For Women- What Does Being A Women Mean To You?

[ashdawn8287]

Oh also, I like how I posted this in discussion and it was moved to chit chat. Like it is just women chatting. So stupid. This does deal with PTSD and healing.

 

[mamachick]

Maybe that is because it is lots of opinions and not ptsd related. I dont know why.

 

[ashdawn8287]

True. Who knows how they run this site anyways.

 

[Anna]

As I have grown older and I hope wiser, I realise what patriarchy did to me and my sisters. The cruel society depicting women as no more than sex objects and slaves. It makes me angry when I look back to how I was influenced by it and the great effect it had on my life. Especially the media makes me very angry. They say women in the west are liberated, I beg to differ.

I always fought against the system. I did well in maths and physics. I have worked in male professions such as aviation, engineering and I fought very hard to be treated as an equal. I was always made to feel stupid because I was an attractive female which made my blood boil.

I researched patriarchy I found it very interesting that it only started when we became domesticated and started farming. Before that men and women were hunter gatherers, they would work as a team alongside each other.

What shocks me the most, is the innate hate that a great many men have for women just because they are women. I found this very interesting documentary on the matter. It is an hour long but worth watching:-

http://www.michaelkaufman.com/2013/do-men-hate-women-talking-about-misogyny/

 

[Changing4Best]

I'm in the USA, way out in the mountains, in the poorest area of our country. There are no catcalls here, no one has pinched me or touched me indecently. I cannot say the same for the bigger cities I have lived in!

I was never able to become a mother, though my hubby and I certainly tried! We were married 23 years in all. I was his "other half" and he mine. I am bereft now that he has died. It is a lonely life, but I do not plan to remarry for many reasons.

One starts as a baby, men and women are pretty much equal then, except boys get to wear blue and girls pink. As we grow, boyish girls are called tomboys (of which I was one). Girlish boys are called sissies or worse! In the teen years, we usually start to fall into the male/female roles. Granted, some don't, agreed.

To be a woman is to be a daughter of Eve. No matter what role one chooses, one is still a DAUGHTER. That does not change, no matter if one marries, etc. Being a wife or mother are USUALLY choices, though in some countries this may not be the case. It is here in the USA though. On the other hand, if one is a rape victim, one could become a mother without having chosen to be one! Same with premarital or unprotected sex.

Personally I was not a good wife in terms of wifely duties. I burned cooking, and even if I didn't, my hubby rarely liked what I cooked. Cleaning? FORGET ABOUT IT! LOL... I used to think about myself, "I'm not much of a wife." but I don't know if my hubby felt that way or not. He never said. None the less, I am still Mrs. Barrera, which I get called sometimes still. I like that, it means that in some way my hubby is still with me. What am I without him? A widow. And I'll always be a woman.

 

[ashdawn8287]

Thanks for sharing Mrs. Barrera ;).


I am in the USA too, I guess my experiences have been different from yours. Everything is just so sexualized on the media and things are out of control especially my generation because of the garbage on TV.

I do know the school systems have changed their ways of handling things now in my area. The children aren't even allowed to touch each other now. I can see why from my experiences.

 

[Britt.f7]

Okay, I grew up in the 70's and early 80's. I'm 47. One of my first attackers was a female babysitter. Then, when I was a teen, I was attacked by a group of boys I thought were friends. I had a hard time reading this thread at first because I wasn't sure. I know my dad labels me a feminist, as do others. If I had to have a label, I guess that would be it. I was raised by a single mother, around other single mother's, who were all putting themselves through nursing school. One was even a stock car driver. I learned not to wait around for a land lord to fix things, and that we all chipped in for cleaning and cooking. There wasn't a man in our household. I'm the oldest of two, not counting my father's household.

I am married, but do not like to be called Mrs.. For that matter, I didn't like being called Miss. Why should it matter if I was single or not, when it does not differentiate with whether a man is. I also retained my last name, though my father refuses to use it and believes that I am being disrespectful to my husband, my brother, and himself. I think it is my name given to me at birth, why shouldn't I keep it? As far as friends feeling the same, nope, none of my friends or family feel the way I do. So I call them Mrs, if that's what they want, or by their new names. Freedom of choice.

As far as my husband goes, he doesn't get caught up in how each gender is "suppose" to behave. We have a fairly equal marriage, as equal as one can be. Point is, we are both happy with it. He doesn't stick up to my dad's sexist remarks. He knows my dad just says them to egg me on. I have two sons who I hope will make someone happy one day. I've done my best, with my husband, to raise them with respect and not thinking that they are better simply because they have a penis. (which is how my brother has been treated).

When God gave me my boys, my dad said he thought God had a sense of humor by doing so. I told him, maybe God was just showing me I could be loved without being hurt. Or something to that effect.

My boys tease me in sexist ways, but I know they are not serious. I raised them better then that. Besides, between their dad and I they grew up without normal gender roles. At least in this household. Wouldn't have it any other way.