Un-Feminist

People have been commenting on my "feminist" views lately. Funny thing is, I don’t consider myself feminist at all. Maybe it’s because the word "feminist" conjures up an angry, bitter, self-righteous, be-mustached woman holding the shrunken head of her ex-husband in one hand and a laser emasculator in another. It’s inaccurate, I know. I’m also aware that feminists don’t necessarily want to annihilate the male species. They have a more important cause to rally. I’m not belittling it. It just isn’t mine.

I recognize, however, that women have a long way to go as far as honoring and nurturing our feminine spirit. We turn away in fear or disgust over the very things that make us women–our intimate desires, monthly cycles, pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood–and too often belittle our roles as wives, mothers, homemakers and caregivers. Not in the name of equality, I hope. Each time we are sedated when our children are born, I pray it is a conscious choice or, at the very least a true, life-preserving decision. I like to think that each time we choose to leave our children at home and spend the day at work, it is for a compelling reason that has nothing to do with proving we have balls.

Yes, I do think a lot of women are downtrodden. Yes, there are Neanderthals out there who, even on their most enlightened days, think women are little more than occasionally useful appendages. But if we recognize and claim our feminine power and begin to honor ourselves, those monsters wouldn’t even get near the doorway. We would never allow them into our lives in the first place!

I don’t know where the image of woman as weaker sex was born. The more acquainted I become with my feminine self, the more overwhelmed I am by the quality of strength I find there. When I chose to have a drug-free birth at home, I know it wasn’t my animus asserting itself. It was my purest, most feminine mother-soul guiding me back to my truest origin. When I delivered my baby in full consciousness, surrendering to the waves of pain we were co-creating to bring him safely into the world, I was most woman.

Whenever I connect with my truest self, I find only strength and fortitude, which is probably why people think I am a feminist. Inside every woman is a force so powerful that each time we tap into it and live from it, people think we are over-marinated in testosterone. We are called bitch. Or butch. But even in my most macho moments, it is not equality of the sexes I seek but the unfolding of our true spirit, individually and as human beings, regardless of gender. I believe that once we claim that power for ourselves, everything falls into place simply because we are clear about who we are. If we honor that, we begin to exude that feminine strength and wisdom. We begin to live by that code. Think anyone’s going to fool with a woman like that? I don’t think so.

I think the feminist cause plays an important role in society. In a sense, it is that tribal force that gives a woman the external courage and strength to take that first step towards her true womanhood, but I think that the real task is internal. Individually, we have to strive at coming into our own. We have to stop surrendering our power to others–not just to men– but to every external symbol of emancipation, especially those that seem to promise deliverance or salvation. These we claim for ourselves. Only then can they be real, authentic and assimilated into that all-powerful feminine spirit; the kind that brings a special brand of love and healing into the world.

You don’t have to be a feminist to live from your most potent, powerful woman space. Once there, we automatically clear the path for ourselves towards our true destination, completely unafraid to walk away when the situation doesn’t suit us, no matter what it takes, because we realize that our spirit is at stake.

I’m not a feminist but I do dream of a world full of women who live according to that powerful female truth– that the vibrant health of our female spirit is simply not negotiable.

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The Asia-Pacific Conference-Workshop on Indigenous and Contemporary Poetry, the first ever international poetry conference to be held in the Philippines, will be conducted by the Philippine Literary Arts Council (PLAC) under the auspices of The Japan Foundation, from August 20-24. Twelve notable foreign poets from countries in the Asia-Pacific region will be delivering papers on the linkages between modern poetry and indigenous verse in their respective homelands.

Senator Loren Legarda Leviste will be a hosting a welcome dinner for poet-delegates and special guests on Monday, August 19. The first conference session, on August 20, will be at the UP Faculty Center Conference Hall. The August 21 session will be at the Ateneo de Manila University’s Escaler Hall with a special keynote address by National Artist for Literature Edith L. Tiempo. August 22 will be a free day for the core participants, courtesy of Department of Tourism Secretary Richard Gordon. The August 23 session will be at the De La Salle University. The August 24 session will be at University of Santo Tomas. Don’t miss the grand poetry reading at 6 p.m. at the University of Asia and the Pacific auditorium. A farewell dinner shortly after will be hosted by Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Blas Ople.

See you there!

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