Hannah Govan

“14-Year-Old Girls”: The Misogyny of Gendering Hobbies

How I slowly grew out of shaming my hobbies, and why we shame girls for having hobbies.

“You’re such a girrrrrl”
“I am a girrrrrl”
“You’re such a GIRRRRRL”
“I am a GIRRRRRL”

Hello, and welcome to another installment of ‘Hannah using Dear Asian Youth Literature as free therapy before she accumulates enough savings to get a therapist’. This 60-minute session will be a personal account about how I was shamed for liking Boy Bands with further discussion about how society loves to shame girls for having hobbies that may or may not involve boys. Whoohoo! Fun!

How to Lose the Ugly in Ten Steps

A satirical piece about how the Western cosmetics industry and Eurocentric beauty standards frequently market any possible feature as insecurity that could be solved with product.

Hello everyone and welcome back! If you’re new around here, welcome. My name is Hannah and I enjoy long walks on the beach, sometimes crush caffeine tablets in my boba, and cry myself to sleep every night wondering about how my crow’s feet will look at my funeral and how it all went wrong.

Washed Up

While waiting for my summer photo to be taken on the school field and fiddling with the rainbow sequin headband crowned on my head, I’d faintly sing ‘Part Of Your World’ from “The Little Mermaid” to alleviate the boredom. Even though camera-shyness swirled in my stomach, I hoped that I could be one with the mermaid spirit and feel beautiful — embellished with sparkles and voluminous, swishy hair. That spirit has not aged well.