The reason I entitled this "thinking outside the box" is because I've been reading Fear of Flying. It's a really authentic, still relevant portrayal of the female dilemma in our culture. You may or may not like or identify with the protagonist. However, the novel clearly demonstrates that she is rebelling against the society that created her. Sadly, not much has changed since its publication, when I was a toddler. Sure there have been changes, but not enough. Misogyny is still so prevalent and so ingrained in many of us that we don't even notice it.
Erica Jong asked the question, and I reiterate it: How does a woman reconcile her desire and her need to be taken seriously in any other context? Gertrude Stein said, "Literature - creative literature - unconcerned with sex, is inconceivable." (I'm trying not to picture Wallace Shawn from The Princess Bride.)
Do women have to forsake femininity to be respected professionally? Do they need to forsake the positive masculine traits they have either been born with or have learned, in order to be considered feminine by someone considered to be a masculine male?
And what IS femininity anyway? Will we ever evolve enough for all people to just truly be "feminine" or "masculine" to whatever degree they wish without personal and sociological conflict?
I started this draft years ago. My life has changed pretty dramatically, and yet, these questions are still hanging there, like a pair of pantyhose in the shower in some 1950s movie.
