Am I a REAL Woman? 1997

 Introduction and Contents

AM I A REAL WOMAN?

Feb?, 1997

 

Am I a real woman

or a woman dressed up as a woman

or a man dressed up as a woman

or a woman dressed up as a man dressed up as a woman?

 

What is a real woman?

 

If I am a woman dressed up as a woman, does that mean I am a real woman?

And if I am a man dressed up as a woman does that mean I am

a man

a woman

or a man’s vision of who a woman is?

Or if I were a woman dressed up as a man, does that mean I am

a woman

a man

or a woman’s vision of who a man is?

 

What makes a woman...a man?

 

If woman equals shrill giggles, coy looks, high heels and tottering unstable walks,

does that infer weakness, stupidity, flightiness?

If man equals belly laughs, practical comfortable clothes, feet firmly planted on the ground

does that infer strength, knowledge, focus?

 

So, if I am a man dressed up as a woman,

am I using my strengths to explore her weaknesses

as I see it?

Or, if I am a woman dressed up as a man,

am I using my weaknesses to explore his strengths

as I see it?

And, if I am a woman dressed up as a man dressed up as a woman

am I a woman who is using a man’s strengths to explore a woman’s weaknesses

looking from the outside

at myself?

 

What makes a woman...a man?

Is it just the dressing?

 

What if I take the dressing away...is it the body?

 

If the body of a woman is strong...is she then a man?

If the body of a man is weak...is he then a woman?

 

Is it the mind....the spirit...the genitals?

 

So what does the dressing achieve?

 

Is it that the dressing also defines a fantasy of who I want to be

or to be seen as

or a fantasy that others want to see me as?

 

What then is my fantasy

and what is the reality of my fantasy?

 

Am I ready to live that reality?


© A. Maie, 1997


(Performance at the art exhibition It's a Feather, it's a Bed by Irene Kindness at PCL Exhibitionists gallery)

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