Natalie’s Womanifesto
I am a woman. I am a sister, a daughter, and a friend. I am an athlete and an artist. I am strong and creative. I can be kind, loving, and considerate. I can be mean, bitchy, and selfish. I can be strong, physically and emotionally. I can also be weak and fall apart instantly. I can be independent and a leader and I can be a follower and a pushover. I act like I know who I am and what I stand for but really, I am not sure who I am or what I am doing. I am still searching for who I really am. I act like I am perfect but really I am kind of a mess. I am always changing and growing but I’ve always had a lot of the same opinions. They haven’t changed much over time but I now know why I think what I think. There is support and meaning behind my thoughts and ideas. I believe what I believe for a reason now and I am proud of this.
I believe in feminism. I recognize the power society sees women as having in a sexual sense and the lack of power society sees in women intellectually. I believe in the power of change. I know change is always possible and I am trying to change what I don’t like about the world we live in. I am comfortable with who I am even if I am a bitch. But, I still struggle to be comfortable with showing that “bitchy” person to others. I am aware of the privileges I have in everyday life because of my race. I am okay with being alone if that means I get to be myself. I would rather be alone than live a lie.
I have become comfortable with calling myself a feminist. Now I am trying to embrace what being a feminist means. To me, being a feminist means I want equal rights for all people. I don’t want to put women above men or make women more powerful than men. I want us all to be on the same level. I want women and men to coexist equally. I want equal pay and all legal rights to be the same but more importantly I want things to change on a social level. I don’t want to be treated like someone who is incapable of doing certain things because of my gender.
I am tired of being inferior. I am tired of walking into a store to ask about electronics or something “masculine” and being treated like I am stupid by a male customer service worker. I don’t want to walk out of the store wondering how the situation would have gone differently if I would have brought my dad with me instead of coming alone. This is hard to change when “in the social construction of two sexes and two genders today, one is constructed to be superior, the other to be inferior” (Lorber 38).
I don’t want to take away from the men in our society. I am not bitter. I don’t to want to make men the inferior gender for once. I just I want to give to the women in our society and make everyone equal. On top of all of this I want to make others see the world in a feminist way and I want men to know that its okay to be a man and be a feminist.
I recognize that as a woman my greatest power, my greatest influence on men is the power “between my legs” rather than the “power between my ears.” I don’t like this at all. If I could change it I would, in a heartbeat. I value intelligence, thoughtfulness, and critical thinking. I have always been taught that I am as smart as any man or woman out there. I have always believed I can do anything if I put my mind to it. I’ve been told to use my intelligence to get me places in life. I grew
up with parents, especially a mother, who instilled these beliefs in me. She tells my sister and I that we are capable of doing whatever we want in life and she truly believes what she is saying.
Where this power lies and society’s lack of respect for a woman’s power between her ears makes me so angry. But, in another sense this lack of respect motivates me. It makes me want to prove this statement wrong. It makes me want to be a strong feminist, a strong woman, and go somewhere in life where people never thought I could go. I want to go somewhere because of my creativity and a woman and because of this power I have. I want to be recognized solely for what I do, not for my gender and what I do. Especially when I didn’t even ask for this power.
I am a changed person. I want change to happen in society too. I want all women to recognize that we are not the inferior sex and do not have to continue to let ourselves be treated this way. I want women to stand up for themselves and take Inga Muscio’s words to heart. Women in our society need to realize change is possible. “A lot of brilliant women all thinking about the same thing at the same time is very powerful. This is how change happens” (Muscio 160). Change happens when we want to make it happen. I want the men and women in this world to create change rather than just sit back and think someone else will do the work.
I am an independent person. I am driven and expect respect from everyone. I am not afraid to compete. I am not afraid to fight for what I want in life. If I put my mind to something no one can stop me but myself. “A Bitch has a mind of her own and wants to use it” (Freeman 3). If these are qualities a bitch has, then I am a bitch. I am proud of it. Even though I am proud to be a bitch, it’s harder than it looks to “…realize that Bitch is Beautiful and that we have nothing to lose” (Freeman 6). I say I am proud and I am, but embracing these qualities is still something I struggle with and think I always will. I hope to become a woman who seizes being a bitch, regardless of what other people think.
I know as a white person in the U.S. I get a lot of things I don’t deserve. White privilege “puts me at an advantage” whether I ask for it or not (McIntosh 1). Growing up in Iowa and going to school with less than 20 people who were not white from kindergarten all the way through high school, I know close to nothing about what its like to not have white privilege. I am guilty of overlooking this privilege. I do on a daily basis. Over the past few months I’ve been forced to face this and become more open minded. I think I have been very ignorant and naïve about all of this in the past. I have come to the point where I actually feel guilty for being white.
“I am alone because I don’t find it easy to trust.” “I am alone because I choose to be. I am alone because I can be. I am alone but not lonely” (Lane 2). I believe being alone is better than being with someone and not being happy. Being alone is better than being with someone and not being completely, one hundred percent you. I think hiding yourself and being someone else is like being trapped. Being yourself is being free. I think you are better off without a man, woman, anyone who doesn’t allow you to be yourself.
I am a feminist. I will use my intelligence to achieve what I want in life. I will continue to change and I will change something in the world. Eventually, I hope I will be okay with being a bitch if that’s who I really am. I will truly become aware of what being white means. I am a woman. I am all of these things. I believe all of these things. I have a lot of opinions and ideas on gender, race, and sexuality any they are always changing but this is where I am at right now and I am okay with it.
WORKS CITED
Freeman, Jo. "The BITCH Manifesto." Voice of the Women's Liberation Movement 1971.
Lane, Lea. "Why I'm Alone." Huffington Post, March 20, 2009.
Lorber, Judith. "Believing is Seeing: Biology as Ideology." Paradoxes of Gender (1994): 37-54.
McIntosh, Peggy. “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” Race, Class and Gender in the United States. 4tg. St. Martins, New
York: 2002.
Muscio, Inga. “Rape Not Cunts.” Cunt: A Declaration of Independence. Canada: Seal Press, 1998.
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