Wednesday, June 27, 2018

cannot recall...

... the specifics, therefore I am unable to report who said it or what they were talking about when I wrote down a snippet of conversation I heard on public radio. But it is so true, and struck such a deep chord in me, knowing my past and the generations of corseted, hat-and-glove wearing, prim-and- proper women who tried their best to instill some behavior in me, I said: Wow. All those women - properly raised themselves in the grandest Southern tradition, who gave it their all in an effort to civilize the child who ran barefoot through the woods, splashing in the creek, climbing trees- did have an impact. They are remembered often and fondly as the forebears who made me who I am.

In addition to attempting to get me to wear skirts with the proper foundations (slippery slips) and the curse of miserably hot and sticky hosiery, comb my hair and sit up straight: they also instilled the distressing way of life that was forced upon them by a male dominated society. The culture, when my grandmothers were growing up, when my mother and her sisters were growing up, and when I was a child expected that women should be "socialized to be compromising and accommodating". We were required to bend, acquiesce, agree to the demands and parameters of a world run by white, Anglo-Saxon white men. The ones who influenced those females who raised me, back in the 'it takes a village' era were  Baptist or Methodist or Presbyterian, so you can add the 'P' to the 'W.A.S._' as well.

I am thankful that our society has begun to change. I am thankful that daughters and young adults can make choices that were not available a century, or a generation ago. Young people, especially capable females, moving from the isolated world of education into the larger world of commerce, job seekers and productive members of society have many options that did not exist twenty or fifty or 100 years ago. That's all I am going to say for now.

No comments:

Post a Comment