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Considering femininity.
Feb. 2nd, 2009 09:55 pmHi, all.
For those of you who are interested, I open this topic for discussion. If we look at history, childbirth, and the nurturing nature that supposedly accompanies said biological function, women have been largely defined by their ability to give birth, and the subsequent gentle, caring, nurturing nature that goes along with raising children. By contrast, men have never been characterised by their ability to be fathers - certainly not beyond the idea that the ability to get a woman pregnant (particularly with sons) is a sign of virility. The notion that men might actually participate in raising children is a fairly recent one.
So, my question is this - how does one construct femininity independently of childbirth/childrearing? I remember reading a childfree Wiccan blog (in which religion I had expected the mothering/nurturing aspects of womanhood to be paramount), which stated that bearing children was merely one aspect of expressing the creative desire, and that said desire could be expressed through other means. This was particularly comforting to me, since I am very interested in writing and painting...
What are your thoughts?
For those of you who are interested, I open this topic for discussion. If we look at history, childbirth, and the nurturing nature that supposedly accompanies said biological function, women have been largely defined by their ability to give birth, and the subsequent gentle, caring, nurturing nature that goes along with raising children. By contrast, men have never been characterised by their ability to be fathers - certainly not beyond the idea that the ability to get a woman pregnant (particularly with sons) is a sign of virility. The notion that men might actually participate in raising children is a fairly recent one.
So, my question is this - how does one construct femininity independently of childbirth/childrearing? I remember reading a childfree Wiccan blog (in which religion I had expected the mothering/nurturing aspects of womanhood to be paramount), which stated that bearing children was merely one aspect of expressing the creative desire, and that said desire could be expressed through other means. This was particularly comforting to me, since I am very interested in writing and painting...
What are your thoughts?
