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| From This is Shangrila |
As fellow sisters in womanhood, I want to say something important.
I stand before you today as a conservative Christian woman who...
Wait... come back! Remember, you're the ones with the supposedly open minds, give me a listen.
I wanted to take just a short moment to ask you something. Okay. What I am asking is a favor.
Twice in the last 24 hours I have come across comments about how it is to live as a woman in a male-dominated world. Please, for the love of women everywhere, please stop telling us that that is how the world is.
I know, I know. Your mind is now overflowing with justification for that thought. I get it. You feel you're a victim of the White American Man, who has kept you down and held you back and has not allowed you full equality, etc. I've heard your side. I want to share mine with you.
Please, sit back down and take a deep, cleansing breath-- in through your nose and out through your mouth, just like Oprah taught you.
Okay. Calm? Good. Here we go.
Why I Don't Feel Oppressed by Men
Women have for decades now been crying loudly in the media about the oppression of women by men. I don't buy it.
Women can vote, own land, marry and divorce as they wish, get an education and do anything that men can do, legally and without anything stopping them.
We are not victims. I made the choices that helped me arrive at the life I have now. I chose to get married young. I chose to focus on motherhood above all other pursuits in life, including career, travel, wealth, social activities and hobbies. I chose that. No one forced me to do this-- in this day and age, if a woman wants her children to be raised in daycare or by a relative so she can have a career, she can choose that and no one will raise an eyebrow at her choice.
Men are continually being torn down and emasculated by modern society. Little by little women have hacked away at what it is to be a man until we have a generation of men who don't know how to be men. Women have a lot of influence over men, never forget this.
Now, you might think I'm just plain wrong. But don't tell me I couldn't have achieved anything I wanted to. I already have.
Own your lives, women! Stop blaming, men, the wealthy, religion, your parents, your teachers, your "lack of self-esteem", your childhood, etc. for the choices YOU have made.
You want to talk about empowering women? It's incredibly empowering to recognize that you can make your life ANYTHING you want! You have all the power already! (BTW, this goes for men, too.)
The only thing holding you back is YOU.
Yes, we need to teach girls to be strong and fearless, but not by telling them what victims they are!
Yes, we need to teach girls to be strong and fearless, but not by telling them what victims they are!
It's exhausting, isn't it? All this victimhood and screeching and hollering for "equality" when we already have equality. (I suspect what most modern feminists are seeking isn't equality per se, but special treatment.)
Happiness is within reach, just relax a little, stop trying to control everything (including society, please), let go a little and LIVE. Life can be wonderful.
4 comments:
The pinnacle of "equal rights" is the complete redefinition of what a man and woman are. It isn't about equal pay for equal work, it's about liberating women from motherhood and redefining marriage so that gender no longer can be considered a defining characteristic.
Yes! Good points.
It would be really interesting to know how many of these women really are active in their wards and have strong testimonies. Of course, I'm a man, but I just keep thinking that the Lord's time is His own time, and His plan is His own plan, and that our pushing the prophets/apostles for something we want with staged protests is antithetical to everything we purport to believe in. If the church is true, this is just wrong. If you don't believe that, there are other churches that will accommodate.
Well, what's funny is I wasn't even thinking about THAT when I wrote this-- I was looking at the secular political world, but you are absolutely right. When I called them sisters, I meant sisters in womanhood. Ha! Maybe I'd better change my wording a tad.
But, I totally agree with your comments. I get kind of a stomach ache when I read about those sisters in the LDS church who are simply not accepting the council they have been given. It seems like in their struggle between humility and pride, pride is winning.
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