Madonna, of all people, asks us to imagine the rough life of the female. The poor thing laments:
Color me unsympathetic. The feminism-driven rise of The Western Female has been nothing short of revolutionary. And at a cost to men far greater than most people are willing to admit. So I am not moved.
However, a thought struck me the other day while at the Natural History museum. Maybe it was all those anthropological exhibits of primitive peoples and extinct civilizations. In one way, women do have a tough task laid on them by Mother Nature herself.
(As I've said before, if the divine is a Goddess, then please explain childbirth and PMS. Seems like a feminine creatrix would be a bit less, well, clumsy.)
From earliest years, the job of a female is to be pretty. Not only the larger world, but her female relatives and peers especially drive this lesson home. She thus spends vast hours in front of mirrors, adjusting how she looks, what she wears, etc. It is a petrie dish for a certain kind of narcissism and obsession with surface. But that is the price for finding a mate, attracting a male, for whom feminine beauty is paramount.
But, and this is Mother Nature's kicker, once she has attracted the right male (and he has his own rough course to run), she starts to have babies. And then, in a neck-wrenching 180 degree blink-of-an-eye, Princess Little Miss Pretty has to become Mommy, the constant tender of a small creature which depends on her every waking moment, and then for years and years after that. From self-absorption she is thrown headlong into selflessness, as a requirement. In the traditional, and not showbiz, sense of the word, the virgin becomes a madonna.
Contemporary Western women, with all due respect, have a much softer jolt. The world that Western men have made for them (sic) makes motherhood far easier. But for most females in almost all history, excepting the very rich or royal, this bait and switch must be quite a trial. And a lot of modern entitled Western women refuse to adjust at all, wreaking havoc on husband and children.
And I am aware that women, once they become mothers, are also encouraged to stay attractive. No easy task, being both Belle of the Ball and Mommy.
Girls can wear jeans
And cut their hair short
Wear shirts and boots
'Cause it's OK to be a boy
But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading
'Cause you think that being a girl is degrading
Strong inside but you don't know it
Good little girls they never show it
When you open up your mouth to speak
Could you be a little weak
Hurt that's not supposed to show
And tears that fall when no one knows
When you're trying hard to be your best
Could you be a little less
Do you know what it feels like for a girl
Do you know what it feels like in this world
For a girl
In this world
Do you know
Do you know
Do you know what it feels like for a girl
What it feels like in this world
However, a thought struck me the other day while at the Natural History museum. Maybe it was all those anthropological exhibits of primitive peoples and extinct civilizations. In one way, women do have a tough task laid on them by Mother Nature herself.
(As I've said before, if the divine is a Goddess, then please explain childbirth and PMS. Seems like a feminine creatrix would be a bit less, well, clumsy.)
From earliest years, the job of a female is to be pretty. Not only the larger world, but her female relatives and peers especially drive this lesson home. She thus spends vast hours in front of mirrors, adjusting how she looks, what she wears, etc. It is a petrie dish for a certain kind of narcissism and obsession with surface. But that is the price for finding a mate, attracting a male, for whom feminine beauty is paramount.
But, and this is Mother Nature's kicker, once she has attracted the right male (and he has his own rough course to run), she starts to have babies. And then, in a neck-wrenching 180 degree blink-of-an-eye, Princess Little Miss Pretty has to become Mommy, the constant tender of a small creature which depends on her every waking moment, and then for years and years after that. From self-absorption she is thrown headlong into selflessness, as a requirement. In the traditional, and not showbiz, sense of the word, the virgin becomes a madonna.
From this
To this
Contemporary Western women, with all due respect, have a much softer jolt. The world that Western men have made for them (sic) makes motherhood far easier. But for most females in almost all history, excepting the very rich or royal, this bait and switch must be quite a trial. And a lot of modern entitled Western women refuse to adjust at all, wreaking havoc on husband and children.
And I am aware that women, once they become mothers, are also encouraged to stay attractive. No easy task, being both Belle of the Ball and Mommy.
2 comments:
»Color me unsympathetic«
We American women in the early 21st century are the luckiest in the world.
Period.
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