{"id":123,"date":"2022-04-12T17:30:28","date_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:30:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarlitmag\/?p=123"},"modified":"2022-04-12T17:30:30","modified_gmt":"2022-04-12T21:30:30","slug":"to-be-a-woman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/","title":{"rendered":"To Be a Woman<\/em>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Kristen McCollum<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.\u201d<\/p>Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride<\/em><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Do you know what it feels like\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

to be hungry for your own body?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To stand in front of the mirror day by day seeing <\/p>\n\n\n\n

long hair the color of butter <\/p>\n\n\n\n

cups under chins and sugar cookies that you aren\u2019t allowed to eat,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

even though you chopped it all off. Thighs so good you just want to take a bite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hairless arms remind you of kindergarten, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

days with peanut butter sandwiches, crust cut off by mothers who hadn\u2019t left yet;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

marriages by swingset (the kind that don\u2019t have a 50 percent chance of divorce<\/p>\n\n\n\n

because we\u2019re young and in love and that first love follows us till death do us part).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you trying to find that in me?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To walk down the street <\/p>\n\n\n\n

in a high school homecoming t-shirt that might as well be lingerie, to hear them leer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you should smile more, over here, princess, sugar tits, baby,  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

look at the ass on her, sexy, sweetie, the things I i would do to you, but you won\u2019t let me, <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

slut<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They don\u2019t know that we let them everyday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve been afraid to admit this, an utterance to empty air that can bring forth <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the death of womanhood, taping the glass ceiling back together-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but in a way it makes us feel pretty. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or maybe wanted is a better word, if there is one. At the end of the day, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

we have no reason to fear being alone, even if our only company<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is a vacant vessel- because being a body is better than being nothing at all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Long legs make for a good life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if I let you touch me, do you promise to feel me?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be a woman is to be a bitch tied in the front yard of your own home for everyone to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such a pretty girl. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell your friends that she can fetch, roll over, and even pretend to come! Put down <\/p>\n\n\n\n

when she bites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be a woman is to be a mirror, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

to be everything and nothing at all, all of the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

the paper rings and the mother leaving you on the playground, and I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

am a woman.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you found yourself in me?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Kristen McCollum \u201cYou are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.\u201d Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride Do you know what it feels… Continue reading To Be a Woman<\/em><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30160,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTo Be a Woman - Lunar Journal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"To Be a Woman - Lunar Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Kristen McCollum \u201cYou are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.\u201d Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride Do you know what it feels… Continue reading To Be a Woman\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lunar Journal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-04-12T21:30:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-04-12T21:30:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"To Be a Woman\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-12T21:30:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-12T21:30:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\"},\"wordCount\":425,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\",\"name\":\"To Be a Woman - Lunar Journal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-04-12T21:30:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-04-12T21:30:30+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"To Be a Woman\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/\",\"name\":\"Lunar Journal\",\"description\":\"Temple's Premier Literature and Art Magazine Focusing on Identity & Intersectionality.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Lunar Journal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/files\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Untitled-design-2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/files\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Untitled-design-2.png\",\"width\":512,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"Lunar Journal\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"To Be a Woman - Lunar Journal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"To Be a Woman - Lunar Journal","og_description":"by Kristen McCollum \u201cYou are a woman with a man inside watching a woman. You are your own voyeur.\u201d Margaret Atwood, The Robber Bride Do you know what it feels… Continue reading To Be a Woman","og_url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/","og_site_name":"Lunar Journal","article_published_time":"2022-04-12T21:30:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-04-12T21:30:30+00:00","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"To Be a Woman","datePublished":"2022-04-12T21:30:28+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-12T21:30:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/"},"wordCount":425,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/","name":"To Be a Woman - Lunar Journal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-04-12T21:30:28+00:00","dateModified":"2022-04-12T21:30:30+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/2022\/04\/12\/to-be-a-woman\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"To Be a Woman"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#website","url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/","name":"Lunar Journal","description":"Temple's Premier Literature and Art Magazine Focusing on Identity & Intersectionality.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#organization","name":"Lunar Journal","url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/files\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Untitled-design-2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/files\/2025\/05\/cropped-cropped-Untitled-design-2.png","width":512,"height":512,"caption":"Lunar Journal"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/author\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"","author_link":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/author\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30160"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.temple.edu\/lunarjournal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}