On Being Female

Growing up I realized the significance of being female early on, the distinctions were clear. The predilections of behavior socially imposed. My natural inclination being to challenge these impositions. I leant towards what I wanted to do and what I was good at. These things crossed stereotypes and gender roles of what it was to be a girl, or a boy; I enjoyed getting my hands dirty, scraping my knees, running fast along side the boys, arm wrestling at noon, and staying outside discovering. Being labeled a tomboy early on in relation to my aptitudes and general disinterest in girl conditioning, was a term I didn't fully identify with. I quote Keirkegaard in saying that, "Once you label me, you negate me",  as having a full experience of myself brought varying interests and aptitudes, across gender lines.

My experience of boys growing up was, for the most part (besides the macho posturing) favorable. Granted, being personable made my social acceptance among my male peers easy and their companionship mutually enjoyable. Boys were more direct and laid back. On the other hand, girls, generally speaking, I found to be more fickle and changeable, less predictable. My acceptance based on whims and insecurities, rather than facts and experiential realities.

Through the process of accumulated experience, education, and integration I've developed more of an understanding, compassion, and desire to make right the influence and impressions of gender roles. Men and women are not in their right place in society, as evidenced by the subjugation of women and the illegitimate power of men, ascribed by the processes of Patriarchy. With the sexes not in their right power, the imbalance teeters precariously to our current forecast of potential extinction.

My contention necessitates authentic dialogue exploring cognitive dissonance, challenging the status quo, dismantling illegitimate power structures in one's life, as both men and women. Taking the initiative in one's life to value integrity over superficiality, as by embracing authentic power by definition, men and women can work to be rid of the insecurities that flimsy gender constructs afford us, suggesting a niche to build a future the children can live in.