The first boy who liked me told me how he thought I was the prettiest girl he'd ever seen and how much he'd love to be with me. And I know that he was just a kid and didn't mean any harm but it instilled this thought in me that being pretty was the only way I could attract people, that I had to give parts of myself to others in order to feel validated; it was almost like seeing myself as a token or prize whose worth is decided by the man who holds it. I began focusing on how much people would love to be with me rather than how much I enjoyed their company and that's a big burden to carry at 11.
And after years of feeling trapped, I decided it was enough and tried to hate pink and makeup and skirts and everything I had loved as a child because I associated those things with the idea of performance. Again, I lost sight of what I liked and enjoyed, so I spent my 20s reclaiming barbie dolls and lip gloss, pink and skirts and everything I had once denounced for the fear of being 'cringe'.
-Ritika Jyala, I love Pink, excerpt from The world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire