The 3 E’s- embracing, empowering and encouraging. These three very simple yet powerful words are the roots for which this new-found movement has based its ethos upon. They have also high key helped me to discover my passion and spurred me to turn my visual creativeness into something for the greater good of women.

1: Embracing

Embracing the Rawness of Women.  As I sat down to write this piece I had to ask myself what does ‘Embracing the Rawness of Women really mean?  and NO this is not a nudist convention (but if that’s what you’re into, EMBRACE it girl!) Everyday endless amounts of ideas and thoughts dance around my brain and it’s now a case of putting my thoughts on paper (metaphorically speaking). Creating the expression ‘Embracing the Rawness of Women’, fits in with every emotion I have felt along my own journey.  Embrace your quirks, embrace your visions and your dreams that may not be considered ‘normal’ but are yours. Embrace YOU and all the attributes which make you the strong, dedicated, ambitious, loving woman that you are. I used to say anytime I was feeling under the weather about myself or feeling uncomfortable in my own skin- “stick on a layer of St.Moriz developing false tan, sleep on it and you will wake up a different person”.  This was true I literally would wake up a different person, Tarrrrra Rodríguez from Mexico the tan had developed that much, but as life would have it along with my new glowing olive skin tone would come an instant rejuvenation of self-love and acceptance. This self-love and acceptance however was short lived, only pushing the deeper more inner-feelings of self-hatred and despair further away from the surface. Who knew fake tan could have such an effect, eh? As you read this, I too am still on a journey to self-love and acceptance through embracing who I am as a person. Being insecure and having insecurities is something which 99.9999999% of women suffer from. There is no running from insecurities, they are the Usain Bolt of womanhood even manhood, they will always catch up with you. It’s dealing with your insecurities and yes you have guessed it, EMBRACING them which aids you on your path of self-acceptance.

“Perfection is a disease of a nation”, is what greeted all 600 of my Instagram followers during the summer of 2016 when they clicked onto my account. Until one day a boy, who will not be named made fun of me as a joke, about my very ‘inspiring’ as he put it Instagram bio. Naturally however that made me conscious, which led to me taking it down and putting up the classic ghost emoji followed by my Snapchat username etc etc…ok I’m quickly losing track of my point, anyway. This quote taken from, Beyoncé, defines our society today. Rather than embracing our flaws and imperfections, we take radical measures to try and change them, to conform to the way society and social media platforms say we have to be or how we have to look. This undoubtedly sets us back in our journey to embracing who we are. Raw women looks to wipe away this stigma on young women to be perfect but rather understand that they are perfect when they are true to themselves….Embracing their rawest form.

2: Empowering

Today empowering woman globally, despite the pressure and unsustainable expectations placed upon us, has been such a phenomenon. By the creation of ‘Raw Women’ I hope to empower through various different artistic forms, whether that be through visual creativity, movement, fashion and style, athleticism and many more. Through these mediums, I truly believe that between us all, as women we can empower each other through our passions and individuality, despite factors which may have held women back in the past from having a voice. Women empower women, regardless of race, skin colour, body type, ethnicity or social background, WOMEN EMPOWER WOMEN.

By empowering the rawness of women we can support and develop self-understanding and the state of wellness among us. Mental, physical and spiritual well-being goes hand in hand with self-love and knowing and believing in your self-worth. By empowering woman and collaborations between strong, inspiring women who relate to each other will again advance the age of women empowerment and change the society which we live in today.

 

3: Encouraging

The final E. Encouraging the rawness of women. Similar to empowering each-other, women too can act as figures of encouragement in many ways. Whether it involves encouraging someone to talk about their struggle in-order-to find self-acceptance or happiness, or whether it’s encouraging women to get in touch with the rawest form of themselves. Today, a large part of not being able to overcome or accept insecurities is the stigma which surrounds speaking out about them.  Despite the awareness in today’s society surrounding topics such as self-love or anxiety which comes with experiencing difficulty regarding body image, it remains a concept which is often brushed to the side. According to a study carried out by common sense media young children from the mere age of six years old are consciously aware of dieting and the concept of being skinner than they already are. SIX YEARS OLD, when I was six years old my mam was trying to get me to stop eating dirt. This shows to what extent society has changed over the past ten or so years.  Through the encouragement of Raw Women, I hope to inspire women to speak up on the difficulties which they face. My mam is someone who knows me better than the palm or her hand and when I was younger she would say to me “Tara, a problem shared is a problem halved”. To this day I have never come across a saying truer to its meaning. The weight which is lifted off your shoulders after sharing a problem is like no other feeling. Through encouraging women to speak out and discuss the pressure and social anxiety as a result of insecurities, comes acceptance and love in the rawest form.

 

Becoming in touch with who you are defines Raw Women. The journey to self-love and acceptance defines raw women. The ability to embrace yourself in your rawest form defines Raw women. The ability to empower others defines raw women. I can only dream that this activism reaches out to women, that along the journey which we are about to embark on provides us with the tools to love ourselves despite our imperfections and flaws and most importantly to Embrace, Empower and Encourage the Rawness of Women.

 

Tara