Your assessment of the word confirms what I always thought - it's an expression of a desire for freedom. Most, if not all of it is social conditioning. I think the recent non-binary phenomenon is mostly a fad. For all I know there may be some people who are biologically so close to being of indeterminate sex that non-binary is a useful term, but I think most of it is a result of girls turning away from their sex because they are terrified of being a woman. It was always a scary business, but I feel that a lot of the ground gained during the second wave of the feminist movement has been lost, and to a large extent, women have given it away. To be fair, the forces of social conditioning are powerful, and it takes a lot of guts to stand up to them. I was a tomboy and, remain so. If all it means is that I claim the right to be what I am and not be told what to do, that's what I am. Thanks for this, Jo.
You're right. In the 80s and all eras actually, we girls have done all sorts of things to have the body of a boy - starvation, drugs, bullemia and so on. This expression of womanhood is indeed safer for us, because femininity is seen to be a weak trait. I'm not sure that "safety" has the same meaning today, which is more about emotional safety. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe today's girls don't necessarily want to be boys, but they don't want to be thought of as girls either, because we're still the weaker sex. We want everything, and so we should. But we shouldn't give up who we are in order to play the game with boys. We can still be women and fight the fight.
Absolutely. When I had an eating disorder in my twenties I read "Fat is a Feminist Issue" by Susie Orbach and I always say that it saved my life. It explained why women lose and gain weight and it all made total sense to me.
People bend over backwards to do what society expects of them because they don't want to be isolated from the tribe. If women said no more often they'd be a lot better off, I think. If you buy into all the trends and silly rules you go mad. Decide what's right for you and respect the decisions of others - I think that's the way to make a nice world for everyone. Almost impossible in the more restrictive societies of course, but elsewhere, personal autonomy could work wonders.
Oh Jules you must read today's essay over at The Commonplace. Thomas talks about personal choice, and the way he gets there is fascinating and remarkable.
Your assessment of the word confirms what I always thought - it's an expression of a desire for freedom. Most, if not all of it is social conditioning. I think the recent non-binary phenomenon is mostly a fad. For all I know there may be some people who are biologically so close to being of indeterminate sex that non-binary is a useful term, but I think most of it is a result of girls turning away from their sex because they are terrified of being a woman. It was always a scary business, but I feel that a lot of the ground gained during the second wave of the feminist movement has been lost, and to a large extent, women have given it away. To be fair, the forces of social conditioning are powerful, and it takes a lot of guts to stand up to them. I was a tomboy and, remain so. If all it means is that I claim the right to be what I am and not be told what to do, that's what I am. Thanks for this, Jo.
You're right. In the 80s and all eras actually, we girls have done all sorts of things to have the body of a boy - starvation, drugs, bullemia and so on. This expression of womanhood is indeed safer for us, because femininity is seen to be a weak trait. I'm not sure that "safety" has the same meaning today, which is more about emotional safety. Or maybe I'm wrong. Maybe today's girls don't necessarily want to be boys, but they don't want to be thought of as girls either, because we're still the weaker sex. We want everything, and so we should. But we shouldn't give up who we are in order to play the game with boys. We can still be women and fight the fight.
Absolutely. When I had an eating disorder in my twenties I read "Fat is a Feminist Issue" by Susie Orbach and I always say that it saved my life. It explained why women lose and gain weight and it all made total sense to me.
People bend over backwards to do what society expects of them because they don't want to be isolated from the tribe. If women said no more often they'd be a lot better off, I think. If you buy into all the trends and silly rules you go mad. Decide what's right for you and respect the decisions of others - I think that's the way to make a nice world for everyone. Almost impossible in the more restrictive societies of course, but elsewhere, personal autonomy could work wonders.
Oh Jules you must read today's essay over at The Commonplace. Thomas talks about personal choice, and the way he gets there is fascinating and remarkable.
I'll take a look, thanks 😊