Artist Perfectly Captures The Daily Struggles Of Being A Woman

Cartoonist’s illustrations capture the struggles of womanhood perfectly

Cassandra Calin’s illustrations capture the struggles of womanhood so perfectly that you’ll be laughing while sending them to your best friend. Is there a better feeling than taking your bra off at the end of the day? The answer is no. No, there’s not. Well, maybe unbuttoning your pants…

The 21-year-old Romanian-Canadian cartoonist, illustrator, and graphic designer lives in Montreal. According to her, she draws “comics inspired by my life, first world problems and goofy stuff in general.”

Ah, yes, the complications of shaving. At a certain point, we determined women must be as close to hairless as possible – except atop our heads, of course, where we must have lush locks. Shaving our legs, arms, underarms, bikini lines, and yes, even toes, presents the unique difficulty of having to remember to hit all those spots with a razor every single time.

Back to our intricate hairstyles that look like we spent two hours at the salon. We’ve all watched the YouTube tutorials where the girl straightens her waves perfectly in minutes. What they never show is the damn humidity ruining it all moments after you leave the house. The fact that women don’t cry and throw away their straighteners immediately shows us that hope is alive.

And don’t forget the times you thought it’d be fun to try something new.

And speaking of those inspiring YouTube tutorials, we can’t forget about the makeup ones. “Surely if this tween can master a smokey eye I, a seasoned lady of the world, can get this,” we mutter to ourselves before giving up and scrubbing all that black eyeliner off.

The eye makeup struggle directly led me, and I suggest many others, to pick up lipstick and say, “well I can’t mess this up.” It’s only one step, so success is pretty much guaranteed. Just don’t do anything once you’ve applied your color of choice.

You’d think with all that makeup practice ladies could rest easy that a decent photo was possible. Nope. Not now. Not ever. As someone who has just moved and undergone the hellish experience of securing new passport and DMV photos, I can ensure that no level of contouring will help you under those cruel fluorescent lights.

Then there are those times where we ladies go makeup free only to be told that we look soooo tired and should really get some rest. Um, thanks, but our faces are just getting a break from the creamy cement we slather on it.

Thankfully some of our daily struggles aren’t as visible to the untrained eye. For example, the hellscape that is wearing a bra. The joy women feel when taking their bra off at the end of the day is unmatched.

Speaking of boobs, if you didn’t know, those ladies sweat – especially during the summer. And it’s incredibly uncomfortable looking down to see that you’re broadcasting this to the world on the front of your shirt.

Illustrations about women wouldn’t be complete without a good period reference. They wreak havoc on our bodies, panties, and mood every month but also help us bring cute little babies into the world.

Sometimes our periods sabotage us in new and fun ways. Like when you can’t stop eating chocolate regardless of how many times your boss told you not to present the quarterly budget with a Godiva chocolate bar in hand.

Between the boob sweat, chocolate cravings, and relentless desire to perfect the cat eye look — being a woman presents a particular set of hassles. Thankfully we’ve got artists like Calin to document the hilarious absurdity of it all.