Maternally Challenged: Angelina Jolie’s Redefinition of Womanhood

Mary Wilkinson is a freelance copywriter in Toronto. Her words have helped sell everything from chocolate bars to integrated accounting solutions to vibrators. You can hit her up on LinkedIn.

What makes a woman a woman?

In crude terms, one might say her parts are what define her. But in a world where a woman can have her breasts and ovaries removed before the age of 40, the parts argument doesn’t really hold up. 

Angelina Jolie’s recent decision to have an oophorectomy, two years after having a double mastectomy, is highlighting a whole new conversation around gender identity. 

Thanks to this nasty BRCA1 gene mutation that increases her risk of breast cancer by 87% and ovarian cancer by 50%, Angelina has made some serious decisions about her body. As the daughter and niece of women who have this same gene, I can understand her rationale. But it also stirs some curious thoughts around what really defines a woman. If it’s not her female body parts, then what is it? 

My mother kicked breast cancer’s ass 8 years ago. It was a scary, sickening time for her (and all of us, really). And while she did eventually get rid of it, the looming threat of its return is something she still wakes up with every day. Especially with this stupid gene mutation. 

Two years ago it came back. The doctors found a small trace of it in one of her breasts. She was told she could either get a lumpectomy and just cut the sucker out – or she could a have a double mastectomy and virtually pulverize her chances of the cancer ever returning (in her breasts, at least).

She chose the latter.

Leading up to the surgery, I was surprisingly disturbed. I never realized how much my mother’s boobs mattered to me. They were more or less a symbol of her maternity. As her child, I found them comforting. Although I never really thought of them that way until I found out they were going to be gone forever.

So there I was, dreading the removal of this inherently motherly part of my mother. But what I found interesting (and damn inspiring) was that she wasn’t dreading it at all. Once you live through a bout of cancer, you understand what’s truly worth dreading. So for her, the decision was crystal clear. Good riddance, she said.

To me, womanhood isn’t about parts. There is a phenomenal strength that comes with being a woman. The kind of strength it takes to surgically remove part of your body so you can stick around to see your grandchildren. 

So I say congratulations Angelina, for having the balls to turf those ovaries.


#NOTABLE

Want more updates on the most Notable things happening so you know before your colleagues do? Get our exclusive newsletter here and follow us on Twitter for all the latest.