Author: Aya de Leon. Dress: Betsey Johnson, vintage.

Accessories: Rag for incineration, Vice Magazine fiction issue featuring women writers suicide fashion spread.

1. Because being a woman and a writer is not a tragedy

2. Because my sexy feminist heist novel isn’t finished yet

3. Because I’m a mom

4. Because my life was worth living even before I was a mom

5. And for Toni Morrison

6. And Diane Balser

7. And for Audre Lorde

8. And Barbara Kingsolver

9. Because sexism is a cause of depression

10. Because I aim to see sexism end in my lifetime

11. And for June Jordan

12. And Tobe Correal

13. And for Mabel Maney

14. Because my spy novel about modern day COINTELPRO isn’t finished yet

15. And for Alix Olson

16. And Jill Dearman

17. Because my retro novel about black women in college fighting racism isn’t finished yet

18. And for devorah major

19. And because Coco Peila’s album isn’t out yet

20. And for Opal Palmer Adisa

21. And because Shonda Rhimes is just getting started in Hollywood

22. And for Buchi Emecheta

23. And Faith Adiele

24. And Shailja Patel

25. Because model Paige Morgan posed as Elise Cowan for Vice then spoke out publicly about being uncomfortable about the photo shoot and disappointed about the printed result

26. And for Adrienne Rich

27. And Madison Young

28. And Thea Hillman

29. Because I wonder what would happen if the fashion spread’s female photographer an stylist decided to stop cooperating with sexism and used their considerable powers for good

30. And for Chinaka Hodge

31. And Lena Reyna

32. And Dyanna Loeb

33. Because I want to live to see the day when the editors and publishers of Vice magazine actually understand what’s wrong with what they did

34. And for Leah Lakshmi Piepzna Samarasinha

35. And Maiana Minahal

36. And Aimee Suzara

37. Because Sarah Palin is in the news again and I need a good laugh

38. And for Tina Fey

39. And Michelle Tea

40. And Galadrielle Allman

41. And because I can’t wait to hear Imani Uzuri’s next album

42. And for Zora Neale Hurston

43. And because women are the biggest book buyers and book readers but I want to live to see the day when we’re the biggest writers

44. And for Julia Alvarez

45. And Esmeralda Santiago

46. And Carolina de Robertis

47. And Sandra Garcia Rivera

48. And because women writers committing suicide is not a fashion statement

49. And because women writers committing suicide is not a fashion statement

50. And for Cristina Garcia

51. And Aurora Levins Morales

52. And Sofia Quintero

53. And Raquel Rivera

54. And Sara Campos

55. Because I have felt the kind of despair that made me want to walk into traffic

56. Because I have learned that some struggles can be released through writing but some can only be released through therapy

57. Because there have been enough feminists in the field of psychology that women can actually get some help these days

58. And for Nikki Finney

59. And AJ Verdelle

60. And Gail Burton

61. Because it does get better

62. And Arisa White

63. And Yvonne Fly Onakeme Etaghene

64. And Simha Evan Stubblefield

65. Because I have learned that no matter how much people know and love your writing, it doesn’t mean they know and love you

66. Because I have learned that favorable reviews and artistic success won’t heal the places you don’t love yourself

67. And Mohja Kahf

68. And for Elmaz Abinader

69. And Suheir Hammad

70. Because we’ve lived through rape and sexual abuse and sexual torture

71. Because we’ve been been betrayed and exploited then told it was all our fault

72. But because it was never our fault

73. And for Patricia Smith

74. And Sharan Strange

75. And Ruth Forman

76. Because we’ve been thrown against the wall & locked alone in our rooms

77. And for Margaret Atwood

78. And Charlotte Kasl

79. Because these are not reasons to kill ourselves, these are reasons to kill somebody else but homicide in women is generally discouraged

80. And for Sarah Jones

81. And Lisa Marie Rollins

82. And Kirya Traber

83. And Pam Harris

84. Because Generation Five has a 125 year plan to end child sexual abuse

85. And for Gina Gold

86. And Toni Ann Johnson

87. Because I don’t write tragedy; I don’t live tragedy; I don’t believe in tragedy; tragedy is what happens when you end the story too soon

88. And for Natasha Trethaway

89. And Danzy Senna

90. And Toi Derricotte

91. Because I want to live to see the day women writers will always be captioned with the books they wrote, not the designers they’re wearing and their methods of suicide

92. And for Farai Chideya

93. And Susan Faludi

94. And Kirsten Saxton

95. And Jennifer Langdon

96. Because I want to live to see the day when magazine issues of women’s writing doesn’t need spicing up with a little scandal or sex or suicide because people are actually interested in our writing

97. And for Asha Bandele

98. And Shia Shabazz Smith

99. Because I want to live to see the day where all women’s lives are considered so valuable, where women and girls are so well treated, that we have everything to live for and suicide would never even cross our minds.

The women authors in this list are both living and deceased, established and up and coming. They write fiction, non-fiction and poetry, and have all influenced me greatly in one way or another.