Monday Mantra - We teach girls to shrink themselves...

This past weekend, I needed a confidence boost before attending an event. While I put my face on, I chose to listen to a mass amount of Beyonce. By the time I stopped dancing long enough to put some pants on, I felt better, like I could walk into a room and do a cartwheel while flipping my hair.

While I missed Bey & Jay's Grammy performance, (these are times I wish I had cable) I thought that I would start Monday with a new mantra not from Bey, but from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The acclaimed Nigerian writer/author is sampled on Beyonce's song Flawless, and features a Ted Talk she gave called, "We should all be feminists."

Below is part of Chimamanda's talk sampled from the song, and this week's mantra! Enjoy. x

"We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls: 'You can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful

otherwise, you will threaten the man.' Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now, marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don't teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or for accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing but for the attention of men.."