ashleyonmusing: gender roles and planet earth

Getting down to the ground. That's what our girls camping trip was all about this past weekend. That wasn't the intention of course, but it certainly was the effect. aaah, there is nothing like gettin your lots o' dirt under your fingernails and sleeping with your spine to the earth's floor. It dawned on me there, by the lake, next to the fire, that I live an abundance of life "up in the air." And, I mean this most literally, which is to say, my feet are very rarely on the ground. I'm not too sure if this is bad, or good, or if there is anyway such a thing as bad or good, But, I'm mostly sure that 90% of my life in the past year has been spent hovering about 2.5 stories about earth-level. We live in a loft on floor 3. I work in an office on floor 2. My legs bicycle from the loft to the office. So....my two feet bear weight and allow locomotion on the earth for sometimes, maybe 20 paces a day. The desire to increase my amount of 'get down to earth' is what I learned personally this past weekend.

And here is what I learned about female human nature. Well, first, that there is a serious difference between He's and She's. And He's and She's have probably really not changed that much in lots of hundreds (thousands?) of years- at the core that is. I think Americans in general are pretty well independent in society, but, you throw 6 females out in the wilderness to live for a night and within one hours time, you have yourself a full-on commune. There is no independent action- and it's delightful! There is no urination happening alone, you walk through the woods in pairs to find neighboring trees. Why pee alone, when you can pee together? And when the course of corn on the cob is ready for eatin... you wait a good 20 minutes or more for the dog walkers to get back so, "we can eat the corn together."

But here is the proof that Women are still the Women (for some reason, capital W's seem appropriate) of yesterday......the campfire conversation of 6 women out in the great outdoors, for a good long stretch was about "crafting." That is just what the women have always done, right?!! Stayed in the "village" to cook at the fire, watch after the kiddos (dogs on this trip) and make craft items (blankets, baskets, jewelry). We are just the same today as we've always been. And you know what? if there were boys with us, I would put 20 on it that they would have been off hiking around the lake or playing some kind of game.... because that is what our hunters do!

So, this is a cheers to the natural roles of She's and He's. Us ladies- we shop (gather), we craft, we commune- it's our nature. Our men, they hunt, they play sports (to enhance their skills for hunting), they build things- it's their nature. And I like being a she, and I like loving a he. And, I'm pretty darn excited to explore getting down to earth in my city livin' life... somehow. sounds like a potential project to me. (let me know if you have any ideas!)