Protect your Womanhood

Women need to take themselves seriously or nobody else will.

Just think of it, the history of every human begins inside a woman’s body. It may have been provoked by a male orgasm, but the responsibility of the new life will be a woman’s, not a man’s. What took a man just minutes will take a woman years.

Before there were gods, there were goddesses. Many cultures worshipped the Great Cosmic Mother. Because adoring a mother meant adoring life itself. Then warlike patriarchal cultures took over and attempted to destroy women’s sacredness. Men, to feel superior, placed women in a subservient role. But this need to feel superior alienates men from the needs and struggles of others. This need to feel superior alienates men from women. And, in the end, this need to feel superior alienates men from themselves.

Man is superior if and only if he does not consider himself as such.

Women, thanks to their biology, are wired for empathy, the capacity to recognize and understand the feelings of another. Empathy permits women to protect and better care for their offspring. For example, how could a mother and her tiny baby communicate otherwise? Thus, empathy and maternal instinct are often entangled.

Empathy, a means of inter-relating, is fundamental for our survival and evolution. It is an awareness that we are all dependent one upon the other. Empathy is the basis of a sense of community, of a healthy society. Without it, there is nothing civil about civilization.

Being maternal does not necessarily mean being a mother. Being maternal means nourishing and protecting the lives of those who cannot defend themselves. Being maternal is listening when someone needs to talk, to hug when someone needs affection, to make someone smile when they are fatigued from frowning. Being maternal means respecting the lives of others even if they are not part of your family or your social milieu.

Today we live in such a conflictual world that’s constantly fragmenting itself. So, Ladies, please, do not underestimate yourselves. Remember that we are the glue that keeps the world together.

For my American lady friends getting ready to vote, please remember your role as a woman. Remember to maintain your maternal instinct towards all the babies of the world–yours and everyone else’s. Please, please, please, do not underestimate your importance!

Below our balcony is a Madonella shrine. It depicts Mother Mary holding Baby Jesus. The inscription reads “Mater Divini Amoris, Ora Pro Nobis” that translates as “Mother of Divine Love, pray for us.”

Tiny urban street shrines portraying the Madonna such as the one above are known as “Madonelle” and there’s an abundance of them in Rome.

Madonelles were created to protect people on the streets. Generally, there were placed at intersections because that’s where demons often hid hoping to trap a passerby who, deciding which way to go, was temprarily distracted.

There’s also the popular belief that people are less likely to commit a crime or misbehave if Mary, the mom of all moms, is watching.

So don’t let mom down.