Questions and Answers

do you have any advice for someone who usually identifies as a brat but wants to try being good?

Well, first, be sure you’re not happier as you are. Some girls just happen to be bratty little pains in the ass, and while they’re not my cup of tea, there are plenty of men out there who get off on remixing the same fait accompli night after night. If you want to be a good girl, do it to be worthy of a man you can respect… not because someone told you being a Good Girl is the only kind of good a girl can be.

But with that aside…

Basically, you need to unlearn half the things you’ve been taught to expect. Don’t get me wrong; it was (mostly) well-intentioned and generally useful stuff for a conventional girl, but, well… you’re here, talking to me. Your mom and your friends and years of Buzzfeed quizzes and Twitter affirmations have given you ideas about your womanhood that reflect how you want to be seen by both peers and public, but have nothing to do with who you actually are. You’re lived your life as a gatekeeper, half-heartedly guarding something you’ve been assured is a treasure. But if we’re honest, both of us know you’re not a prize to be won.

You’re an offering on an altar, a sacrifice to the sun.