Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman.

I went on a rant the other day.

I'll go ahead and pause for a second to let you recover from being shocked.

It was about women being objectified & quickly spiraled into being about women who choose a lifestyle that centers around their objectification. It was a little on the judgmental side, I'll admit. And in the end J just laughed and sweetly called me a feminist. Which made me think, I don't really consider myself to be a feminist. To be honest, but that's probably because of the negative, extreme connotation the word feminism has garnered over the years. Because when you think feminist, you think this:

Right? Because that's what I think too, even though it's not really fair. The defintion of "feminism" is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. I mean, if that's the case, I'd kind of hope everyone's a feminist....

I believe in women's rights, equality, etc. But I also believe there's beauty in staying home with your kids and letting men open doors for you and and that we aren't supposed to be the heads of our households. {Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. -Ephesians 5:22.} Just don't forget that your husband's supposed to love you like Christ loves the Church-which is huge.

But what I believe in the most is the strength and power of women. The Proverbs 31 woman is not some quiet, down-trodden, weak lady who scuttles around doing whatever her husband asks her to. No no no. She is a woman of noble character, her husband has full confidence in her. She opens her mouth and wisdom falls out. And not only wisdom, but kindness. Which means she feels no need to, with her tongue, tear down other women whom she views as a threat to her. So all the cattiness just disappears because she doesn’t need to prove that she’s better than anybody else and she’s not threatened by other people’s talents or beauties. That is the kind of woman I desire to be. Not one that is wrapped up in external beauty or success or tearing down other women, but one whose eventual husband can have full confidence in, whose children can call blessed. One who only strives to build up the women around her rather than tear them down because of her own insecurities.

You know who I love? Maya Angelou. That woman has been through some crap. And you know what she did? She turned it around for good, for the strengthening of other women. I really love her poem Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman
Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

So, I don't know, I feel like I'm hopping all over the place with this, but I'm hoping some of my points are making it across. That we, as women, are phenomenal. Each of us. So there's no need to keep tearing each other down. In the words of the great Ms. Norbury of Mean Girls: "you all have got to stop calling each other sluts and whores. It just makes it ok for guys to call you sluts and whores." And if you get second, go read Proverbs 31:10-31, and really let it sink in how bad ass she is. Because she's clothed in strength and dignity, not self-degredation and skimpy clothes. And she's wise and kind and only brings good, not harm. Start looking for ways to build up the women in your life, rather than knock them down a peg so you don't feel quite as threatened.