and Caitlyns, whose womanhood is denied, who face constant scrutiny in their own lives but strive to make others better.

This one is for me, who could write a million of these dedications, but I’ll boil them down to a few

So this one is for you, a woman who defines herself, even when others refuse to hear it.

And this one is for us, all the women of the world, all of us who are misrepresented, mistreated and misunderstood.

I thank you for your patience, for your drive to make it better and for contributing your intelligence, beauty and kindness to the world. I thank you for being you.

I used first names for this piece, but if you’re curious in learning more about the women mentioned in this poem, here are their names in order of how they’re written:

Yoko Ono, Courtney Love, Britney Spears, Amanda Bynes, Amandla Stenberg, Zendaya Coleman (but known as Zendaya), Tina Turner, Dylan Farrow (daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen), Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin, Laverne Cox, Caitlyn Jenner.
I’d also like to acknowledge that while all these women have faced unfair criticism and treatment on many levels, some still experience certain privileges, whether from being white, straight, cisgendered, wealthy or all of the above. There are so many women whose names I do not know, who I may never get to meet. I only mean for these famous women to represent them. Their stories may not perfectly match yours, but they are stories that are well-known and are the faces of real inequities that harm women – some much more than others.

By Jessica Leach

Featured in Basement Babes, Issue 12