Alix Never Lets Me Down

As I'm listening to the spits and flows of my beloved Alix Olson this evening, I was listening to the piece "Daughter". In this piece, Alix tells her listeners all about how liberated her hypothetical daughter would be, and how she would be a stereotypical feminist mother's greatest dream.

As I am currently (re)reading "Manifesta" by Jennifer Baumgardner and Amy Richards (a must-read feminist Bible), I am discovering a (re)new(ed) sense of enlightenment regarding the relationship between mother and daughter. Naturally, it is important for a woman to provide an example to her daughter of how to live as a liberated woman, and show her all of the important elements therein. But when does it go too far? When can pushing liberation become counter-productive?

A wonderful example that Baumgardner and Richards give us is Barbie. Highly considered one of the most controversial toys on the market, it doesn't prevent young girls (and boys, and others) from absolutely loving the hunk of plastic. In this regard, what do we do? Sway our daughters away from Barbie in an attempt to keep their self-esteem intact (when, in fact, the majority of women who report having played with Barbie as a child will say that her figure had no influence on their self-esteem, but rather they used her to manifest their inward desires... c'mon, you KNOW you made your Barbie doll have awkwardly-positioned sex with your brother's GI Joe), or do we allow our children to follow their desires without outside hindrance (when they are going to experience so much once achieving adulthood as it is)?

But, of course, Alix never lets me down.

She continues:

...She’ll do all of this.
and She’ll do none of this.

and it’s funny how we hide behind these Daughters,
hide ahead of our own Herstories
scared of ourselves
scared of the world
scared of Someone
who made us
one way
or another.

Well, this time around,
i’ll be bound to my own mind womb
in my own birthing room,
i’ll squeeze out, squeeze out
each crimson thick belief
then eat each pungent, sweet placenta
and relieved,

i will tear up this country’s
"Welcome to the World" certificate,
tear off my father’s father’s father’s father’s name,
i’ll legitimate my own entrance into a
Thinking Existence
i will birth myself towards
Resistance.

But no frantic tick-tock of this Biological Clock.
On my own time, Foremothers at my sides,
Sisters as midwives,
i’ll cut my cord, head for that War
i will mother myself into my own grown Daughter
and I will call myself a
Home-Grown Woman.

What's important to remember is that Alix isn't only speaking to those crazy pageant moms who spray and paint their daughters to get that crown and fulfill the childhood they never had. Alix is talking to ALL mothers, and (if I may speak for Alix) is telling them to remember that each woman is in charge of her own destiny. Focus on your life, and your dreams, and your future... and allow your daughter to be TRULY liberated and do the same.