Amy Stanton - The Feminine Revolution : 21 Ways to Ignite the Power of Your Femininity for a Brighter Life and a Better World.

I was fortunate enough to begin my young adult professional life as an athlete, a role in which I had the opportunity to embrace my physical and competitive side. It was sometimes a struggle, but from a pretty young age I did learn how to be assertive and even powerful at times. It still took me until my thirties to stop apologizing and trying to be less-than to make others feel good. Spending time with female athletes and coaches who encouraged me to be aggressivea trait thats typically considered masculinetrained me to accept this part of my own nature, my unique expression of femininity. I realized that being strong and aggressive did not take away from or diminish my femininity.

Since my days of being a jock, I have become an entrepreneur, a wife (I am married to what one would call an alpha male), and the mother of three daughters. In each of these roles, I find myself connecting with my female identity. In every aspect of my life, as a woman and a human, I ask myself, How do I want to express myself? What do I want to stand for? What parts of my identity do I want to foster, even if others expect something different from me?

At a certain point I began to enjoy and cherish all aspects of my femininity, whether others value them or not. This is the dazzling message of The Feminine Revolution. In these pages, Amy Stanton and Catherine Connors call on women everywhere to defy the definition of feminine traits as weak or frivolous (and, likewise, to stop defining strong and powerful traits as primarily masculine). They encourage us all to rethink the way our culture has decided that feminine traits are unimportant, or superficial, or fragile, and to see them as powerful gifts. I already know this is true and have seen it manifest in my own life: My intuition guides me like a North Star. My respect for beauty honors the visual wonders of our bountiful world. My gentle kindness to others begets more kindness and makes our world a better place.

As I raise three daughters, my hope for themand what The Feminine Revolution offersis a larger more nuanced understanding of our authentic identities. It inspires us to question the clichs and expectations of femininity and open minds and hearts to respecting the value of all aspects of womanhood, and humanity. We all must create the space for ourselves to honor our inclinations and distance ourselves from the external noise that labels anything that feels natural to us as less than or unimportant.

The Feminine Revolution has arrived at the perfect time. It is time, separately and together, for women to tap into the so-called feminine trait of love, the most powerful of them all. We will call on our culture to appreciate the multifaceted nature of femininity: whether we are nurturing, multitasking, displaying emotional intelligence, insisting on authority, or otherwise doing some real ass kicking, we are women and we claim these capabilities as strengths. We all have the opportunity to explore and celebrate the infinite sides of ourselves, and we will not apologize for who we are or what we offer the world.

I want my daughters and yours to make their voices fluid without fear of dismissal. I want them to foster their gifts and find beauty in what makes us all the same. Core values like love, hard work, and honesty will always be essential to the foundation of our lives, and from there, how we want to color our lives with individuality is the greatest discovery of all.

I thank Amy and Catherine for writing The Feminine Revolution and for encouraging us all to embark on that discovery. Heres to youall of youin good health and adventure.

Remember what it was to be me: that is always the point.

J OAN D IDION,
A MERICAN WRITER AND JOURNALIST