Spiritual Swagger
December 7th, 2010
Do you swagger at church? Not too many women do.
Only a few women I interviewed identified the realm of religion as a place where they swaggered. Michelle, who is the daughter, granddaughter, niece, sister and wife of a minister, was one of the few women to say she swaggers at church. She says “as a minister’s daughter, all my life I was caught between someone standing up and saying what they believe and having other people think that is what I believe. As a minister’s wife – you have to decide to be yourself and not feel inhibited.” When Michelle first married Jacob she frequently said to herself “I can’t believe I married a minister!” She even had an evil alter ego named Katrina who came out several times, usually after a few cocktails. She says “I was very young and just married. I hadn’t figured out how to reconcile the different parts of myself. Katrina was not very nice to Jacob or his job. I had not figured out how to be me.”
