"Are those Turkish brownies?"

I help run a group for girls at Urban. It's called Students for Women's Equity and Rights (SWEAR). Helping out with the group involves running their online conference/discussion. I try to keep my voice to a minumum on there to give the students more space; sometimes, I am inspired to post something. What's below is in response to girls writing about their ambivalence on being "feminine."

* * *

Circular narrative ahead...

I made brownies for some friends. One of them asked, "Are those Turkish brownies?" I thought about it for a second. I did follow my mom's recipe, and she is Turkish, but...these are just brownies. I didn't realize brownies had a nationality. I said (insert smartass tone here:), "well, I made them, so yes, I guess they are 'Turkish'." Other times, when I do something that puzzles people and they ask, "Is that a Turkish thing to do?" with a sort of innocence in their voice that comes from lacking information ("ignorance" sounds too harsh here), I say, "Well, I did it, so it must be, I suppose."

I think about what it means to be feminine in the same way. When I climb up to an apartment's balcony to let in a friend who just locked himself out and he says I'm "so butchie," I get annoyed. No. If I am going to fit into one of those dichotomies, it's probably "femmy," and this is what "femmy" looks like because I am feminine and I did just climb up a railing and hoist myself up into a balcony.

I am a woman. Whatever I do, then, is womanly/feminine.


tk

_________________________
The purpose of art is to lay bare the questions which have been hidden by the answers.
:: James Baldwin ::