What defines womanhood? Does it involve domesticity? Sexuality? The gaze of a man? In the posts “Aunt Song as a Role Model for Troy” and “Troy, the Caretaker”, Troy is spoken about in relation to womanhood. It is made clear that she is not seen as a woman because of her age and lack of sexual development but that her actions and reasoning compensate for this by providing her with a level of maturity high enough to be considered in the realm of womanhood. In this context, womanhood is defined in terms of motherhood and one’s ability to care for another, more specifically a child. Because women have the ability to carry life, motherhood is often thought of as an essential component of womanhood. This describes Troy’s entrance into womanhood once her mother dies. She was forced to take on the responsibilities of a mother at a young age.
In the blog post “On Not Wanting To Be Alone Tonight”, womanhood is defined through a different perspective. It is defined through the comparison of the coming into womanhood of the Gamma Rays in School Daze and the coming into womanhood of Destiny’s Child. This is an excerpt from the post:
Where the Gamma Rays transition from girls to women by allowing their objectification, gaining power from being the object of the male desirous gaze (in line with French feminist ideologies, interestingly enough), Destiny’s Child finds their womanhood in their financial and emotional independence from men.
Even though the coming into womanhood of Destiny’s Child is seen as having manifested through financial and emotional independence from men, later in her post Liz makes the argument that they are still dependent upon the male gaze. Once a female becomes an object of the male gaze, she goes from female to girl to woman. Thus, in this society, a girl’s entrance into womanhood is reliant on her becoming an object of the gaze, in other words, her objectification. The question then arises, “Is it possible for a woman to own her own womanhood?
In the context of Troy’s coming to womanhood, womanhood depends on a girl being able to care for someone else and being able to fall into that role of domesticity when necessary. In the context of the Gamma Rays and Destiny’s Child, coming into womanhood is contingent upon the male gaze. In society, there is no space for a woman to own her own womanhood because womanhood has only been defined in relation to other things. Hence, when asked what defines womanhood, the answer is everything but women.
Womanhood in Spike Lee Joints 