The Feminine Experience in Literature Essay Example

The feminine experience is not one that consists of many harsh divides, the treatment and reaction of women overlaps despite different time periods and physical locations. While cultures and social progress do add differences, the experience is fairly consistent through and through. Her story is a shared narrative consisting of endurance, perception, and power, reflecting the similarities between all women’s experiences. 

The story of endurance starts in the roots of Latin America and the Caribbean. John Chasteen explains the historical context in the second chapter of Born in Blood and Fire, “Encounter.” He explains how indigenous people of Latin America were met with foreign technology and diseases, which resulted in the death of most while the others fled or succumed to slavery where they would eventually die (Chasteen 33-34). This chapter, while paying note to the grim truth of Latin America’s colonization, also paints the image for how unlikely survival was for these individuals, especially women. While this chapter shows the ugly side of it, this context just furthers the impressive beauty of survival, and the demanding of a place in a cruel world plotting against women. This idea is further explored in “We Are Ugly, but we Are Here,” written by Edwidge Danticat, where she describes an introduction between Haitian women, being translated “I am ugly- but I am here.” (Danticat 25). This piece explores the idea that physical, surface level beauty is superficial in the eyes of Hatian women. What matters to these women is not physical beauty, but just the fact that they are continuing to survive even with the odds against them, and that strength in survival is much more beautiful to them. 

Not only does her story take place in a society with perpetual resistance for her survival, but the foundations for this society also shape perceptions of women, demanding demonstration of rebellion in order for her to simply have control in her story. In the poem “La Malinche '' written by Carmen Tafolla, she tells the story of the world’s perception of a powerful woman, and describes how Malintzín’s name became to mean traitor. The poem illustrates how the world disregards countless positive interpretations of Malintzín’s ambiguous story, and instead aims to demonize or victimize her, ultimately opting to paint her in a negative connotation. This is evident in the line, “But Chingada I was not./ Not tricked, not screwed, not traitor./ For I was not traitor to myself,” (Tafolla, lines 55-57), which explains the criticism she received for being a self-empowered woman acting on her own accord, and when given the chance, the world will choose to give women a negative narrative. Yassmin Abdel-Magied explores this idea of perception further in her TED Talk, “What Does My Headscarf Mean to You?” Abdel-Magied discusses the concept of unconscious bias, and how everyone experiences these biases in some way. She opens the discussion by welcoming the audience’s assumptions, asking them to consider what assumptions they would make about her by just passing her on the street. She urges the question, “Someone who looks like me walks past you in the street. Do you think they're a mother, a refugee or a victim of oppression?” (0:18-0:22) and later follows this up with her credentials of racecar engineering and training as a boxer, leaving the audience with the question “Would it surprise you? Why?” (1:10-1:29). This illustrates the natural bias of most to assume women in positions lacking power and leadership, and placing them in more domestic roles. In this presentation, Abdel-Magied is explaining how women have to fight and almost prove themselves to the world in order to gain the same fair external perception a man gets. This concept of being perceived as less than adds more credibility to women’s achievement though, because the pressure of having the world’s eyes watching, waiting for a slip up is an added level of difficulty. 

However, it is in this element of shared trauma and hardship that women are able to find their power and uplift other women in the process. A part of her story is recognizing the trials and tribulations of the woman next to her, and having a mutual understanding of what she is going through. This concept is explored in the story “Woman Hollering Creek” by Sandra Cisneros. About a young woman named Cleofilas and her story of escaping a domestic violence situation, Cleofilas is helped and inspired by two women. The story wraps up with Cleofilas receiving a ride from Felice who hollers while driving over the infamous creek, known for being associated with a mother’s agony. As she brings Cleofilas into her fresh start, she also leaves her with a fresh perspective of the freedom a woman can have and opens her eyes to a brighter and more free interpretation of the story (Cisneros 55). Part of the feminine experience is paving the way for other women, and clearing spaces for them to be able to step into her power, because it is she who knows the experience and she who knows how hard it can be, so she saids in uplifting women. It is because of this that her story is less about individuality and more so about community and the shared experience of being a woman. 

While my perspective on the shared experiences of women has not changed much, there are new levels of context added to it. Growing up as a woman, I caught on to the unspoken ways that things work for women in this world. I have seen the ugly, I have seen the beauty, and I have seen a community of women’s reactions to both. However, I have never been able to see these experiences through the lens of Latin America and the Caribbean. While I will never be able to wear those lenses first hand, this course gave me an opportunity to put on those glasses, even if it was just temporarily. I titled my first writing experience as “The Feminine Lens is not Rose Tinted,” (Walter) mostly because I saw injustice and mistreatment for women and honed in on the more grim experiences. That is what I feel this course has changed most about my perspective, as now I see the beauty that comes from a woman’s endurance and rebellion, the ability she has to recognize injustice and demand change.