Seriously Facebook...

[xp_trance]

This one keeps popping up on my feed and it is very annoying. Why does it always have to be one or the other...

You can be a 'badass lady'. *sigh*

Comments

[x-wallflower-.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, it's not as simple as all that. Dependant on your culture, the idea of a lady was a woman who never broke a sweat, never had any bodily functions that would be considered gross and only concerned herself with such things as tea parties and luncheons.

The world from which the word lady stemmed from meant that while being able to play a musical instrument and hold a conversation was considered important, being educated was considered a minus.

This is the traditional view of the word 'lady'.

Things have changed, obviously, but words can still hold connotations that we might not want them to.

So this picture is not rejecting the idea of a woman of the world who has the intelligence and grace to move through a crowd and never put a foot wrong. It is rejecting the idea of women being somehow delicate and unable to fend for themselves or do anything beyond being a help hand to a man.

[x-trance.livejournal.com]

I am well familiar with the traditional views of the word 'lady'. Mother always enjoyed painting pictures of a true lady being like that. I believed her till I did some of my own research.

The view you describe and that my mom held up to me as a role model is a stereotype of what I would call a lady of leisure, created by the media and romance novels. The reality of lives of the woman who would have been described like ladies fit something more like this:

http://randombitsoffascination.com/portfolio/mistress-of-the-manor-lady-of-leisure-or-full-time-working-mom/

http://sandradodd.com/sca/womenandwork

I am also well aware of a limited education and limited opportunities for women during history and I do not approve of those. Still, women who were capable of the duties of a lady as outlined above I would describe as a 'badass lady'.

[xp-wolfsbane.livejournal.com]

I'm just happy to see the caber toss!