Old Maid - Freewrite
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Old Maid is such a loaded term and I am thinking that the feminists among us will have a lot to say in this freewrite. I kinda picked it to see if I could get a reaction out of people - I am kind of mean that way lol.
I actually do think about the prompts and try to pick something which can be translated or understood in the many languages or Freewriters call their first language.
So many things cannot be purely translated and make sense. Often, we need to understand the cultural meaning behind it.
Yesterday, I listened to a podcast I like a lot. It is called code-switch and is pretty much about presenting things - issues from the perspective of non-white people.
Yesterday, they talked about words or phrases we use often and without thinking. and the meaning they had at the time when it came about.
One such word is boy when applied to an African American man. It is a word that was used during slavery to show the person their status. A white child would call an adult black man - maybe even an old man-boy. To show who is in power.
that was something I had no idea about when I first came to this country and might have offended someone without even knowing I did.
I am assuming that the same holds true for women. To call someone girl might be an offense or a form of endearment.
Life is so complicated. and words, as we know as writers, can be so very powerful.
But what we started out with, what I started out with, was the term old maid. What does that mean exactly? For one, it implies that a person, a woman is old - past her prime. In the days, that could be as young as just a little over 20.
It also implies that the woman is not married. Because if she were - she suddenly would get the status of a full-fledged woman. that implies that it takes a man to turn a female into a woman.
And it usually implies that the old maid is a virgin - since sex outside of marriage - at least for the upper class was frowned upon.
As I think about it, this term, as so many classifications, was class specific. From the little research I have done into the subject of marriage, I gather that the idea of fidelity and the contract of marriage was very much tied to the time in our histories where we moved away from the nomadic lifestyle into property ownership.
But that is another story altogether and goes way beyond a short little freewrite.
Anyway, let's just say that being called an old maid was never a compliment. I am trying to think what term we are using now in replacement since a lot of the value judgment attached to old maid still exists - we are just hiding it a bit better today.
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In folktales it can be likened to an old woman who kept watch over some set of children as employed to however, possesed magical powers which she uses to torment the kids.
hah - I thought that was the old witch LOL
Woman empowerment is a must
agreed!
:)