muliebrity n. womanly qualities; womanhood 
Muliebrity
by Sujata Bhatt
I have thought so much about the girl
who gathered cow-dung in a wide, round basket
along the main road passing by our house
and the Radhavallabh temple in Maninagar.
I have thought so much about the way she 5
moved her hands and her waist
and the smell of cow-dung and road-dust and wet canna lilies,
the smell of monkey breath and freshly washed clothes
and the dust from crows’ wings which smells different –
and again the smell of cow-dung as the girl scoops 10
it up, all these smells surrounding me separately
and simultaneously – I have thought so much
but have been unwilling to use her for a metaphor,
for a nice image – but most of all unwilling
to forget her or to explain to anyone the greatness 15
and the power glistening through her cheekbones
each time she found a particularly promising
mound of dung –
Many times when I begin these posts I will use a Google search to get myself motivated or to generate some ideas. I had never read this poet before today, but I can say that this poem captures the full meaning of the word. When I chose the word, I started thinking about what makes a woman "womanly" - outside of physical appearances and the ability to bear children. Is there a grace that women possess simply because they are just women? What exactly makes a woman "womanly"?
There is a huge difference between being pretty, pink and girly and being womanly - and it has nothing to do with body weight. I find it interesting that our society labels clothing for females above a size 12 a woman - and everything under her as juniors or misses. As if having a larger ass means you are more mature and matronly. However, it raises an interesting point about the relationship between female anatomy and this idea of womanhood. Larger breasts and hips used to be what defined beauty. A young lady was deemed a woman once she passed out of puberty and developed the trademarks of her sex. Even until the 1950's, "t & a" were essential to being considered the height of womanly beauty. Today there is no doubting that the likes of Marilyn Monroe and Sophia Loren were women - not girls. I'm not going to make the analogy to our current societal predilections of beauty - you already know what there is to say about that. I just think it's a little sad that the feminist movement is most likely to blame for this drastic change.
I drive around with my son a lot and I see these bumper stickers everywhere that say "Save the Tatas." I know breast cancer is a devastating disease and one that I might have to face in my lifetime if statistics say anything, but these bumper stickers offend me. It's like having a bumper sticker on my car for testicular cancer that says "Save the Sacks" or "Don't Bust My Balls." I doubt the man with testicular cancer would find it funny. It's not that I think that breasts have super powers, but God did give them to only women so we should probably honor them. We have Playboy, the plastic surgery industry and Victoria's Secret to exploit them already. Can we please not degrade them further by calling them "tatas" on the same vehicles we shuttle around the future of women of America in?
There is something more to womanhood than boobs, though. A certain grace (regardless of how clumsy they are) that women possess in their movements, actions and auras. Maybe it's in our eyes or the sway of our walk or the fact that we can give birth to a child. I'm not quite sure there's any way to pin exactly what it is down, and I think that it's better that way. We need to keep it secret so no one exploits it and gives it a goofy name.