Credit: Atlantic Records
There’s a clip of Aretha Franklin doing the rounds, where an interviewer says: “I think it would be hard for men to date you because they’d be intimidated by who you are.” Franklin responds without missing a beat: “A lot of males might be intimidated, but not men.” It resonated a lot.
Not just because I’ve heard that word a lot in reference to myself and dating, and not just because I think it’s a word specifically used in relation to women in order to make them feel smaller about themselves, but also because in stepping into my own power, I’ve had to carefully consider what qualities I look for when I date men, and what to me, constitutes a man I can respect.
Someone being purposefully obtuse might say: “Well Poorna, unlike you, you insignificant worm, that is ARETHA FRANKLIN, an actual celebrity.” And agreed, there’s merit in that. But that’s not just what the interviewer was referring to, and I would bet my entire set of back teeth that it’s not a word she’d use when interviewing a male celebrity. And besides, there are enough non-celebrity women including myself who’ve had that word used to describe them, who know otherwise.
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