I’m a Bird.
I recently discovered that the term “bird” is now used to describe a woman who is so male-centered she excuses all bad behavior toward herself and other women because she’d rather have a toxic man than no man at all.
A new internet slang term for feminine self abandonment, along with a social media trend picking up steam, means there are now millions of women out there carrying this much unacknowledged pain, and an equal amount of participating men who are carrying the same. Both trapped in the same cycle, both unknowingly a slave to it, both just playing their part.
A symbol of freedom becoming a symbol of such confinement, I think, says a lot about our collective psyche today. But I’m not here to unpack all that today.
I’m here to say I find this use of language insulting - - - to birds.
So I’m reclaiming the term.
I’m a bird because I’m not caged by fear.
Free to stay, free to fly, free to leave.
Free to choose better, or to choose nothing at all in the absence of the best.
I’m a bird because I’m free.
I’m a bird.
xT
“i’m a bird.” | artwork + words © 2026 Teodora Nicolae