Methodology

Having decided that I am going to become a 'real woman' (and at this point the term alone makes me cringe) it is imperative to discover, or more accurately construct for myself with guidance what a woman is called to be.  Some time ago I would have likely made ludicrously postulated that, "I have never allowed a man to shape either my appearance or, more importantly, my opinion of myself" this would have either been an utterly ignorant statement, or a bare faced lie.  This is largely because I, and probably most if not all women, have at some point dressed or acted in a way to be attractive to a man (or another woman for that matter, but once again I risk veering wildly off topic)  Now before everyone's up in arms its worth having a real look at the word attractive, now in contemporary culture its viewed as synonymous with sexual appeal or attraction, granted this can be one, albeit small, part of the works meaning, however, attractive in its full definition is;
1) providing pleasure, or delight especially in appearance or manner; pleasing; charming; alluring
2) arousing interest or engaging ones thought or consideration
3)having a quality of attracting (drawing things near to itself)

So, if you've ever dressed or behaved in a way to do any of the above for a job interview, to appease a family member, or to impress someone you are just as guilty as I.

Its probably also worth pointing out to any stoically independent women out there, who feel they've never engaged in such foolishness, if you've ever snuck an alternative outfit out the house, covered a tattoo, taken out a piercing or not sworn in front of a father or grandfather you'd best come join the rest of us.

I would also like to address among you those who are cunning and astute, those who "play by their own rules" (and much like the stoically independent I would have once counted myself in your ranks) Just because you are making a conscious choice about it doesn't mean that; firstly, you're not conforming and secondly, you're not being influenced by your own behaviour.  For years I "played men at their own game" and being pretty cynical from a young age I swiftly worked out that even if I got an equal wage with my male counterpart (far from being a sure thing in the biased labour market) I would suffer financially and in terms of career progression by having children (incidentally, I always knew I'd be a mother, but never considered having a man though)  I therefore contented myself with preemptively making up for the shortfall with such stalwart feminist tactics as queue jumping with low cut tops and being bought drinks in exchange for being examined like a slab of meat.  I'm pleased to say that by and large I grew out of this by age nineteen but its certainly left a mark that runs pretty deep and I have to fight with my flesh over it whenever I feel uncomfortable.

But back to the issue at hand; how do I become a woman?  The obvious quandary is that I don't know what a woman is supposed to be, so I have decided to start at the beginning and study my way all the way through the Bible to find out what exactly God is calling me to be.