Women must get used to not asking permission. If they must re-think and turn themselves upside down, so be it. But they must stop asking permission. They must stop thinking that they have all the obligations and must meet all the expectations. They must kill their internal saboteur. They must stop asking permission to think, to act, to decide, to err, to have wrinkles. They must grab what is theirs. Without dithering. Above all, they must stop asking permission to be brilliant and self-reliant and bold and, when necessary, razor-sharp. The time has come to turn the tide and there is an army of civilised men willing to acknowledge them, to share and build a better world.
There is also an army of men who are holding the fort of that stale, international tradition that brings together Harvey Weinstein and Spain’s crass machismo. But the times, they are a-changin’ and those who abuse their power over women are getting shaky knees thanks to the courage of many and the power of truth. It is not enough to come forward, point fingers, shame or punish. Women also have work to do in order to conquer spaces without asking permission, challenging, demanding, confronting the men who take a step forward —yes, they do exist— with their own contradictions and inertia.
Princesses must learn from a young age that they are their own blue princes and, from that day onwards, they must learn to share and choose, but without asking permission to decide about themselves or to go as far as their own merits will take them. Wearing black or wearing red. Without asking permission.
