Is It Time For The Feminine?

Image by Maria Chambers

March is Women’s History Month.  While it is good to recognize and celebrate the women that contributed to, among other things, making all women more free, and while so many of these women sacrificed so much toward that end, I look forward to a time when there is no more need for a month out of the year to celebrate women as a gender in any capacity.

Any more than there is a need to celebrate men as a gender in any capacity.   In fact, doesn’t it sound redundant to have a Men’s History Month?

I look forward to a time when women will be recognized for their contributions as people, and not as a gender.  But, alas, I will be long gone from this Earth before that happens.

IT WAS A DIFFERENT TIME

It was probably about 1958. Dad was working in the basement, repairing something or building a shelf. He was looking for a tool in his toolbox.

I wandered down the stairs and eagerly asked, “Daddy, can I help?” He laughed and said, “No, honey, girls don’t fix things. They don’t work with these tools.”

In the grammar school I attended boys were teased mercilessly for ‘throwing like a girl.’

Growing up, I was taught to focus on pleasing men. Making sure I was attractive enough, supportive and accommodating enough for them.

It was a different time.

Or was it?  How far have we really come from a time when women were being treated like second class citizens?  Can we honestly say that we now live in a world that sees women as equal to men in every area of life?

If we are still using sentences that begin with men and women, and we still have a woman’s history month, the answer would have to be no.  If men still cringe when someone acknowledges their feminine side, we still have a long way to go.

If the worst of the toxic masculine…..who is, among other things, more corrupt, inept, incompetent, without conscience, and clearly more self-serving than any previous high-ranking politician in U.S. history…..is elected to the most powerful position in the world, instead of a woman who is vastly more qualified, as a politician and as a human being……we still have a lot of work to do.

It’s no surprise to any of us that historically women have come last. In recent history we see this exemplified as women struggled to gain the right to vote.  It involved decades of lobbying and fighting against a white male establishment that had been in power for a very long time.

A LONG AND ARDUOUS ROAD

It’s hard to believe that I was born a mere 30 years after women won this right.  It’s also hard to believe that women had to fight so hard and sacrifice so much for such a long time for that right. For the basic human right that was granted unquestioningly to their male counterparts.  First to white men, then to Black men, men of color, and eventually to all U.S. Citizens, except women.

One of the women who was at the forefront of the suffrage movement asked the then President of the United States why women weren’t now in a place to be included in the constitution.  Women, Black and White worked hard to help free the slaves.  So wasn’t it now right for women to be able to vote?  He responded, “It is not your time,”

Women from all walks of life continued to fight for the freedoms that we take for granted today. Some of which are the freedom for a woman to have control over her own body, her reproductive rights.  The freedom to own and inherit property. The freedom to divorce, and to be able to obtain custody of her own offspring. Women were not free to refuse sex within the bounds of their own marriage. A husband had the right to his wife’s body. She was essentially his property, and he was protected under law to use and abuse her.  Other freedoms were hard-won, such as the right to attend college, and to be involved in politics. These and many other rights are quite recent in the history of this planet.  In fact, some as recent as the last four decades.

In spite of these hard-won victories, women are still not seen as equals in many ways compared to their male counterparts. They are still paid almost 20% less for the same work.

In some countries women are still not permitted the same human rights as their husband and other men.

A woman’s reproductive rights are still a battle, as the government tries to repeal Roe vs. Wade.   Her struggle to be recognized as a human being continues to this day. Misogyny and sexism still run deep in our culture and in our world. Not just in employment and other areas do women come up second to men, but it pervades our world and our culture in some of the most subtle yet insidious ways. Women live in fear because they’re always concerned about their physical safety, but how they are perceived as a human being has taken its toll.

WOMEN IN PUBLIC PLACES

The first woman to speak in public was ridiculed, heckled and cat-called. That was but a few years ago in the scheme of history.

Sadly, those behaviors are still with us as any woman can attest to. Where, in a large city she often finds herself in the same predicament simply walking down the street.

Up until recently, the cat-calling and propositioning by men was something that most people did not question. And the inappropriate touching.  It was just a part of life. In fact, we were told that we should feel flattered. And we were also told that if it was uncomfortable maybe we should dress differently or have an escort. It seems it was always our responsibility for the inappropriate sexual behavior of men.

As a young woman my heart was filled with joy as I walked throughout the ancient city of Athens, Greece. I inhaled the sights and sounds.  Its colors and aromas were extraordinary. But my joy was eroded because of my treatment by the men in that city who groped me and cat-called and propositioned me as I walked down the streets. It was insulting and demeaning, a violation of my body, and by today’s standards, in many places, illegal.

But being young and resilient I did not let it stop me completely from enjoying the city without an escort.

YES MEANS YES

Date-rape was part of my experience as well as with many other women. I was very young and afterword I wonder if I made the wrong choice to go home with my date. At that time it was not a culture of awareness as we see today. Now we are seeing an uprising of women who no longer want to be responsible for the actions of men.  Even as far as conversation lately about women feeling pressured by men and coerced by them into romance and sex. The Yes Means Yes (the enthusiastic yes) movement is gaining momentum.

Image by Maria Chambers

If a woman shows in every way through body language and even verbally that she is not interested in romance or sex, this should not give men a pass to just try harder, to be more persuasive.  To be manipulative.

It’s not that men cannot read a woman’s body language or other things she says to turn him down politely. It’s not that he doesn’t understand that she is not interested, but he sees her turning him down as a challenge, or as her just playing hard to get.  As if she is not capable of attracting someone without being coy.

Consequently, the whole stalking-seen-as-romantic-trope is alive and well.

These behaviors reduce women to objects and not human beings. The boys will be boys, or it’s what guys do, is no longer a valid excuse.  The idea that inappropriate behavior is built into their DNA.  Women are clearly tired of being sexualized, and of being told they are responsible for men feeling entitled to women’s bodies.

That they are temptresses and seductresses.

OVER-NURTURING, MALE ANGER, AND TRUSTING THE FEMININE

Many women have been conditioned, through history  to over-nurture, and some of that is for practical reasons.  Historically, women’s safety and well-being were dependent upon men who were capable of becoming violent.  Many women today fear for their own safety because they have seen and have intimately experienced what male anger is capable of.

History and statistics have proven this out alarmingly.  So assuaging the male anger became second nature to her.

I can remember that feeling in me as I grew up as a female. Always trying to temper the male anger. An anger built on a fragile male ego.

Again, looking back on my 3D life as a woman, I was not spared inappropriate advances from certain family members, teachers, employers, doctors, dentists, or just men on the street.

Did it feel wrong. Yes. Did I trust my gut?  No, not completely. That’s because the culture didn’t trust women. It saw them as basically untrustworthy, especially if they tried to challenge the male status quo.

 

Image by Maria Chambers

The feminine has been asking the masculine to trust her for a very long time.

Interestingly I was not as outraged as I would be today with this behavior because it was so deeply entrenched in the culture, and as a woman it was just something you dealt with. It was a part of every day life. Add to that the much more subtle yet insidious ways that women were treated and condescended to. The way they were portrayed in the media and television and movies.

But then, most of the writers were male, and so the storylines were told through the male lens, and expressed the male fantasy of how women should look and behave.   The female character is portrayed as gradually giving in to her persistent follower, who sends her over-the-top gifts and flowers and who keeps showing up at her home or cafe or workplace.  Even after she repeatedly says she is not interested, in body language and verbally, the dogged pursuit of his ‘one true love’ wins her heart.

The disrespect of her boundaries and dismissal of her choice, and the manipulation of her emotions is seen as being romantic and as proof that he really loves her.  Rather than as a creepy stalker, who clearly has issues.

Men were taught, not how to relate to women, but how to manipulate them.  Being a good listener, and accommodating her needs was seen as a means to an end, and not as being a decent human being.

People are concerned, especially men that the #MeToo movement has gone too far. But it has only just begun. It is a precursor to change on this planet.

Many men are claiming that now they are very uncomfortable and don’t know how to act with women. This is understandable, since there will be a period of discomfort and adjustment for everyone concerned. But real change has never come in a comfortable way, has it?

And just as with women’s right to vote, and the women’s liberation movement, there will be an initial backlash and resistance by both men and women to the basic human rights and freedoms of women.

Some men are getting caught in what they feel is the crossfire and will be accused of things that perhaps they did not do.

Perhaps they will lose their jobs as a result and derail their careers. Women have been all too intimate with that situation. Not being believed at their word. Being accused of and shamed for things they were not responsible for, like sexual abuse, harassment and rape. And having their own careers derailed at the hands of those who do not want them to speak their own truth.

But, the very thing that women have been accused of, of being too emotional, too sensitive about things, will play in men’s favor because of her compassion, because of her own experience of not being believed, no woman would want to judge anyone for something they did not do.

But for the most part these women are telling the truth. They are to be trusted.

Women have been accused of being hysterical and incapable of reason. Yet crime statistics show clearly which gender is the more hysterical and unreasonable.

Suppressing emotions, especially fear and feelings of abandonment, shutting down the heart, is the primary cause of violence. And we know which gender in general suppresses emotions in order to appear stoic and manly.

So as far as women placing blame where it does not belong, it’s unlikely. Coming forward with allegations, and reliving the experiences, and being shamed, fearing retaliation or worse, is no picnic. And many of these women are not asking for financial damages.

IS THE PATRIARCHY ON ITS LAST LEGS?

Women from democratic societies look to their Muslim sisters as unfortunate for having to wear the hijab. Yet many of these Muslim women feel protected by that type of clothing from what they perceive as women being judged and persecuted for ‘displaying’ their bodies in certain ways. So many of these women hold fast to their tradition. And yet, the same women can be stoned or even murdered at the hands of her own father or husband if she ‘dishonors’ her family.  She can be judged, juried, condemned and executed by her own flesh and blood. What freedom is there for her?

The Women’s Liberation Movement made strides, but it also perpetuated the idea that women had to be more like men in order to be treated as an equal.  And while she was applauded for ascending to leadership positions, she was not allowed to rise too high.  There is still the glass ceiling.

Some say that the patriarchy is on its last legs. Perhaps that’s true, but those legs could last quite a while longer can’t they? While the new resurgence of feminism is encouraging, we know how history has shown us that there’s waves of progress accompanied by backlash.

We who are on the forefront of this enlightenment process know that true change can only come when each human being begins to embrace their own divine nature and recognizes that what is happening here on the planet is just the galactic story being played out.

We know there has been an acceleration of energies, and an infusion of light on the planet that has triggered a paradigm shift.

But we also are aware that the planet we have incarnated onto at this time is still at the early stages of its own Ascension process. That does not mean however that our Ascension process is going to be detained another few lifetimes. Not at all. We have chosen the accelerated path and that is why our lives seem to be falling apart. You can’t allow this much change and this much light and not have things disrupted.

You also can’t enforce or coerce change

PAVING THE WAY

The courageous women who fought tirelessly for the basic human rights of all women may have known on a soul level that we were going to need certain things in place so that we could concentrate our efforts on our inner beings. Without simple human rights it would be very difficult to be able to do the work we are doing.

Many of us made sure we were born into more democratic countries for this exact purpose. We came in at a time when we felt the energies were ripe for change. And they are. But we must recognize that change isn’t something that happens overnight on a very dense planet like planet earth. But we did come here to plant seeds of change just as our  fore-mothers did. They knew that they would not be able achieve it all in their lifetime, but it did not stop them from doing the joyful work that would lead others to pick up where they left off. Their story was not a part of history books for quite a long time.  And still, there are many women left out of that history, who were not properly acknowledged – Black women and women of color.

Even though I lived through what most women on the planet have lived through, there was always a part of me that knew that all is well. On some level I knew that I was here for different purposes. I buried that knowledge as many of us did, in order to go through most of what other humans have gone through.

WE ARE NOT OUR HISTORY

As I read about women’s experience in the third dimension, of being in so many ways raped of their dignity, they say that it has profoundly affected their lives and has left indelible wounds. For someone still deep into the third dimension this is totally understandable.

But for those of us who have come in from a different perspective, we understand that we are not our history. That is in fact the basis of our teaching.  That we are here to step out of our old story. If we are women in this lifetime it is by design. We came in as the new leaders of the new consciousness. The feminine energy holds the solution to the galactic imbalance. It is no coincidence that mostly women are attracted to spiritual teachings of the new energy.

How could we possibly be good teachers if we had not experienced some of these things on such an intimate, first hand level?

And the solution lies in embodying the Christ Consciousness, and allowing that consciousness to burst forth within us and express itself, without shame, without guilt, and without fear.

A HOPEFUL FUTURE

There is a high level of awareness like never before among women, and they are now emerging from the shadows and making their voices count, as they become active in politics and social areas in larger and larger numbers.

Young students in the future will crack open their virtual history books and remark at how ridiculous it was that a president of the United States was being investigated for collusion with Russia, when his downfall should have been much earlier in his political career, concerning his remarks toward and about women.

But as they read further, they see that he is brought to justice, but not because of a Russian investigation, but because of the women who stood up to him.  He met his match with his biggest fear…the feminine.

© Copyright 2018 Maria Chambers, all rights reserved. P!ease feel free to share this content within others but maintain the article’s integrity by copying it unaltered and by including the author and source website link: Maria Chambers, http://www.soulsoothinsounds.wordpress.com