The more I was treated as a woman, the more woman I became. A adapted willy-nilly. If I was assumed to be incompetent at reversing cars, or opening bottles, oddly incompetent I found myself becoming. If a case was thought too heavy for me, inexplicably I found it so myself.
Interpretation
This quote reflects on how societal expectations and treatment shape one's identity and abilities.
Jan Morris explores the impact of societal perceptions on individual identity, particularly through the lens of gender. She suggests that when treated in a certain way, individuals may unconsciously adapt to those expectations, limiting their potential. This quote highlights how external perceptions can significantly influence self-identity and capabilities, especially regarding traditional gender roles.
In practice
In a discussion on gender roles, this quote can emphasize the impact of societal expectations on personal identity.
The language itself, whether you speak it or not, whether you love it or hate it, is like some bewitchment or seduction from the past, drifting across the country down the centuries, subtly affecting the nations sensibilities even when its meaning is forgotten.
To me gender is not physical at all, but is altogether insubstantial. It is soul, perhaps, it is talent, it is taste, it is environment, it is how one feels, it is light and shade, it is inner music.
Only when a woman decides not to have children, can a woman live like a man. That's what I've done.
There's an unconscious bias in our society: girls are wonderful; boys are terrible. And to be a boy, or young man, growing up, having to listen to all this, it must be painful.
If you're a girl and you don't fit the very specific vision of what a girl should be, which is always from a man's perspective, then you're a little bit at a loss.
Men are boys for such a long time and really don't start getting the great roles until they're in their mid-thirties. But then they've got a long time to do them, whereas for women, it's all about playing younger and younger and younger.
Men cannot count, they do not know that two and two make four if women do not tell them so.
Gender-dominated environments are not good... particularly in the financial sector where there are too few women. In gender-dominated environments, men have a tendency to... show how hairy chested they are, compared with the man who's sitting next to them. I honestly think that there should never be too much testosterone in one room.
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