Feminimity Is Back

Femininity is Back – I am woman!

Femininity is more than the dress or skirt that ladies wear. It is more than the glamour she exudes. Female allure is more than hairstyle or body size. It is smartness which balances the inner and outward harmony.

Women spirit is dynamic energy that signifies grace, compassion, and confidence. I thank Michelle Obama for who she is…a strong, confident, intelligent, self-assured, mother-wife who understands balance. I love a woman who claims her style and pays for it from her own budget of inner assurance. This type of woman can look you in the eye as she stands tall with grace.

Mrs. Obama is feminine. She has shifted the hard lines of feminism. First Lady elects to “stand by her man” and offers no apology for it. This is good news, actually great news. The emancipation which she represents is refreshing to women, and the men who support their women. This liberation frees ladies who are challenged by her social identity, who are manipulated by professional dictum that rewards “hardness” rather than our innate compassion, or are stressed trying to multi-task (as a parent, child of elderly parents, girlfriend, wife, earner) in a competitive world.

Ladies, we can have it all. We can love and stand by our man in public now. It is refreshing to me that I can be vulnerable, stand beside him, expect protection, and leave identities that no longer work for me and still feel whole. I don’t want to change my flat tire, even though I can. I don’t want to “catfight” with women, instead I want to encourage her and support her needs fully aware of our commonality. I don’t want to live my life as a single woman, even though I am more than capable of taking care of myself.

Michelle Obama made all of this alright for me. I recently read, The Ring Formula by psychologist Dr. Alduan Tart where he says that men are looking for women with old-fashioned values and a smart mind. This book infuriated me at first, but when I put my emotions and social conditioning aside, I could actually accept some of Dr. Tart’s premises. On a very basic level, I had to admit that I was subservient to my former husband most of the time and I enjoyed that. I too have to acknowledge the passionate marriage of my parents, especially during the time of my Dad’s illness, where my Mom who is a leader and brilliant in her own right, always consult her husband before making home decisions. I saw her stand by her man for 56 years of sickness and health all through to the time of his death.

Julie Rainbow, author of Standing the Test of Time, interviewed African American couples who had been married for more than fifty years and found a “Michelle Obama” like devotion in all of these couples in spite of infidelity or other catastrophic family trouble as fundamental to the longevity of their marriage. Some of the ladies who were interviewed earned their doctorate degree, became Vice Presidents in their profession, were homemakers, educators, or business owners but were feminine at home.

I know that we are one of the two wings of a bird symbolizing the beauty, symmetry, and balance required to fly. Women, who are feminine, soar!

Femininity is vogue. Let’s do our part to keep it fashionable for the good of humankind.