Being a woman

I really have no idea whether many men have ever had this thought run across their minds, but i wouldn't be surprised if quite a few did. Personally, i've given it some thought over the years, ever since i became aware of women as the opposite sex.

As i relaxed at home this weekend, i thought about it again: what would it be like to be a woman?

I suppose this train of thought was brought on by a few incidences. A friend was menstruating and she told me about the pain she felt around the waist. I wondered what could that possibly feel like. I tried jabbing and pinching my waist. That hurt. Did menstrual pain feel anything remotely like that?

I was watching Chicago yesterday. During the love scene between Rene Zellweger and her unfortunate lover, i wondered, what does it feel like to be a woman making love to a man? To have, basically speaking, a foreign object inside you? Do women feel pleasure the same way men do? What defines the female orgasm?

I saw my mom in the kitchen preparing dinner. Dad was no where in sight. I wondered how it felt like to be a woman, cooking for her family, preparing their meals, being responsible for their physical and emotional well being. I wondered whether my mom resented the fact that dad did very little to help in the kitchen (though he does do other "manly" house chores). Or does being a woman mean that there are some things that have to be accepted "as is"? Or has social conditioning made mom sincerely believe that the kitchen is her domain? Is she genuinely comfortable with that role?

I wondered, while watching the F1 at Sepang on TV, what does it feel like to be a "grid girl". Wearing impossibly tight clothes, leaving so little to the imagination, being oggled by millions of men across the world through the television or the lense of a binoculars. Is it something to be proud of? Does it bring her professional satisfaction to know that the only reason why she's on the track with an umbrella is because she has the body of a goddess?

Being a woman is an experience i'm disappointed to admit will always be beyond me. Its easy to read or listen to women tell you how its like to be a woman. But to really understand, to really appreciate the nouances of woman-hood, i don't think anything beats the real thing.