I am, as some of you may know, female. Being female, I give a lot of thought to what it means to be female and my identity and such. I give it a lot of thought because I think the answer has been tainted and warped to the point where most females have no idea what womanhood means, or even what motherhood means.
I am not an expert on the subject, bit this is my take on it:
Think of a superhero: Spiderman, Elastagirl, whoever (I’m partial to X-men, myself). Continue this analogy with that superhero:
First, let's understand that there is difference between the person (Wolverine) the gift (Healing) and what the person uses the gift to (Be awesome). No one would ever say that Wolverine is just a healing superpower, because even though he does have that gift, he's also a person, with character, with personality, with strengths, weaknesses and an attitude problem. Does Spiderman somehow degrade the identity of Peter Parker every time he uses his spider scenes? No! Using his gift will change Peter Parker, but only to make him more awesome! Not by erasing who he is.
Every superhero struggles with his identity. But in the end, no superhero decides that they are better off without their gift. No superhero decides to turn away from their gift. It’s their destiny! It’s still them, just with added superpowers!
In my view, it’s the same with women. Did you know woman have a superpower for empathy, diplomacy and multi-tasking and reading human emotions? Did you know both men and women get more satisfaction from a conversation with a women over a conversation with a man? It's true! Now, just because a hero has a superpower, doesn't mean they are the best at that gift. For instance, Professor X and Jean Grey both have telekinetic as a superpower, but the power isn't equal. Gifts are given, but still have to be developed.
Motherhood is am AWESOME Superpower. You can create life! You can produce amazing cancer-killing, life-giving, miracle milk! You can sense when your children are in danger! You can read minds! But, like any superpower, that’s not WHO you are, it’s just a gift that you have. Yes it will change you, but to make you more awesome!!
The only difference it what the world is telling the superhero. The world tells Peter Parker that spider senses and wall climbing are incredible, unique, and cool. The world tells women that their superpowers are lame, ordinary, and even low-class. THAT IS A LIE!
Really, I have studied pregnancy, labor, breast milk, and nurturing. They are incredible, unique, and cool. They cannot be duplicated by anything else. They can’t even be explained by scientists.
Now, does that mean that the greatest thing a women can accomplished is giving birth and lactating? Heck no! That’s like saying the most Spiderman accomplished was climbing a wall. It’s a gift! It’s a tool! It’s given to a person, an individual with an identity, and that person needs to take it and use it accomplish great things. And, as with every superhero, a choice needs to be made: Will you use your powers for good...?
Relevant xkcd
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting thought, I'm going to use it. A superpower may be the first thing people notice about a superhero, but it wouldn't mean anything without the accomplishments they achieve via that power. And, y'know, there's a person underneath the mask.
ReplyDeleteI like that a lot. Wonderful thought.