La femme violente

A couple years ago I wrote a post in Spanish about how a woman writes violence. It reflected on the word "hysteria", the concept for those unable to control their emotions, and forged specifically for women (the root of the word is Latin for uterus.)

The stigma we face as women is being perceived as beings unable to control their emotions, and therefore, our actions and beliefs lose their importance.

Even though today hysterics are not perceived as a strictly feminine ailment, women are still seen as primary emotional beings.

We all suffer like Cassandra, unbelieved and ignored because we are PMSing, or we're going through menopause.

But instead of stating that we are cold and unemotional I say that there is an inherent violence within me.

I know nothing else.

I deeply feel,

and my body,

the female body,

is primal.


It withstands violence,

the flesh rips,

it changes,

it breaks with each destructive wave.


But my mind is sharp because of the violence that fuels it.


A good friend told me a few weeks ago, that women are capable of enduring great pain and rising above because of their nature, because their essence and ability for bearing life (and the pain experienced when that promise of new life is taken away).

I don't shy away from the fact that I am a constant cataclysm inside.

I don't live and think in spite of it,

but because of it.


* "Ajax and Cassandra" painting by pre-raphaelite artist Solomon Joseph Solomon