I should confess that I've always been more of an observer than a participant in Texas Womanhood: the spirit was willing but I was declared ineligible on grounds of size early. You can't be six feet tall and cute, both. I think I was first named captain of the basketball team when I was four and that's what I've been ever since.' Molly Ivins
That was an interesting quote by the late Molly Ivins about herself that I found myself pondering since you know I'm a proud child of the Lone Star State.
It also got me musing about just what is the Texas Womanhood she spoke of?
Is Texas Womanhood an offshoot of womanhood in general with a Texas twang shaped by our state's culture? Does being born in the Lone Star State, living here or transitioning here impact the concept of womanhood because we are either native or naturalized Texans?
Is there a distinct definition of womanhood based on our shared experience of living inside the Lone Star State?
Probably yes and no. Out of the over 25 million people who reside inside the borders of the Lone Star State there are 12,673,281 who are female according to the 2010 US Census
Those 12.6 million women are a diverse bunch and one that defies stereotyping. We don't all have big hair that is blonde or white in color and sprayed into place within an inch of its life.
Some of us wear our hair in dreds, loced, ultra short, permed, bleached, braided, weaved to our butts or in a natural style in a wide variety of colors and shades.
We can be either deeply spiritual church going sisters or not. We don't all speak with a sassy, witty, sharp tongued drawl like our former governor (God, I miss her) Ann Richards For many of us Texas women English is not our primary native language. Spanish is along with many other languages from around the globe.
Many of us aren't blessed with the writing prowess of Molly Ivins or Linda Ellerbee, the oratorical skills of Barbara Jordan, the head turning beauty and social justice conscience of Eva Longoria, the regal elegance of Tony Award winning actress Phylicia Rashad, the bootyliciousness of Grammy award winning singer Beyonce Knowles, the singing voice of Yolanda Adams or want to grow up to be Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders, wear the Miss Texas crown or be Mary Kay reps.
But yet, we still share that common experience of being Texas women.
Some of us were caught up on the other side of the gender fence once upon a time but we got to our Texas womanhood status as fast as we could.
Nobody appreciates something more than when you have to fight for it such as we Texas transwomen have had to do such as Toni Mayes, Judge Phyllis Frye, Christie Lee Littleton, Nikki Araguz, Cristan Williams, Vanessa Edwards Foster, and some African descended Houston based transwoman who pens an award winning blog y'all might have heard about just to name a few. .
We Texas transwomen have trailblazers and leaders in our ranks as well and a proud history to go with it. Much of the trans history that was written in the 90's and 2K's has a Lone Star brand to it with Texans providing major leadership voices in the community at the local, state and national level or being involved in the struggles to achieve trans human rights.
We are still providing that leadership today and as Texas transwomen we also bring to the table more questions to ponder and more diversity to the table when we discuss what exactly comprises this Texas Womanhood that Ivins spoke of
I love Molly, but I think the Lone Star statuesque sisters would dispute that part of her comment that you can't be six foot tall and cute. Model Jerry Hall fabulously pulled that off during the 70's. So does gospel singer Yolanda Adams who was a former model. When I'm feeling it don't have a problem doing so either.
We are still providing that leadership today and as Texas transwomen we also bring to the table more questions to ponder and more diversity to the table when we discuss what exactly comprises this Texas Womanhood that Ivins spoke of
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