Comment: The Portrait of a Woman

Portrait of a Woman by Károly Brocky

Woman: an adult female human; a female servant or subordinate; a wife; jezebel, a female lover or sweetheart. 

Marianismo: the female counterpart to "machismo,". It is the ideal of true femininity - being modest, virtuous, sexually abstinent until marriage and then being faithful and subordinate to their husbands. 

As we have seen (in “Comment: the Portrait of a Macho”), word definitions do not depict the elaborateness of being a man/macho and the same occurs when it comes to being a woman/mariana.

The journey from Femalehood to Womanhood is, often, rather complex and this intricacy is what lexicons fail in exposing:

One, virginity is over-rated (no, I do not agree with teenagers having sex – in my opinion, female virginity is to be offered rather later than sooner, for sex is an act that requires maturity and ethics [yes…you read it correctly]). If one chooses to remain a virgin until marriage, it’s fine; however when Man tries to use virginity as a means of control and power, under the flag of “ideal of true femininity” then I might have a problem with it.

Two, not all women make good wives and/or mothers. The fact that one is born with female genitalia doesn’t automatically make her a good mother; in fact, there are women who simply are not cut out for bearing children, for moulding infants. Not to mention being a wife: a task of extreme patience, dedication, commitment and love for being repetitive.

Three, women are the first ones to attack women – so much for kindness, faithfulness and loyalty. Sometimes, I’d swear women are jealous of whores. I mean, shouldn’t they be compassioned enough to understand that a harlot suffers unimaginable things and that many did not become sex-traders by choice? And if they did, shouldn’t other women comprehend that people should do whatever they love best?

Four, PMS is not a permit to go crazy; it does not grant women the right to have systematic mood swings and put on that face like “I am making the world a favour for existing”. Menstruation is not a green card to be rude to others either; it is only a period of renewal, and thus women should rejoice, not attack others (specially men).

Five, oestrogen should not dominate the female brain. The inability to make use of Reason and female despotism should not be blamed on hormones.

Six, women must stop being the emblem of irrationality. It is so tacky when they nag their husbands/partners for no apparent reason; when they pointlessly attack their partners’ friends/acquaintances; and specially when they vaginalise their way up the corporate ladder.

Seven, faking orgasms is not equivalent to being generous, patient or kind; doing it means deceiving the partner, perpetuating its own (or the lover’s) bad sexual performance, annulling and voiding oneself and yielding to illusion. 

I am extremely demanding of women, I confess. But I am so because I acknowledge in them the role and responsibility of shaping the future of mankind. When women, in general, stop being Females only and upgrade to being Feminae then...

...The Portrait of a Woman will be restored to its glory.