A Post a Day in May #24: Sins Part II

I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May. 

Continued from yesterday’s post, Sins I

When in doubt, look to your elders for direction. I do. 

I look to my mother. She drops the F bomb, sometimes casually, other times mindfully and with exquisite care to evoke just the right reaction. Who can argue with one’s mother? 

I look to Dame Helen Mirren, who is quoted as saying she wishes that she’d said ‘fuck off’ more as a young woman. Who would argue with the woman who played the iconic Detective Tennison, the powerful Queen Elizabeth I, and the remarkable Queen Elizabeth II? 

And I look to Dame Judi Dench, who not only says fuck off, but embroiders it for all eternity in cross stitch. 

I can even, as I learned recently through research, look to our primate forebears. “Swearing is good for you”, intones this National Geographic article, “and chimps do it, too.” It states that “new research reveals that profanity has many positive virtues, from promoting trust and teamwork in the office to increasing our tolerance to pain.” Let your tongue loose, my friends — mindfully, intentionally. And reap the rewards. 

Beyond swearing as “an act of verbal civil disobedience”, Mona Eltahawy writes in her book The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls that as women, we should use our anger as a bridge to action; take up space in the world; honour our own ambition; disrupt the patriarchy; fight back against violence; and own our body. 

And I say, dear Reader: If these are sins, then I am a committed sinner. 

#mfgp 

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