LOOKINGTOTHEFUTURE

Much like our title suggests, all things, no matter how delightful or violent, must come to an end. That's where we are now, aren't we?

The story of justice and womanhood is not a new one. It's a story we've been familiar with for centuries, and yet, if we want to change history, we have to start by looking at it differently.

The purpose of this issue was to look at injustices just as it was to look at the justices. Much like you cannot have objectivity without subjectivity, you need both halves to form a whole. From gender identity to fertility to motherhood to womanhood, the politics of existence are so deeply interwoven into everything we've discussed here today.

How do we balance the scales?

In a Post-Roe world, we know that women are scrambling for appointments and access to care; providers are closing up shop, and hostile state laws are actively exacerbating maternity care deserts (which are now estimated to be 36% of counties in the US).

But beyond abortion, the very question of who and how one is a woman continues to be at the forefront of our minds. The question (and burden) of fertility rests on a woman's shoulder, even with her finite supply of eggs and biological clock. The issue of being the "right kind of woman" does not often include the right to a choice of anything, anyways. It's why I started this section with America Ferrera's monologue from Barbie. It means we are finally ready to tell the story. (And clearly we're willing to listen, what with Barbie having already joined the $1 Billion Box Office club).

Womanhood is a double-edged sword. It's a sword that we have gotten no better at wielding.

Shakespeare was right. These violent delights do have violent ends. Much like the politics of womanhood are so complicated, our solutions will have to be too.

Until we meet again. XOXO, Sahana Narayan