Milk and Honey

It is important that people show they love you, and not just tell you so. A new man tells the speaker that she’s special, but he expects her to be grateful he has chosen her over other women. She dislikes being put in conflict with those women. When the new man tells her she should shave, she reminds him her body is her own. She asserts that she deserves to have what she needs. She takes pride in her status as a capable woman, particularly one of Indian descent. 

The speaker feels sympathy for others finding their way after breakups and reassures them that pain is temporary. While beauty standards differ from culture to culture, all women are beautiful. Surviving trauma shows strength and helps you see what needs to be healed within the self. Bodies should not be battlegrounds; women should do what they want with them. Bodily functions like menstruation and hair growth are natural processes and society should not be squeamish about discussing them. The speaker wonders why we can’t love what is natural and prefer artificiality.