Ur A Wmn Now (Your A Woman Now)

This song is so beautiful. I think that this song is about realizing what the real world is like. It's really not that safe, romantic world children like to believe in. And when you realize that, that's when you grown up.

The song sounds beautiful, but when I listen to it, I'm getting some really horrible images from the lyrics, about what different societies consider marks the difference between a girl and a woman.

The first verse is a girl being led into the dark by a boy who forces himself on her, taking her "virginity". ("She's been ensnared" and "He shoves her to the ground"). The second is a young girl being taken by her mother to be circumcised, being held down while this happens. ("Don't be scared, just relax and breathe / good girls hold real still / surrender your free will", while the imagery of "they cracked the crown / to pluck the pearl" and "the jagged edge of the world" suggest the mutilation itself). Finally, the third is a young mother in a welfare line, wanting a better future for her daughter.

Morethanadream, I somewhat agree on your perception on the first verse but...

Your opinion on the second verse is rather irrational. It's obviously about an arranged marriage, to someone she has never really got know. That was very common, and is still happening in other countries. "Good girls hold real still / Surrender your free will " means to not flee from the altar. She is writing how marriage takes over, how men used to force their wives to do all the housework, cooking, child raising... They didn't have much time to get out- so, it basically saying "goodbye to your personal freedom"...

Also, the third verse Otep said was about her mother and her. (:

This song makes me wanna cry. =/ I adore Otep and I absolutely love Emilie Autumn, having them together just makes my heart explode. I completely agree with Morethanadream's explanation. I mean the second verse seems a bit out there but I think it sounds closer then arranged marriage, just because the lines, "they cracked the crown / to pluck the pearl."

I still don't understand how you guys get circumcision from that line... I don't see how that symbolizes it at all. I get the thought of a literal crown, and a pearl, referring to how marriages were sealed with a crown back then. Or just to ruin a girl's childhood by forcing her into marriage at a young age. It's just not clear to me. I still think it's just a mother basically giving away her daughter and forcing her not to flee from the altar. And that good girls don't run away from their commitments..

I kind of had to rush my post when I first commented, but I have more time now so I can elaborate on things.

Well my interpretation of the second verse kind of hit me out of the blue; I'm an autistic, and my personal experience of the world is that when I think about something I get a rush of different pictures and ideas that I associate with it - sometimes they're ideas that relate and overlap with it, sometimes they're contrasting or outrightly opposite ideas, often they're only related to the original concept by a tangent, but it's from this wide range of comparisons that I synthesise my feelings and interpretations.

The line about the pearl made me think of Fiona Apple's song Sullen Girl, which isn't about circumcision but about rape (whereas to Fiona the pearl represents the girl's liveliness and spark of joy, the image I have here is of the pearl representing the clitoris). I was also thinking about Otep's song Menocide, which she wrote after reading about circumcision. The british poet Carol Ann Duffy's poem "Oppenheim's Cup And Saucer" also swirled about in there (though this was pretty tangental; the poem is about a lesbian affair and refers to a piece by a swiss surrealist artist). As well as this, I brought to mind the various articles and reports I've read about circumcision, about both female genital mutilation in africa and male circumcision in the western world.

I'm not sure I've ever come across any information about a marriage being sealed with a crown, Miss Lucy. Is there a specific society or time-period you have in mind?

As I was posting from the library and my time was running out, so I missed putting that in a lot of places that practice female circumcision (I'm thinking specifically about clitoridectomy, which I know a number of places in Africa practice) it's a prerequisite for marriage. If it hasn't been done, the girl gets overlooked when finding a husband.

I'll admit I'm basing a lot of my interpretations on what associations I have for the language used in the song, so it doesn't carry over to other people who haven't read or seen the same things I have. But I'm not claiming to have a definitive answer, just what this means to me.

PS I'm really enjoying reading everyone else's responses, so please keep replying! XX

I see this song as a story about a young girl who was raped and ended up pregnant, and because of the time period I think of, she couldn't be pregnant without being married so her parents found a suitor for her and she was married very young and, perhaps, she had no say in the matter because she blames herself for the rape because it is a result of her being 'restless for adventure'.

Perhaps the man she married was violent (as many husbands were back then) and so, in the third verse, she's planning for her and her daughter to leave him, but only when she's certain she can support them in their new life.

This song always makes me cry; it's so beautiful. I love Otep.

"pluck the pearl" it is the removal of the clit. this happens in quite a few third world countries, specifically in africa. usually for an arranged marriage but the clit is removed so the woman does not enjoy sex. this is what otep met, she has said so in interviews. this song is gut wrenching and it should have been a released single for the soul purpose of hitting a wider audience then just her fans

Thanks for explaining that in detail. It's interesting to me how you related all that, especially with autism. I don't have it, but I've studied about it, so I definitely understand that. It's very fascinating to me...

I guess it could mean female circumcision, but I think it's not wise to assume (not implying you are) that every song written by one artist are all related... Then again, Otep does that, in a way. (Am I making sense?) I just don't think it's very likely for some reason. It's not very common to do that anymore, even in Africa.

And pearl- in a way, I was thinking the same thing you were. But I imagined the 19/18th century when this song came in. The king would usually call the daughter his precious pearl (actually, a lot of people do it nowadays, too) without any other sexual innuendo.... But some religions and cultures there are crowns involved, I suppose. But I also thought it could mean someone's childhood (girls would run around being princesses and faerie tales, I suppose), and symbolizing just youth and enjoyable life. And to take the pearl from it (usually a big piece in crowns back in the day) would just destroy the whole value of it. So, by forcing a girl to be wed to a stranger for whatever reason (usually money, blood linage... I've been thinking about King Henry VIII for some reason now!) ruins her childhood. She is forced to bear children and become a housewife; she is thrown from her childhood. Mainly, the crowns I thought of 18/19th century, European culture. A lot of the times back then, the clergy themselves would wear such things... (but that's irrelevant)

I just thought of the mother comforting the young daughter while she's waiting for the (presumably) older groom, telling her not to run away... for reasons it'd wreck the image, dowry lost, whatever- you guys get the point. I'll check out the song and poem you mentioned, though. I just really thought it could all be about marriage, but it definitely could be the mix of that and circumcision. (but why jump from the altar to getting mutilated? it was, according to some cultures, required BEFORE marriage, or she was unfit for a wife...)

I understand. I interpret this song, basically all others, too, in different ways. I appreciate you replying and clarifying for me on your opinion. This is, after all, just sharing our personal opinions... (: I wish Otep would say something about this song. It's so beautiful and moving and the emotion just drips from her voice.

I was finally going to get around to posting here again, with the intention of saying that I'd taken your comments on board and agree that the middle verse wasn't about circumcision, when I discover an interview with Otep where she confirms the verse is about genital mutilation. I'm not posting this in some petty "I'm right - see?" way, I'm posting it because it's a insight into the song.

http://www.examiner.com/x-17556-Baltimore-Music-Events-Examiner~y2009m11d5-Interview-Otep-Shamaya-smashes-the-control-machine

Very final question she says: " "UR A WMN NOW," I wanted that to be deceptively beautiful. I wanted it to be this song where, I don't know, a father is going to dance with his daughter at her wedding, not knowing the chorus. Really not knowing that what they're singing about is the archaic rituals and philosophies that decide when a girl becomes a woman. Is it when she loses her virginity? Well, what if she gets date raped? Is it through these barbaric mutilation rituals that still occur in Africa, where they mutilate young girls' bodies so that they will never enjoy intercourse with their husbands? Or is it, as in the third verse which is based on my mother, is it becoming your own person? Is it taking responsibility for your own life and living that life to the fullest and doing whatever you can to make sure that you achieve the destiny that you deserve?"