Woman; One Word, Many Meanings
Expressive. The whole meaning of being women is about articulation and representation. Storytellers of not just their own stories but others like them as well. The best advocates for women are women. The best stories of women are written by women. Yet, the translation of what it means to be a woman is often written by a man. Women can’t have happy stories without going through hoops for a man. When men write women, they are oversexualized. Boobs. Why boobs? There has to be multiple sex scenes or no one’s going to pay attention. Swayed by the society of men, being a woman is to stray away from stereotypes while still embracing them.
Cyborgs. Women are cyborgs. Full of noise. Engulfed in the fiction of what it means to be a woman. Their entire being from the creation of themselves. There is no end or beginning to being a woman. Women are interconnected with each other. A web of different backgrounds, different origins, different characteristics, but at the same time we’re all women. Fragmented but whole. The disembodiment feeling is real.
Double consciousness. While men only see from their point of view, women are taught to view the world from both perspectives: male and female. Women are dualistic by nature. Thus, women can be both maternal and paternal. Women recognize the patriarchal views of society while conforming to their submissive role. They feel they must fit society's definition of mother, wife, and caregiver. Yet women strive to attain the dominance society grants men as fathers, doctors, and other authoritative figures. Women want to break free of their gender role by embracing all aspects of their consciousness.
Sexualized. Women are easily manipulated to conform to society's desires. We are supposed to control the primal urges of men. We are supposed to be resistant. We are dress-coded. We are not supposed to be tempting. We are not supposed to be sexual beings when it’s for ourselves, but when it’s for a man it’s okay. We’re constantly sexualized by men but also shamed for being too sexual. We like to look at six-packs. What’s wrong with that?
To be woman is to be nothing but everything at the same time. It is to be healthy and unhealthy. Selfless. But also selfish. Needy, but in a good way—we need things to keep ourselves happy. Burdened but not a burden.
Expressive. The whole meaning of being women is about articulation and representation. Storytellers of not just their own stories but others like them as well. The best advocates for women are women. The best stories of women are written by women. Yet, the translation of what it means to be a woman is often written by a man. Women can’t have happy stories without going through hoops for a man. When men write women, they are oversexualized. Boobs. Why boobs? There has to be multiple sex scenes or no one’s going to pay attention. Swayed by the society of men, being a woman is to stray away from stereotypes while still embracing them.
Cyborgs. Women are cyborgs. Full of noise. Engulfed in the fiction of what it means to be a woman. Their entire being from the creation of themselves. There is no end or beginning to being a woman. Women are interconnected with each other. A web of different backgrounds, different origins, different characteristics, but at the same time we’re all women. Fragmented but whole. The disembodiment feeling is real.
Double consciousness. While men only see from their point of view, women are taught to view the world from both perspectives: male and female. Women are dualistic by nature. Thus, women can be both maternal and paternal. Women recognize the patriarchal views of society while conforming to their submissive role. They feel they must fit society's definition of mother, wife, and caregiver. Yet women strive to attain the dominance society grants men as fathers, doctors, and other authoritative figures. Women want to break free of their gender role by embracing all aspects of their consciousness.
Sexualized. Women are easily manipulated to conform to society's desires. We are supposed to control the primal urges of men. We are supposed to be resistant. We are dress-coded. We are not supposed to be tempting. We are not supposed to be sexual beings when it’s for ourselves, but when it’s for a man it’s okay. We’re constantly sexualized by men but also shamed for being too sexual. We like to look at six-packs. What’s wrong with that?
To be woman is to be nothing but everything at the same time. It is to be healthy and unhealthy. Selfless. But also selfish. Needy, but in a good way—we need things to keep ourselves happy. Burdened but not a burden.