Last couple of weeks a dominant topic of discussion on this board surrounds the myth of the Southern woman. Most of it has been harmless, superficial and humorous; however much of it has been ignorant and misguided.
Now I disdain anyone who claims to be an authority on any subject so I do not present myself as wearing a mantle of superior expertise in this regard. However, observation born from experience and environment does give one an advantageous perspective.
I came from the womb of a Southern woman, my sister is one, I've married a couple and played with as many as time and circumstance would allow. I love Southern women and they are different. No doubt about it.
Southern women, just like their counter-parts, the Southern male, are uniquely tied to the soil. There is a mystical or supernatural relationship to the rebel earth that defies words or description. It's both evolutionary and cultural. It goes back to the very settling of the South itself when poor Scotch-Irish immigrants and freed indentured-servant families pushed west, braved unforgiving wilderness and hostile environment, dug their hands into the soil, planted seeds and brought forth crops and children. And the new "Southern" woman/pioneer was an equal participant. She did a "man's work"...she drove the oxen, cut the trees, cleared the land and fiercely defended the family and homestead with resolve and rifle. No shrinking violet she.
And it was the Southern woman who held the Southern farm and family together during the Civil War (War of Northern Aggression)while the men were away. The South was ravaged by lack of food and basic resources but she somehow kept her land and brood together and set in motion the South's later reputation as a stronghold of religious and patriotic values. (Afterall, when one has physically defended one's land and relied on God for help when no other resource seemed available, one can easily adopt and find comfort in such basic values. And to this day, the woman is the backbone of institutional churches in the South.)
And, after war, she Southern woman provided the strength and resolve to re-build the South when the half-starved men folk returned from Yankee prisons defeated and de-moralized. Make no mistake, it was her undefeated spirit and strength of character that revitalized the South.
So, what makes her special and different? Voltaire might say it's her "agenda". I say it's her "calling". A calling to conquer, defend and procreate. And nothing...absolutely nothing...can or will prevent her from doing whatever she has to do to fulfill her biological, historical and cultural calling. The girl can't help it. |
