Today while I was at the GAP trying on some clothes that I did't buy I thought about super woman - the made up one that doesn't actually exist - and I wondered what her origin is. How did this fictional woman come to be and why are so many women in this world trying to match her alleged ability to conquer everything in her life with grace and all before supper time?
I thought about superman too, and why he gets to be a strictly fictional character on a TV show or movie when super woman is supposed to be the real deal - super-human powers and all - living in every American household in suburbia. Except she isn't real because there is no possible way for a real woman to accomplish EVERYTHING.
If she isn't real... why is there pressure to meet such stringent and unrealistic standards? Who places those expectations on the shoulders of women in America and the world over? And why do we listen?
There is this illusion traveling through neighborhoods that in order to be of worth and value we must accomplish it all - that we must be THE super woman with universal powers. That if you take a moment to rest and be still, to laugh at yourself while you twirl and dance in the GAP dressing room, and let the laundry sit in the hamper for another day... that you simply couldn't be super woman and are therefore not worth very much.
What a GINORMOUS lie! But it is so preposterous and ridiculous that women are actually believing it and instead of valuing their unique gifts and talents and quirks, they feel like crap at the end of the day. It isn't meant to be that way. We as women are meant to feel like beings of worth and value for the simple fact that we are of great worth and value.
We don't need to conquer everything all at once to be important or valued or needed or useful. More on that tomorrow.
Why do you think the super woman myth exists and is so prevalent among women? What do you think?
Until tomorrow,
Kristin
3 comments:
Everything all at once--that's just not the way it works. Women have the innate ability to multitask which is a blessing in that we can juggle multiple responsiblities at the same time, but a curse when we mistakenly expect all the balls to be soaring high at the same instant. When one ball goes up another comes down--no matter how many you happen to be juggling at the moment. I'm going to work on a long-deserved project right now while the children are napping (ball up) but I know that because of that dinner will likely be late, or leftovers, or both (ball down). Superwomen can juggle--not cause things to leviate!!
I propose that it's because we feel the need to be in competition with each other. I don't know why or where that came from (perhaps a post for another day?) but it seems to drive a lot of what we do. Even if we aren't doing it out of spite I think we think, "If she can do all that so can I and then some!" It makes me tired.
it's nat by the way :)
Oh! and because we feel pressure from our husbands. Brandon doesn't say anything about it but I feel that because he went out and worked (or allegedly studied) I have to have done the equivalent at home. Except the work at home is never ever over.
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