Do not call us just the “fairer sex” | Jacquie says | ENTERTAINMENT
Do not call us just the “fairer sex”
June/21/08 06:44 PM Filed in: Jacquie
says
I watched this slideshow,
produced by The Washington Times and I
did not see women in Pakistan. I saw women.
Women who are being found guilty of nothing more than being women. And I cried.
How is it in the year 2008, almost 2009 this is happening? How can a man decide to disfigure, rape, beat or kill his female family members because of HIS misguided belief that the global feminine we have some debt to pay to his honor?
How is it that corruption in the name of greed is allowed to destroy so many of the earth’s sisters?
I think of the biblical saying “the meek shall inherit the earth.” I, and many of the women I know, would not be seen as “meek” as these women do, but we share our gender with these women, who in the face of nothing, still smile, hold hands, enjoy and celebrate together.
The other night I gathered my girlfriends together to dance, drink a little (ok, a lot) and laugh with me as I meet that 50 –year -old milestone. In the faces of these women, I see my girlfriends.
Each of them is as different as are we.
I am by fair the oldest of the crew, but probably the one with a tendency to go farther, dance harder then the rest. I enjoy the celebrations of my life. And I don’t worry about the scorn or comment of others.
I love my girlfriends. I love to hug them, be with them, and share with them. It’s not sexual, though I find them to each have their own unique sexuality. It is that they bring me joy, which brings out the hugs, the kisses. The desire to twirl them around on the dance floor and laugh as we shake and shimmy with abandon.
I don’t dance well, but I dance with great enthusiasm because it is freeing for that hour, or two, to not care what anyone thinks, but to just move with great joie de vivre,
And I saw that in these women of Pakistan shelters. Though their lives are very meager – particularly by my white, middle-class American standings - still they smile, they hug, they braid each others hair and it seems, even twirl around a bit.
I think maybe a small part of their joy is being with other women. Women, who are soft, gentle and will not hurt with words or fists. Women that they can trust to be with.
It may be that that biblical reference of the meek, is that women shall inherit the earth. And when we do, I truly hope we do better than the “mightier sex” has done.
You see we are called the “fairer sex,” which is usually interpreted to mean light, of less substance. In need of the mightier sex to protect us.
However that might be a very wrong interpretation. I know I shall forever see it as meaning we are the kinder, more reasonable, safer, saner, and reasonable sex.
It does not mean we are weak. It means we are much stronger. Just not with fists and iron. But with joy, righteousness and the ability to still love, when all else is lost. We may be the meek, but this is the meek of mildness and comfort, not fear.
And I hope we, the sisters of the earth, inherit this world – and that we do so soon.
If not for ourselves, for the children and the women of Pakistan and the world.
Women who are being found guilty of nothing more than being women. And I cried.
How is it in the year 2008, almost 2009 this is happening? How can a man decide to disfigure, rape, beat or kill his female family members because of HIS misguided belief that the global feminine we have some debt to pay to his honor?
How is it that corruption in the name of greed is allowed to destroy so many of the earth’s sisters?
I think of the biblical saying “the meek shall inherit the earth.” I, and many of the women I know, would not be seen as “meek” as these women do, but we share our gender with these women, who in the face of nothing, still smile, hold hands, enjoy and celebrate together.
The other night I gathered my girlfriends together to dance, drink a little (ok, a lot) and laugh with me as I meet that 50 –year -old milestone. In the faces of these women, I see my girlfriends.
Each of them is as different as are we.
I am by fair the oldest of the crew, but probably the one with a tendency to go farther, dance harder then the rest. I enjoy the celebrations of my life. And I don’t worry about the scorn or comment of others.
I love my girlfriends. I love to hug them, be with them, and share with them. It’s not sexual, though I find them to each have their own unique sexuality. It is that they bring me joy, which brings out the hugs, the kisses. The desire to twirl them around on the dance floor and laugh as we shake and shimmy with abandon.
I don’t dance well, but I dance with great enthusiasm because it is freeing for that hour, or two, to not care what anyone thinks, but to just move with great joie de vivre,
And I saw that in these women of Pakistan shelters. Though their lives are very meager – particularly by my white, middle-class American standings - still they smile, they hug, they braid each others hair and it seems, even twirl around a bit.
I think maybe a small part of their joy is being with other women. Women, who are soft, gentle and will not hurt with words or fists. Women that they can trust to be with.
It may be that that biblical reference of the meek, is that women shall inherit the earth. And when we do, I truly hope we do better than the “mightier sex” has done.
You see we are called the “fairer sex,” which is usually interpreted to mean light, of less substance. In need of the mightier sex to protect us.
However that might be a very wrong interpretation. I know I shall forever see it as meaning we are the kinder, more reasonable, safer, saner, and reasonable sex.
It does not mean we are weak. It means we are much stronger. Just not with fists and iron. But with joy, righteousness and the ability to still love, when all else is lost. We may be the meek, but this is the meek of mildness and comfort, not fear.
And I hope we, the sisters of the earth, inherit this world – and that we do so soon.
If not for ourselves, for the children and the women of Pakistan and the world.
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