Free I Am an Emotional Creature: The Secret Life of Girls Around the World by Eve Ensler

zebras and cows. I loved that our culture had survived. I loved all of this, but I knew our life could be better.
    My father was willing to sell me for five cows and a calf and a couple of blankets. That is about thirty thousand shillings. But when I am educated I will make more money. I will build him a house. I will take care of all of them.
    I looked at the women in my family who had been sold, who had been cut when they were my age. My auntie was laughing. The rest of them were singing. This was all our celebration. This was all our beginning. Then in the middle of all of this I noticed we were soaking wet ’cause it was raining.

I AM AN EMOTIONAL CREATURE
    I love being a girl.
I can feel what you’re feeling
as you’re feeling it inside
the feeling
before.
I am an emotional creature
Things do not come to me
as intellectual theories or hard-shaped ideas.
They pulse through my organs and legs
and burn up my ears.
I know when your girlfriend’s really pissed off
even though she appears to give you what you want.
I know when a storm is coming.
I can feel the invisible stirrings in the air.
I can tell you he won’t call back.
It’s a vibe I share.
    I am an emotional creature.
I love that I do not take things lightly.
Everything is intense to me.
The way I walk in the street.
The way my mother wakes me up.
The way I hear bad news.
The way it’s unbearable when I lose.
    I am an emotional creature.
I am connected to everything and everyone.
I was born like that.
Don’t you dare say all negative that it’s a teenage thing
or it’s only only because I’m a girl.
These feelings make me better.
They make me ready.
They make me present.
They make me strong.
    I am an emotional creature.
There is a particular way of knowing.
It’s like the older women somehow forgot.
I rejoice that it’s still in my body.
    I know when the coconut’s about to fall.
I know that we’ve pushed the earth too far.
I know my father isn’t coming back.
That no one’s prepared for the fire.
    I know that lipstick means
more than show.
I know that boys feel super-insecure
and so-called terrorists are made, not born.
I know that one kiss can take
away all my decision-making ability
and sometimes, you know, it should.
    This is not extreme.
It’s a girl thing.
What we would all be
if the big door inside us flew open.
Don’t tell me not to cry
To calm it down
Not to be so extreme
To be reasonable.
I am an emotional creature.
It’s how the earth got made.
How the wind continues to pollinate.
You don’t tell the Atlantic Ocean
to behave.
    I am an emotional creature.
Why would you want to shut me down
or turn me off?
I am your remaining memory.
I am connecting you to your source.
Nothing’s been diluted.
Nothing’s leaked out.
I can take you back.
    I love that I can feel the inside
of the feelings in you,
even if it stops my life
even if it hurts too much
or takes me off track
even if it breaks my heart.
It makes me responsible.
I am an emotional
I am an emotional, devotional,
incandotional creature.
And I love, hear me,
love love love
being a girl.

I DANCE (III)
    I dance to be here
I dance to disappear
I dance ’cause I can and I will
    I dance with the gypsies
And with those in the churches
I dance with the witches and fairies
and freaks
I dance into the green reaches of earth
I dance with the ones who get left by the road
I dance until all of us are sweaty and one
I dance on tables
On rooftops
In stairways
I dance when I want to scream
and claw and scratch and punch
    I dance till I am wild, till I’m crazy
I dance till I’m brave and undone
I dance frenzy
I dance danger
I dance girl
I dance ’cause I cannot stop
I dance ’cause I feel that much
I dance ’cause I love you
I love you, I love you
Now, don’t just stand there
with your arms all crossed
My skin is a map
My belly’s on fire
Come with me
Dance with me
All of you
Higher
Higher

EPILOGUE:
MANIFESTA TO YOUNG WOMEN AND GIRLS
    HERE’S WHAT YOU WILL BE TOLD:
    Find a man
Seek