A Woman's Place?

"Now I see that some of you fear to go forward to fight for our king. If it were in the brave days of Osei Tutu, Okomfo Anokye, and Opoku Ware, chiefs would not sit down to see their king to be taken away without firing a shot. No European could have dared speak to chiefs of Asante in the way the governor spoke to you this morning. Is it true that the bravery of Asante is no more? I cannot believe it. It cannot be! I must say this: if you, the men of Asante, will not go forward, then we will. We, the women, will. I shall call upon my fellow women. We will fight the white men. We will fight till the last of us falls in the battlefields." (Yaa Asantewaa, Queen Mother of the Ashanti)

"A woman's place is in the revolution."

"It is not as a woman descended from noble ancestry,

but as one of the people that I am avenging lost freedom,

my scourged body, the outraged chastity of my

daughters. Roman lust has gone so far that not our very

persons, nor even age or virginity, are left unpolluted.

But heaven is on the side of a righteous vengeance.

A legion which dared to fight has perished; the rest are

hiding themselves in their camp, or are thinking anxiously

of flight. ey will not sustain even the din and

the shout of so many thousands, much less our charge

and our blows.

If you weigh well the strength of the armies, and

the causes of the war, you will see that in this battle you

must conquer or die. is is a woman’s resolve; as for

men, they may live and be slaves." (Boudica, Queen of the Icemi tribe of Britions)

Eyes of the Rainbow Assata

Sara Baartman (or Hottentot Venus)

Beautiful: Healing the Disconnection Between Body and Soul

"I'm gonna take off all my clothes,
Look at myself in the mirror
We're gonna have a conversation
We're gonna heal the disconnection
I don't know where it started,
But this is where it's gonna end
My body is beautiful and sacred
And I'm gonna celebrate it." (India Arie, "Private Party")

One of the biggest lies that we are told as women is that our bodies, as they are, are somehow imperfect. Either we're too fat, or too skinny. Either our butts are too big, or we suffer from 'nosatall' (no ass at all). We walk around with silicone breasts, kenkalon hair, acrylic nails, body shapers, Maybelline mascara....

All of that to fit a standard of beauty that was never meant for us.

Psalm 139:14 says, "I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth quite well." The Creator made us beautiful, marvellous creatures. If the Maker of the universe crafted us, and called us beautiful, by what measure are we to say we are anything else?

I must admit, for all my 'natural woman' trappings, I do have those moments when I feel unlovely. It is difficult to separate self-image from what we are told about ourselves. Somewhere in my soul is a 180 pound little girl who was always insulted by children and adults. "You're too fat. Don't make no sense you're bigger than me," my mother's voice in my head says.

It doesn't matter that I am 130 now because my mind still sometimes sees what is no longer there. I fight every day to keep my balance and not see ugly where the Creator has placed beauty, nappy where the Creator placed glory. But as God continues to heal the wounds of the past, I walk in the knowledge that no matter what I look like, I am still fearfully and wonderfully made.

So, my sisters, do not be afraid to stand naked before the Creator. Walk in the knowledge that you are beautiful, divine creatures. Make this your daily meditation:

"My body is beautiful and sacred, and I'm gonna celebrate it!"

And even if you don't believe it at first, say it till you mean it. We become what we say, and if what we say is positive and divine, that is what we will become.

Sister, You've Been On My Mind....

"Sister, you've been on my mind
Oh, Sister, we're two of a kind so
Sister, I'm keepin my eye on you..." ("Ms. Celie's Blues" from The Color Purple)

I wonder if my little sister, Charity, remembers me singing that song to her when we were little girls. I was 7 years old when she was born, and I took care of her much of the time. So, when she would wake up in the night, or got tired during the day and needed a nap, I would hold her in my arms and rock her singing:

"I'll bet you think I don't know nothin'
But singing the blues
Oh, sister, have I got news for you
I'm somethin' and I hope you think that you're somethin' too."


This blog, this entire blog not just this one post, is dedicated to my sisters.

Working with battered women has really made me think about the damage that patriarchal society has done to us. Man's domination has destroyed so much of who we are. We, black women especially, are told so many wrong things about our femininity. Either that it is a weakness, or it makes us inherently evil.

In this blog, I will explore the concepts of divine femininity, patriarchy's effects on the feminine mindset, goddess worship, egalitarian relationships, motherhood, and many other themes. Be prepared, it's going to be quite a journey.