Insurgents' Ink: Muliebrity

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Muliebrity

Alright, kids! Are you ready for the word of the day? Say it with me: "Muliebrity" (myoo-lee-EB-ri-tee, noun). Dictionary.com defines it as "The state of being a woman." Intriguing, no? But the following example of the word in action is even more so:

"She was one of those women who was waiting in--what is the word?--muliebrity; she had courage and initiative and a philosophical way of handling questions, and she could be bored by regular work like a man." --H.G. Wells, The New Machiavelli

What does "muliebrity" mean to you? Define it in one sentence by commenting on this posting.

5 comments:

AutumnMay 14, 2010 at 6:05 PM
Ok, I'll start us off: It's a sad and beautiful world. (I just won't feel right if I don't admit that this is a quote from Jim Jarmusch's film, Down by Law, but I think this sentence pretty much describes what muliebrity is to me.)

Thanks for the message Alena; write us a sentence :)
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AnonymousMay 14, 2010 at 7:58 PM
Beneath career, faith and all other roles lies muliebrity.
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AmberMay 16, 2010 at 9:06 AM
I like what "anonymous" had to say. It says a lot in few words.
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brown sugarMay 17, 2010 at 6:36 PM
When I looked at my curves to ask if this was so, they replied it was all in my head.

I think womanhood, womanliness, ect., is a state of mind more than anything else. That's what I'm saying, in case that didn't make sense. I more than fully embrace my trans sisters, and feel that I may not always have been a woman. Perhaps I should work on that essay or poem.
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AutumnMay 18, 2010 at 11:53 AM
I LOVE it! I agree that muliebrity, and gender in general, is definitely a state of mind, as our transgendered friends remind us. The poet Joy Ladin had a wonderful series of poems and then an essay about her poems in the November/December 2009 issue of the American Poetry Review. What she had to say about being a woman and the state of mind it entails and how it is connected to language, blew my mind! You can read one of the poems here https://www.aprweb.org/poem/new-year-new-body but you need to buy the rag for the essay, which is worth the %4.25 I promise!

And yes, go write a poem and an essay and a short story and conduct an interview...
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Amber Dickey- Co-Editor
She received an M.A. in English with an emphasis on literature and a B.A. in English with an American literature concentration from CSU Sacramento. As an undergraduate, Amber won second place in the Bazzanella Literary Awards for her critical analysis of T.S. Eliot's The Wasteland. She is an avid fan of the Lost Generation writers, Héléne Cixous, bell hooks, Judith Butler, and many, many others. Her interests lie in the arts, poverty and race studies, gender studies, queer theory, pedagogy, and the Feminist Movement debate. She credits her mother's strength and perseverance as a single mother of three with inspiring her to work hard for everything she wants and never take shit from anyone.

Autumn Newman- Co-Editor
Autumn is a feminist new-formalist poet who received her MFA in creative writing from the University of Southern Maine’s Stonecoast low-residency program where she had the opportunity to work with poets Annie Finch, Baron Wormser and many other talented writers. She also holds a BA in English from California State University, Sacramento, where the poet and professor Joshua McKinney infected her with a seemingly innocent, yet unyielding, addiction to formal poetics. Autumn’s poems have appeared in various small poetry journals and most recently online at Able Muse and Cider Press Review. Aside from poetry and feminism, Autumn’s passions include: pedagogy, graphic novels, music, film, domestic violence education, race relations and all issues that affect and contribute to the unequal power structure of our society.

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