How to Be a Real Woman

To be a Real Woman

You have to be strong

And independent

You have to need no man.

 

You have to be loved and valued

But most importantly sexually available

To the men in your life

And also those you meet in passing.

 

To be a Real Woman

You have to have curves

(But no fat)

That you wear with sensual ownership.

 

To be a Real Woman

You have be impossibly thin

(But not too thin)

With bones delicately accenting

Your fragile landscape.

 

 Real Women know their place

Is at home and not at the office

Real Women aren’t housewives

Because they are better than that.

 

Real Women must never be profane.

Real Women say f**k that s**t.

 

To be a Real Woman

Sex must be an unfortunate necessity

 

Real Women embrace their sexuality

They demand gratification

They demand orgasm

 

To be a Real Woman

You must be pure and chaste

But also give into the desires

Of teenage boys who make promises

 That they will love you forever

But then “forget” to get consent.

 

 To be a Real Woman

You have to be a well-read Feminist

 To be a Real Woman

You have to laugh at rape jokes

(You’re a humorless b***h if you don’t).

 

To be a Real Woman

You have to do exactly what you want.

To be a Real Woman

You have to do exactly as you are told.

 

To be a Real Woman

You have acknowledge that

You cannot be a Real Woman.

 

Real Women do not exist.

Reviews

[Aries1984]

I'm thinking about this subject matter as I write this, because as a woman myself much of what you write here affects me too. That I have to this or I have to be that in the eyes of some men (not all of course). I've been thinking about coming up with something about what it means to be a strong woman, how I see it from my own perspective and my own understanding, not just as a woman generally speaking, but as a woman of faith, a woman who marches to her own drum beat and all of that. We'll see what I come up with. I hope to have the piece be nice and long, deeply thought out, and if I must, get it ready for Women's Day next year.

That's the other thing I don't get. Why here in America the calendar people put "International Women's Day". March 9th belongs to ALL women of the world, not just the foreign women. In Eastern Europe, where I come from, we just simply call it Women's Day. Back to your poem here. What I love the most about it, is that you paint a picture, especially in the parts of how you describe a woman's physique. I really like that.

[ChemicalMadness]

Playful and poignant...you've done a wonderful job approaching gender roles with an air of whimsy but a powerful undercurrent of truth. Well done.

[Jordan Bryant]

Thank you for reading and reviewing! I'm glad you think I've got a balance between playful and poignant. I'm passionate about the subject matter so I didn't want it to come off as silly but I also didn't want it to become too heavy handed.