The phrase “feel like a man” is associated with men fulfilling gender expectations or stereotypes. A man might “feel like a man” if he stands up to enemies, acts boldly, is the breadwinner of his house, or whatever.
But the phrase “feel like a woman”, as in “he makes me feel like a woman” or what have you, does not seem to refer to this. Women do not say they “feel like a woman” because they are a 2nd grade teacher or cook for their family.
It doesn’t seem to me, then, that the phrase “feel like a woman” is so strongly tied to gender expectations in the way that the counterpart phrase is. So what on earth does it mean?
Stop me if you’ve heard this one:
In a transatlantic flight, a plane passes through a severe storm. The turbulence is awful, and things go from bad to worse when one wing is struck by lightning. One woman in particular loses it. Screaming, she stands up in the front of the plane. “I’m too young to die!” she wails. Then she yells, “Well, if I’m going to die, I want my last minutes on Earth to be memorable! I’ve had plenty of sex in my life, but no one has ever made me really feel like a woman! Well, I’ve had it! Is there ANYONE on this plane who can make me feel like a WOMAN??”
For a moment there is silence. Everyone has forgotten their own peril, and they all stare, riveted, at the desperate woman in the front of the plane.
Then, a man stands up in the rear of the plane. “I can make you feel like a woman,” he says. He’s gorgeous. Tall, built, with long, flowing black hair and jet black eyes, he starts to walk slowly up the aisle, unbuttoning his shirt one button at a time. No one moves.
The woman is breathing heavily in anticipation as the stranger approaches.
He removes his shirt. Muscles ripple across his chest as he reaches her, and extends the arm holding his shirt to the trembling woman, and whispers: “Here. Iron this.”
snicker.
Ok, how about getting punched low in the abdomen, adding a fat suit that adds 10 lbs of water weight to the tummy and feet/ankles, an mp3 player that is on repeat … your fat, you need to lose weight. You are getting a zit there, you need to take care of that. your hair is awefully greasy tonight, you feeling ok? for about a week once a month.
Focusing on the positive, I get that womanly surge of estrogen from: having sex, finding just the right pair of shoes- on sale!, getting a manicure or pedicure, having salon-fresh hair, getting flirted with, being maternal, having nice long chatty lunches with other women, finding jeans that make my butt look perfect, and wearing sexy underwear and bras.
That feeling, of feeling like a woman, is just feeling feminine. Soft, strong, sexy, dainty, curvy, motherly- womanly. It’s an essence that is hard to explain but certain has a male counterpart.