I feel like a lot of things in this world have become branded, even beyond an actual TM or copyright.  Example, my home state of Texas, which used to never be cool and instead if you told people you were from here you would be met with jeers of “yee haw, ride em cowboy!” is now becoming trendy.  We’re experiencing a major population boom in all the big cities.  So you have people not from Texas (I’m looking at you CA and NY) coming to Texas now to honky tonk and actually BUY and WEAR cowboy boots and hats, people who rather have DIED than done this 15-20 years ago.  These same people purchase tight baby tees with names like “Waylon” and “Willie” and act like they love these artists and bands though I have to bite my tongue not to ask them to name me 5 Willie or Waylon songs, which most of them probably couldn’t.  Because in reality these sort of things ARE becoming more universally popular and accepted yet I feel like the bigger picture is that people are also trend hopping and it looks cool now to act this way and Instragram oneself as being part of such without any true meaning.

The same thing applies with women’s empowerment.  There are so many people on social media sites who proclaim to support women having unique voices and becoming strong in who they are yet collectively as a society we tend to hold back from really letting this happen, even with the t-shirts, marches and fanfare.  There’s just too much suspicion and too much boxing in of women still taking place.  This isn’t just about wage differences or abortion rights, all significant issues nonetheless, no this is about something that runs much deeper.

Example it’s common in the dating world (I’m single) to find lots of men who expect women to do their bidding.  Meaning the women are supposed to do all the work: she has to basically seduce the guy, it’s presumed if she’s wearing a cute outfit that it’s for the purpose of snagging a man, she’s expected to keep pushing or flirting with him if he’s “meh” and not approaching her.  How about he come up to her (especially if she’s hanging out solo) and ask how SHE’s doing?? Men don’t do this.  They’ve become spoiled and lazy.  It’s ridiculous and it’s an invisible limitation put on the woman.  

God forbid if she goes to a poke place and orders the large bowl instead of the small —-there’s always stares.  Women are supposed to eat dainty you know.  In reality she should be able to order as many large bowls as she likes and eat every bite.  This isn’t how people actually act though.  A lot of women, the ones in marches and wearing the t-shirts, are ones who order their poke in a small and loudly too, “Oh just a small please!” as if ordering a large would be an abomination.  

And she can’t go out on a dance floor and just have a good time without some sort of expectation or presumption of her motives or intent.  That’s more limitation on her.  If she’s not throwing herself at a guy it’s all her fault, NEVER the guy’s fault who’s not putting out ANY effort, lol.  

The limitation especially applies when you’re a female with your own mind and you speak up about a fact or an opinion about something.  This is terrifying for people and there’s always a hammer coming down to put her in her place or dispute what she feels.  Because she has no right to feel, get it? She’s to be blank and compliant so that it feels safe and ideas and expectations can be projected on her to fit the mold.  Opinions and ideas can only be accepted from her IF they are agreed upon, women are expected to smile and be agreeable.  If she’s not, she becomes this sort of spectacle to gawk at rather than doing what we should be doing which is to applaud and marvel over her. 

The truth that will be most beneficial is that we need women to order whatever size bowl of poke she’s hungry for (sound silly? Nope this is HUGE), we need women with pot bellies who wear it proud without other people being offended by not seeing a flat tummy (this shouldn’t matter to strangers anyway sheesh), we need her to get in conversations and be welcomed with her ideas,  we need women to be free to roam and wear pretty dresses and live in the grace and light of her femininity without having to be for sale, we need men to get excited about these kinds of women instead of looking at them as an object to behave the way THEY want her to behave without considering what her feelings might be. And the only way these men will know what she’s feeling is to put out some effort towards her.  People say “let women be wild and free” but they don’t like it when they encounter it.  The reaction to women like this is to judge and box them in using (frankly outdated) ideals rather than getting out of the way and letting her shine.  This doesn’t mean the world turns their back on these women who still need effort given towards them, we need to EMBRACE women who are doing their thing and shining.  For the future to really be female we need to move out of the way and celebrate her and embrace her and engage with her.  Women are the life givers and nurturing force of the world and we need her to have as big of an arena as possible to do this without restrictions and with full support so that the rest of the world can benefit from the healing and life giving power of her true nature.