China Debates Morality, Exploitation of Women
NPR: China Debates Morality, Exploitation of Women
...to another.
You know.
Especially lately, I've been thinking about power in/within relationships. How it plays out, how it gets distributed if you will.
Typically, in the past, women have seemed powerless in certain 'roles', being kept 'down' or oppressed and kept from being able to weild much power. Men have seemingly used women as instruments - of pleasure, of duty, of procreation. Slowly, with the birth of the industrialised nations, the tables have begun to turn.
Now-a-days, in post-modern societies, we find women yielding more power. Speaking as one of those women - this can be both exhilarating and confusing as hell. Sometimes we hit the glass ceiling, sometimes we get caught between wanting to have it all and not knowing how to go about doing so - or worse, secretly not wanting to 'have it all' but not being able to admit we aren't interested for fear of reprisals or being viewed as 'lazy' or not 'super-mom'.
How do you walk that fine line between wanting to be a woman, feminine and soft, while still balancing the power that as a woman is your birthright?
Further, I am sure it is quite frightening to men (especially in countries such as China) as women begin to recognise that they can yield such power and act accordingly. They must certainly be grappling with centuries of the 'status quo' - women seen and not heard - with the exception of wanting to hear her moans and screams in the boudoir.
I find this all so complex and fascinating. Of course here in places like the US - what I tend to see is a great deal of backlash BECAUSE of the sexual revolution. The strides made to 'set us free' may have possibly served to create a prison of our own making. A gossamer spider's web that at first seems delicate and easily delineated but turns out to be a death trap for romance as we used to know it...
So as I approach this new relationship that grows every day, changes and seems to be thriving, I try to keep myself from falling into those 'traps' of absolute gender identity. Hoping that as a couple, together we can remain enlightened and attuned to one another's needs, wants and desires both in and out of the bedroom.
...to another.
You know.
Especially lately, I've been thinking about power in/within relationships. How it plays out, how it gets distributed if you will.
Typically, in the past, women have seemed powerless in certain 'roles', being kept 'down' or oppressed and kept from being able to weild much power. Men have seemingly used women as instruments - of pleasure, of duty, of procreation. Slowly, with the birth of the industrialised nations, the tables have begun to turn.
Now-a-days, in post-modern societies, we find women yielding more power. Speaking as one of those women - this can be both exhilarating and confusing as hell. Sometimes we hit the glass ceiling, sometimes we get caught between wanting to have it all and not knowing how to go about doing so - or worse, secretly not wanting to 'have it all' but not being able to admit we aren't interested for fear of reprisals or being viewed as 'lazy' or not 'super-mom'.
How do you walk that fine line between wanting to be a woman, feminine and soft, while still balancing the power that as a woman is your birthright?
Further, I am sure it is quite frightening to men (especially in countries such as China) as women begin to recognise that they can yield such power and act accordingly. They must certainly be grappling with centuries of the 'status quo' - women seen and not heard - with the exception of wanting to hear her moans and screams in the boudoir.
I find this all so complex and fascinating. Of course here in places like the US - what I tend to see is a great deal of backlash BECAUSE of the sexual revolution. The strides made to 'set us free' may have possibly served to create a prison of our own making. A gossamer spider's web that at first seems delicate and easily delineated but turns out to be a death trap for romance as we used to know it...
So as I approach this new relationship that grows every day, changes and seems to be thriving, I try to keep myself from falling into those 'traps' of absolute gender identity. Hoping that as a couple, together we can remain enlightened and attuned to one another's needs, wants and desires both in and out of the bedroom.
posted by Colette at 10:33 AM
2 Comments:
Interesting choice of words. Did you truly mean to use "yield" as opposed to "wield" in the third and fifth paragraphs? And if not, was it was subconscious?
Wow. This gets better and better the more you think about it...
I meant to use it in reference to the Chinese women....
Why does it keep getting better and better?
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