I started commenting on Jaunebug's post and apparently had so much to say that I decided to make it a post of its own. I am only twenty-four hours into the dress dare and I have a lot on my mind... It is a wonderful time yet a very difficult time to be a woman. We have more opportunities and choices than ever, but at the same time we feel as though we are being pulled in every direction and stretched in every area of life.
On one hand, they are telling us to focus on our education, earn five or six degrees and put everything into our careers until we are running a major corporation. There is no time for love and marriage, we must ignore our fertility and wear ugly pant-suits. Be like men, they tell us, and then you will have power and you will be respected.
On the flip end, our over-sexualized culture and media tells us that we are "empowered" by our feminine bodies. Our main goal must be to be outwardly beautiful. Strut, flaunt, show some skin, enhance, tuck, eat this, wear that... Men will want you, and you will have power over them. Unfortunately in this case, we are being objectified, used, and reduced to body parts.
Lastly, some tell us to do it ALL. Work full-time, have two children, do the housework, pay the bills, go out with your girlfriends, run the PTA, cook and eat healthy, exercise, get promoted, plan your best friend's wedding and travel with your husband. We all know that as ideal as this sounds (and it probably sounds more like your life than the other options), it is overall unrealistic and undoubtedly related to the increase in heart disease these days.
Is there a happy medium in all of these mixed messages? What about the part when i said that it is a wonderful time to be a woman? This is when I am so grateful for my faith.
I have strong and feminine modern day saints to lead me and pray for me. Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta was literally called to change the world, by loving the poorest of the poor. St. Gianna Beretta Molla was a working mother, (a physician!), who laid down her life so that her baby could live. And of course I have Mary, the model of all women and femininity, to pray for me and to guide me to her son.
As women today in the United States, our opportunities are endless. So how do we chose, if we can't do it all? We don't. Rather, we listen to what God wants from us. God knows what is best for us and if we stay close to Him, follow his guidance and give of ourselves through love, we will fulfill our vocation as women. We will be strong AND feminine, we will be respected AND beautiful. For some women, this will mean a life of service. For some it will mean a life of prayer. For some it will mean a career (though I doubt He will require a pantsuit from you). For some it will mean marriage. For most, it will mean motherhood, either physically or spiritually. For many, it will include little bits of everything.
God gave every human being equal dignity, but he created men and he created women. He made us different and complementary, as a part of His greater plan. He created YOU for a purpose. "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb" (Ps 139:13). Being a woman today means so many things, all reflective of His greatness. So I dare you to wear your skirt because you love being a woman, and let's stand united in a new feminism that always shines forth God's greatness and love.
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