I’ve read through the many examples of the word “feminine” in Merriam Webster in the first days of Women’s History Month 2021. In fact, I scrolled through several dictionaries to find they all pretty much described the basic adjective as: “having characteristics that are traditionally thought to be typical of or suitable for a woman.”
Funny … Betty Friedan exploded the notion of suitability in her 1963 blockbuster, The Feminine Mystique. Women were unfulfilled, wrote Friedan, and were not suited only to home-making, child rearing and mixing the perfect cocktail. Friedan ignited 2nd Wave Feminism, and her book, even as it withstood more and more criticism, sold 3,000,000 copies in her lifetime.
Women of Color weren’t included in 1st Wave Feminism at all, and 2nd Wave not so much either, but eventually the gracious Alice Walker coined the term WOMANISM.
Womanism has taken on more political meanings as the decades have ticked on, but I see Walker’s view of womanism as ”a garden where all flowers have a chance to bloom equally” as a lovely, simple metaphor for the right of men, women and non-binary people to live our lives without criticism or impunity for simply being who we are, and with equal access to opportunity. Walker has written, “A womanist is committed to the survival of both males and females and desires a world where men and women can coexist, while maintaining their cultural distinctiveness.”
March 2021 | Wellness Tonic Ingredient Wellness through Womanism
Photo Credit: ipopba
In my readings, I’ve become convinced womanism and feminism at their roots, harken to the Divine Feminine.
In an article in Bustle, Suzanne Kingsbury, who has been writing about the Divine Feminine for over a decade, defines it as the connection to the part of your consciousness responsible for nurture, intuition, and empathy, regardless of your gender. It is the aspect of the self, associated with “creation, community, sensuality (‘felt’ sense rather than thinking sense), and collaboration.”
Existing in all of us are characteristics associated with femininity and masculinity. As women, our inherent divine femininity – our intuitions, our nurturing natures, our warmth and our instincts for mothering others and the earth – are what propel the current visibility of women in politics, science, business and cultural issues both locally and on the national and world stages.
Women are rising, as evidenced by many faces on the world stage. Yet, we have a long way to go, and we hope for continued freedom to exercise the yin-yang of our divine selves.
What are your favorite aspects of the “feminine” side of your nature?
We look forward to hearing your thoughts about this edition of #WellnessTonic. Please get in touch at Food For The Soul.
Be brave and generous, my friends, and most of, be WELL!
