My Short Hairy Tale

Author as a Swashbuckler, 2016

Growing up, the catty girls told me I looked like a boy. My arms and legs were too hairy. I was too short. My clothes were too boyish. I wasn’t as pretty as the other girls. Judged and found lacking.

I believed them.

My clothes were boyish because they were purchased from the boys’ section as a punishment from my grandmother. When I’d begged to wear pants to keep from scarring up my knees every time I…