We all grow up dreaming of what we want to be when we grow up, I never wanted to be anything womanly. I was insecure, insulted and in the footsteps of my brother—I wanted to be just like him. I wanted to be a dirty, tree-whizzing-on boy, but life has since changed.

Over two years ago, I drew my first saggy breasted and bumpy legged burger—this burger babe helped me love my body and be secure with the woman that I am and the woman that I am becoming. She, amongst many other women I created, was crafted by the words that make up today’s pop culture. 50 Cent once told us that “she’s beautiful, she’s edible,” Adam Levine, amongst many other artists, call us “sugar,” “honey” and various other sweeteners or sweets, Instagram gives us a lengthy thread of “#foodporn” posts, while many other hot shots and online sites follow suit in dehumanizing and objectifying women.

My work personifies and reclaims these objectifications and has become a form of self-empowerment. It has shown me how to overcome and embrace the world and turn on the radiance that I never knew I had. It’s shown me the beauty in being a woman—the beauty in my mother—the beauty in the radical—the beauty in the breaking of preconceived femininity and the beauty of owning femininity. I want to celebrate my womanhood; thus, I present to you a show of my girls just being girls, Days In.