Highest achievement? Feeling like a woman!

It seems that we are told by so many people how to be our particular gender based on our sex. I always knew I was a girl. I knew this because I had pretty clothes with ribbons and bows, boy shorts that weren't for boys because mine had flower patches on them, I got to wear lip smackers chap stick, strawberry flavored of course; I had barbies who were girls and dressed like me, a pink and purple bike, and even a my size barbie I carried everywhere because after all she was just like me. I knew when I was a young lady. I knew this when my birthday present was red spots in my preteen underwear, when lip gloss replaced my lip smackers chap stick, my hair started to have an extra bounce, and I shaved areas other than my legs. I knew when I was a woman. I knew I was a woman when I had my first real boyfriend who took my only innocence left called virginity, when I filled out my clothes differently, preteen underwear became the finest linguire target could provide, and when I actually started to care how I presented myself. These are all things I know but I know and knew them because of what I had seen or heard growing up. From my sisters to my peers and their siblings, this is how it was to be a woman.  

On page 151 in chapter 7 the statement, "we already recognise gender as something of an achievement. If a woman puts on a dress and make-up, she might declare,  'I feel like a woman tonight.'" I absolutely fell in love with this quote because it is true. Male or female we look forward to the little things that define our "adulthood." For a female things like wearing make-up or getting our menses for the first time because we found that as an achievement in life. As mentioned before I stated I knew that I was a girl, a young lady, and a woman but I never mentioned that I FELT or FEEL like one. I dress up occasionally and I wear something make-up related daily but I have never felt that urge to say, "I feel like a woman tonight!"Is that what makes a woman truly a woman? Am I a woman by definition based on how dressed up I get or the how glamorous I can be? I have to say NO! 

I feel most like a woman when I am in yoga pants and a t-shirt doing homework or working out. I feel most like a woman when I am reading a book that I am so enthralled in I can't put it down or watching a beautiful love story while finding myself smiling so hard my face hurts but crying that my eyes become heavy. I feel like a woman when I can look at my real achievements in life such as being a survivor not a victim, having a college degree, working a respected profession, and having a deep faith with my GOD. This is being a woman to me, not the superficiality of performing like a woman. I will say feeling like a woman and pretending to be a woman are two very different things. I recently found the meaning of feeling like a woman and that is one of my biggest achievements. WHY? Because I found the feeling my way, by me, and for me! How many woman know what it truly feels like to FEEL like a woman and do not just pretend to know? How many woman know at the age of 23?