Welcome to Madeline

Well, hello and welcome to Madeline’s Life Take 2. I decided to do a minor introduction as I think it would be fitting for some of you to get an idea about the person who will be writing the stories, the life lessons and the sometimes wine fuelled content.

So, to begin, obviously, my name is Madeline and no, it is not pronounced like the cartoon television show. My home is in the city of Sydney, filled with dazzling lights and ridiculously overpriced cocktails I just can’t seem to get enough of. I am a writer, born and bred, and began writing for an audience at 17. I believed that the world offered so much greatness, if we just had a little #positivity101. But now at 22, I have realised that the world is generally one big fuck you with a sprinkle of wonderful moments. I know it sounds pretty depressing, but it doesn’t have to be if you spend most of your life eating the sprinkles rather than the dry sponge cake underneath.

To dive right into it, I have been battling an eating disorder since I was 14 but I seem to be through the thick of it now with only minor relapses every now and then. Which generally means, I like to write a lot about body image, diet culture and how both of those are used as weapons against the female psyche. I want to write more about the theory behind why we as women feel the need to fulfil the female archetype where ultimately appearance = worth. Why can't we just stick it to the man & say you know what, my tummy is perfectly fine just the way it is because it allows me to eat all the pizza I want? Less about our how our self-confidence is low because we feel we aren't good enough the size we are, more about how fucked up it is that our bodies are constantly put on parade as if our meaning in life is to look pleasing to the eye. Thanks, but no thanks.

As a young woman, in the midst of a technological phenomenon when sex, dating and one-night stands are at our finger tips, I am finding the opposite sex quite intimidating. Especially when we are constantly placing our self-worth on the basis of how many matches, likes and potential hook-ups we have over three different dating apps. I don’t know about you but man can it be exhausting. So, let me make it a bit less exhausting whilst I do some of the research for you.

Lastly, my hero is the iconic writer, Elizabeth Wurtzel. Well, I guess she was, unfortunately she passed in January this year. However, her work is still as potent as it was in the 1994 when she release her best-selling novel Prozac Nation. As an incredibly well-educated yet highly depressed woman, she revels in her sadness, madness and all round ludicrous ideologies to create a true insight into the world of women. Especially, the bad ones. Which I think we all are deep down, we are just too afraid to show it yet. Elizabeth’s rhetoric reminded me that being a woman is the most powerful being in the world, regardless of what our society believes. Our power does not need to hide because it scares men, it needs to be shown and used as our own weapon to claw ourselves up in the world. Women put the sin in Sin City and it is time we start fighting to reclaim it. I am tired of being pushed around, harassed and put down because I am female. I am sick of being told what to do, how small I should be and what I should and shouldn’t wear. I am ready to ignite the fire within me and burn the patriarchal system to the ground. To start a revolution. One glass of wine at a time.

If you are too, then enjoy my pieces. The little snippets into my life where you will see the strengths, the weaknesses. The love and the heartbreak. The stories and the potent realities of the human experience.

Are you ready?

Stay Fire,

Madeline.