yarrr, ye scurvy boy-king, halt ye whinin'

you will remember Betty Greene, one of the founders of the Missionary Aviation Fellowship, who has flown every kind of plane except a jet. she even ferried bombers during World War 2, and you were surprised that she didn't "look like a pilot." nobody else thought she did either, and often when she would land in some foriegn airfield the authorities were nonplussed to see a woman step out of the plane. "do you fly these planes alone?" she was often asked. but long ago Betty had made up her mind that if she was going to make her way in a man's world, she had to be a lady. she would have to compete with men in being a pilot, but she would not compete with men in being a man. she refused to try in any way to act like a man.

it is a naive sort of feminism that insists that women prove their ability to do all the things that men do. this is a distortion and a travesty. men have never sought to prove that they can do all the things women do. why subject women to purely masculine criteria? women can and ought to be judged by the criteria of femininity, for it is in their femininity that they participate in the human race. and femininity has its limitations. so has masculinity.

- Let Me Be A Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

thank you hannah banana.