Elegant Strength

11 September 2018

I am a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother… I am a woman.
And this feels like the season to celebrate all of our distinctly feminine qualities. It is time for our daughters and our sons to be inspired by and proud of their own inherently feminine strengths.

As a mother, I still often overhear ‘responsible’ parents address their children with such cringeworthy statements as: “Oh, why don’t you just man up?” or “Stop crying like a girl.” First of all, what is wrong with a good old cry? After all, it will release toxins, reduce stress and reset our mind. Secondly – and obviously more to the point within the context of this post – do we even realise what we are saying here? Acting ‘like a man’ makes you stronger? Crying ‘like a girl’ shows weakness? Surely we should know better by now?

And now feels like exactly the right time to consider what true strength actually means to us. Let’s start rooting for an attitude that includes such qualities as elegance, compassion, intuition and even imperfection. Our current society already has more than its fair share of bullying masculinity on display. Can we honestly continue to make our children believe that strength is purely expressed by flexing excessively developed muscles? Can we seriously condone intimidation and force as the ultimate methods to make a difference?

Here’s to a whole new way of showing strength, starting with the shameless promotion of femininity.