When you were a child , what did you think it meant to be a woman?

[BVP246]

everyone has their own view point on this

mine was to be loyal

I honestly never thought about it when I was little🤷🏻‍♀️ Not until I was a teenager at least, and even then I didn't think of becoming a 'woman' per se, just a bigger, grown up version of me.

I still think women are a bit limp handshake. Not just when they shake hands, all the time.

'so maybe the idea of being female she'll have is that women can share nurturing and childcare duties with men, and that men and women are equal, mums and dads can have the same role in the family etc.'

But men and women will never have the same role in the family, men cannot give birth. That does not mean we cannot have equality, but equality is not pretending that men and women are the same.

I still think women are a bit limp handshake. Not just when they shake hands, all the time.

?

*Whistfulwisteria

I still think women are a bit limp handshake. Not just when they shake hands, all the time.*

Yeah, like when they’re giving birth, recovering from miscarriage, looking after several children on their own, working in high pressure jobs. Running New Zealand or Germany.

I never really thought of it in terms of womanhood, but more adulthood.

I thought it meant I'd have a job that earned good money so I could eat in nice restaurants and travel loads. My mum was very glamorous but had a high powered career, so I guess I thought I'd be her? I always associated power suits and lipstick with being a grown woman. I never really thought about marriage, life and all of it till I was in my mid 20s. Which is interesting since I grew up in a very conservative Asian country before I moved to the UK. But I think my mum working, and my dad being very focused on me getting a 'good job', influenced me more than society did.

@shinytape

Did you have the impression that children and men couldn't be loyal?

what does this mean. men, i guess re faithful in a marriage ? but children ??

I just thought being a woman was being a grown up. Knowing what you were doing... People listening to you when you spoke.

Lol.

@Ihaveoflate

'As a breastfeeding mother I often ponder the effect of mass formula feeding on our societal ideas of what it is to be female.'

What an odd thing to say - I'm not sure I understand it. We bottle fed our baby, so maybe the idea of being female she'll have is that women can share nurturing and childcare duties with men, and that men and women are equal, mums and dads can have the same role in the family etc.

I didn't really think about womanhood in any cultural terms as a child. It was just something inevitable on account of being a girl. I suppose it meant periods and wearing a bra.

It was pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and recovery from it all that jolted me into the realisation that men and women will never be the same. Because of biology. Messy, bloody, hormonal, visceral biology. Nothing else.

@alexdgr8 I don't why I can't quote you. It was a question to the OP.

You had to wear court shoes, tights, pencil skirt and blouse and have a leather handbag.

That was as deep as my thoughts went.

'It was pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and recovery from it all that jolted me into the realisation that men and women will never be the same'

That's what I was trying to express, that is a lot more articulate and concise!

I wanted a child. Beyond that I didn't think much about growing up and being a woman rather than just an adult. I was a GNC child though.

Have a husband and babies, then give up my lesser (paid in reality, but I just thought less important) job to look after those babies. I could maybe be a dinner lady or work in a supermarket once they were in school.

To be unimportant, bloody everything was male & I'd have severely restricted career options (60s baby) & I thought feck that for a lark & set about changing things in my own small way. My teddy with tits went down well with the neighbours, (not do much my mam who was mortified 😂) as did my snow women & Girl Fawkes - made a small fortune with that one

@BraveBraveMouse

'It was pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and recovery from it all that jolted me into the realisation that men and women will never be the same'

That's what I was trying to express, that is a lot more articulate and concise!

Not at al. You said it very well too. I was just nodding along with you and wanting to underline your point!