Being A Woman

Genesis 1:27
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them

Today in my composition class we were talking about advertising and how companies focus certain ads on gender. We started the discussion by listing things that society relates to the male gender, such as being outdoors, playing sports, bringing home the bacon, working on machines, being tough and not crying etc. Then we listed things related to females, such as cooking, cleaning, shopping, childcare, and laundry. She specificly said "be stereotipical just for this excercise." Well she went on to suggest that society pushes us to act a certain way because of our gender and that it's dumb. She asked "doesn't society teach you that it is wrong for boys to play with dolls, while they can play with 'action figures'?" Which I would say is a valid point. Something that she said really struck me though. She quoted an essay in the book (I don't know the essay or the author because she said it to quickly) that went something like this: "A person isn't born a woman, they become one." In other words, a girl only acts like a girl because thats how society says girls should act. In my mind, I was getting angry. Something I've come to learn is that God created men and woman to be different. Of course, everyone knows that, but He created us with different hearts and different emotions. I don't believe that society is what makes a girl who she is. Of course, it has influence but deep down she has been created to be a woman. Proverbs 31 tells of a noble woman. "she provides food for her family...She makes coverings for her bed....She watches over the affairs of her household." While this is only bits and pieces of a noble woman, you can see that the Bible does discuss the role of the woman. I'm not saying that a guy couldn't do these things too but it does show that God designed a woman to be different from a man. I don't remember if I read the book or not but in middle school my youth group did a girls Bible study on the book "Captivating" by John and Staci Eldridge. The boys were doing a study on Eldrige's book "Wild at Heart". These books show how God has made us into men and woman and gave us different hearts and different desires. We aren't this neuter being that society shapes and tells us how to think and feel. I've had this idea in my head for a couple days now because of something my co-worker said a few days ago at work. My supervisor was busy cleaning and a female driver was standing around watching. This driver is a lesbian and isn't bashful about it. The supervisor jokely says "So you're just going to stand there and look pretty while I work?" and the driver answers "nope....I'm going to look handsome and stand here!" It disgusted me because she is going against everything she was created to be: a woman. Song of Soloman 1:15 says "how beautiful you are my darling!", yet my co-workers is going against her very core and design.

This is definitely something that is interesting to think about.