MARISSA BURR
Opinion Editor
“Of, relating to, or being the sex that typically has the capacity to bear young or produce eggs,” says Merriam-Webster Dictionary. “All of the females of the human species. All such females who have arrived at the age of puberty,” lists The Law Dictionary. Advancing legislation in Alabama states that barring an accident or anomaly someone who has a “reproductive system that at some point produces ova” and male as someone who, barring accident or anomaly, has a “reproductive system that at some point produces sperm.”
This is womanhood. Broken down into scientific jargon and detached terminology, but women can be classified as such.
Yet, they are so much more than that.
Women are powerful. Women are strong. Women are intelligent. Women are empathetic. Women are more than the patriarchal society tries to reduce them to.
They are sexualized for the bodies they were given, chastised for not doing what they’re told and ridiculed for standing up for themselves.
Don’t believe me? I sent out a survey on my social media for students who identified as women to fill out, responding to various questions aimed towards learning about things they’ve experienced that their masculine counterparts may not have.
The results were, unfortunately, exactly what I expected.
Almost every woman said that they felt unsafe on the daily because of their gender identity. This wasn’t surprising to me, seeing as I used to run with keys between my fingers and still have pepper spray. I won’t go anywhere alone at night, and even during the daytime, I’ve avoided certain situations out of fear.
Over half of the respondents reported that they’d faced discrimination or harassment based on their gender both at school and in the workplace. Their stories range from sexualizing comments to demeaning attitudes to full-blown harassment.
Being a woman means toeing this line between being pretty enough that you aren’t made fun of but not too pretty because you’ll attract attention and distract men. It means having to dumb yourself down so you aren’t ridiculed for talking too much or being a know-it-all. This gender identity comes with the stereotype that if you don’t lie down and take it, you’re a (*insert any feminine degrading term here).
One response stated, “I often feel that I am not being taken seriously. I’ve taken a few classes on campus in which I am not acknowledged as much as my male classmates. I feel like my male counterparts would never truly understand how it feels to walk into a room and have all eyes fall on you. It’s hard to present ideas and be taken seriously without coming across as a bitch. But, if you don’t act seriously, you won’t be taken seriously.”
No matter how successful a woman is, the patriarchy is actively working against her. For a 2019 Politico Magazine article, president of the African American Intellectual History Society, Keisha N. Blain, writes that, “Regardless of a woman’s experience, education or abilities, the patriarchal nature of U.S. society fosters the perception that women are less qualified and less competent than men. What patriarchy has done is convince people that a strong and intelligent woman represents a problem; a disruption to the social order rather than an integral part of it.”
Humans would not be able to exist without women — whether you like it or not. They are essential to life, and should not be treated as a lesser being because of it. Again, if you don’t believe me, I present the topic of menstruation and hormones.
According to the government resource MedlinePlus, “Every month, your body prepares for pregnancy. If no pregnancy occurs, the uterus sheds its lining. The menstrual blood is partly blood and partly tissue from inside the uterus.”
This is a natural bodily function that a large majority of those with a uterus experience. “Experience” being a polite term of course. In my own words, I would characterize my monthly cycle as something you suffer from or are forced to endure. This process starts around age 11 and goes until your early 50s. That’s over 40 years of having to deal with uncontrollable bleeding, headaches, mood swings, cravings, cramps, fatigue, bloating, sore breasts, irritability and lower back pain.
Yet women, from the time they are preteens, are viewed as disgusting and unsanitary for having periods.
One survey respondent said, “Having a period in high school was awful because during gym class, you would tell your gym teachers and they would think you were lying. Or they’d be so grossed out by you that you’d fail gym class.”
Having periods is not seen as a valid excuse by most to miss work, even by other women. People base this level of validity on their own experiences, but every body is different, even if among the same gender. Some women don’t get periods, while some have light and manageable ones. Others, however, got the worst end of the deal and have heavy, excruciatingly painful ones.
As my cards usually play out, I was a part of the latter. Mine were so heavy that I developed an iron deficiency and was getting dizzy from both pain and blood loss. The result: Going on birth control at 13. In an attempt to make my cycle more manageable, the pill adjusted all of my hormones and caused my body to change in other ways.
The worst part was that it eventually just stopped working, so I had to go on a different one with new side effects, and the cycle repeated about five more times until I finally gave up altogether. I tried to get an IUD and because of the way my uterus was shaped, it didn’t go in properly and caused horrible cramping — though not as bad as the pain of the insertion process, which almost made me pass out. I had to get it removed only three months later and am now using an arm implant.
I don’t have the worst experience though. A respondent revealed that, “Since the 7th grade, my period pain has been so bad that I pass out all the time during that ‘time of [the] month.’ Doctors ran so many tests and they never truly found a connection so I pass out all the time still to this day.”
These are the kinds of things that so many women have to go through, and they’re still expected to function as normal people in society. If not, they’re seen as weak. But, if they do push through and go on with their day, they risk leaking, passing out, immense pain, stomach aches and so much more. Women are told to not even talk about these things when there are other men around, but that’s how we’ve created one unaccepting generation after another. Silent acceptance of inequality has been forced upon an entire gender.
Haven’t women suffered enough?
Nope, not according to the government. Every day legislation is being pushed forward to not allow women full control over their bodies. The overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022 left girls and women everywhere without the ability to access safe birth control methods, including abortion. The New York Times reported that many bans that came about following the decision did not make exceptions for rape, incest or abuse victims, despite over 1,000 girls under 15 having been reported seeking abortions each year.
The system makes decisions for women that they are not going to follow up and protect. 27 states proposed anti-abortion bills, but “none guarantee paid family and medical leave,” “18 have gender wage gaps above the national average,” and “22 have poverty rates for women above the national average,” reports an article from American Progress.
But bringing these things up might be seen as “complaining” by some, so I’ll return to discussing the power that women have. Because we have a lot.
We have the power to encourage everyone around us to be better and to not accept any bullshit. The survey respondents, for example, had this to say:
“You can’t please everyone so start living for YOU and YOU only.”
“Support each other. Be there for each other. Protect each other.”
“Keep your head up! Even if it feels like this world isn’t made for you, you have everything you need to succeed already within you.”
Overall, do not be afraid to stand up for yourself. Whether it’s at work, in classes, at the doctor or even at home, remember that you are so much more than anything the patriarchy tries to reduce you to.