As I've grown older, the author whose words I have most often remembered, that has rescued and offered solace to my friends and me is Toni Morrison.

Simone de Beauvoir was 41 years old when her most famous book, The Second Sex, was published in 1949. Over 20,000 copies of the book, which explored the meaning of being a woman, were sold in a matter of days after the book’s publication, and it soon became internationally famous.

We need to change the message we’re sending kids at a young age. it is necessary to provide children with books and media that provide positive representations of gender equality, and do not associate particular abilities or responsibilities with any gender.

Finding more accurate representations of my identity was so important not just because I saw myself in them, therefore, but because I felt connected to a wider community.