FEMINISM - WHAT IT MEANS TO ME
Well, that famous word - feminism.
A word that can bring positivity, controversy and outrage.
But why? How can one word bring up so many differing feelings? Probably because it a subject that can stir the pot. But before we go any further, let's get one thing straight. I'm a feminist, a raging feminist. Probably the type of feminist that would throw herself under a horse to get a point across. I get deeply, deeply angry at the patriarchy. A rage that I don't ever feel for anything else. The notion that you are somehow a lesser person simply because you're born without the possession of a penis is actually frightening. And downright ridiculous.
And I used to feel that I was just overly angry. That this burning rage I felt inside myself every time I came face to face with sexism was something only I felt. Recently I have come to learn that that is not the case. This week I raced through the book 'Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and other lies)' by Scarlet Curtis and my god I was blown away.
To have your feelings validated by a bunch of wonderful, intelligent, funny women was just beautiful. I felt like I wasn't alone, that although we have a fight on our hands to gain gender equality, that I don't have to fight by myself. That I am supported by inspiring women. And that is such an amazing feeling, a feeling I don't think I've ever felt before.
At the end of the book it asks you to write what feminism means to you. And my god, even if it didn't encourage you to write about it I would off wanted to anyway. I have read a fair few books in my time, I am a complete book worm. But never a book that evoked such a feeling within me. I urge everyone to go out and read this book, it truly is a master piece.
So that leads me on to what feminism means to me. I was desperately trying to sum up the magnitude of feelings I feel when someone mentions feminism but felt that I couldn't. There wasn't some lightbulb moment, I didn't wake up one day and realise I was a feminist, simply because I have always been one. I was born off the back of the Spice Girls girl power craze and growing up didn't feel like I was anything less because I was a girl. But that was maybe because I didn't really behave as a typical 'girl'.
I didn't like pink, I didn't like Disney princesses, I didn't fancy boys, I didn't wear make up, and for the first 3 years of my life I wore boys clothes because my mother refused to dress me in impractical girls clothes.
But I still knew I was a girl.
I didn't feel any less female because I didn't 'act' like one. I was just me. I felt as a kid that I got more accepted in the boys group because I suppose I behaved more like them. But it's more than that, I felt more respected and liked because I didn't behave like a girl. It was my lack of girly traits that made me more acceptable as a person. And thats when I started to get confused, because from my end, girls came in every shape, size, colour, and attitude. Maybe I was just lucky. Growing up I had a friendship group full of diverse, wonderful girls. Girls who weren't shoved into one box. girls who liked make up but those who didn't, who played sports but those who didn't, and maybe girls that liked all of those things and girls that liked none of them.
So thats what I thought girls were. And I was right, girls are all those things and more. But it seems that society wasn't a forward thinking as me, and the more I started to think about it, the more I started to find problems. Boys never fancied me, I was always the 'mate', I was complimented on my brains not my looks, people used to respect me because of my intellect, I was often listened to more than my friends. It soon became clear that I was being treated like a boy. And that wasn't because the boys I were friends with were able to look past gender and treat everybody with respect. No. It was because I didn't 'act' like a girl.
My lack of femininity got me more respect.
And it's wrong.
As I've grown older, developed tits, a 'womanly' figure and a skin care routine that has stopped. Because I am more of a 'girl' now I'm being treated like one. And honestly its a bit pants.
Girls can be anything, and they should be treated with respect no matter how they present themselves.
Feminism to me is something we so desperately need, and it is so clear to me that the less like a woman we are the more we are treated like actual people, and that appals me. My fight is not over until every woman in every country is treated like a fair and equal citizen, no matter what they look like, how they behave or what they do.
This book has just cemented what 10 year old me already knew - girls are amazing.
With our lipsticks, stethoscopes, rolling pins, cameras, cars, paint brushes and brains we can tear down the patriarchy and give a big fuck you to society - and I've got my middle finger ready and waiting.
A word that can bring positivity, controversy and outrage.
But why? How can one word bring up so many differing feelings? Probably because it a subject that can stir the pot. But before we go any further, let's get one thing straight. I'm a feminist, a raging feminist. Probably the type of feminist that would throw herself under a horse to get a point across. I get deeply, deeply angry at the patriarchy. A rage that I don't ever feel for anything else. The notion that you are somehow a lesser person simply because you're born without the possession of a penis is actually frightening. And downright ridiculous.
And I used to feel that I was just overly angry. That this burning rage I felt inside myself every time I came face to face with sexism was something only I felt. Recently I have come to learn that that is not the case. This week I raced through the book 'Feminists Don't Wear Pink (and other lies)' by Scarlet Curtis and my god I was blown away.
At the end of the book it asks you to write what feminism means to you. And my god, even if it didn't encourage you to write about it I would off wanted to anyway. I have read a fair few books in my time, I am a complete book worm. But never a book that evoked such a feeling within me. I urge everyone to go out and read this book, it truly is a master piece.
So that leads me on to what feminism means to me. I was desperately trying to sum up the magnitude of feelings I feel when someone mentions feminism but felt that I couldn't. There wasn't some lightbulb moment, I didn't wake up one day and realise I was a feminist, simply because I have always been one. I was born off the back of the Spice Girls girl power craze and growing up didn't feel like I was anything less because I was a girl. But that was maybe because I didn't really behave as a typical 'girl'.
I didn't like pink, I didn't like Disney princesses, I didn't fancy boys, I didn't wear make up, and for the first 3 years of my life I wore boys clothes because my mother refused to dress me in impractical girls clothes.
But I still knew I was a girl.
I didn't feel any less female because I didn't 'act' like one. I was just me. I felt as a kid that I got more accepted in the boys group because I suppose I behaved more like them. But it's more than that, I felt more respected and liked because I didn't behave like a girl. It was my lack of girly traits that made me more acceptable as a person. And thats when I started to get confused, because from my end, girls came in every shape, size, colour, and attitude. Maybe I was just lucky. Growing up I had a friendship group full of diverse, wonderful girls. Girls who weren't shoved into one box. girls who liked make up but those who didn't, who played sports but those who didn't, and maybe girls that liked all of those things and girls that liked none of them.
So thats what I thought girls were. And I was right, girls are all those things and more. But it seems that society wasn't a forward thinking as me, and the more I started to think about it, the more I started to find problems. Boys never fancied me, I was always the 'mate', I was complimented on my brains not my looks, people used to respect me because of my intellect, I was often listened to more than my friends. It soon became clear that I was being treated like a boy. And that wasn't because the boys I were friends with were able to look past gender and treat everybody with respect. No. It was because I didn't 'act' like a girl.
My lack of femininity got me more respect.
And it's wrong.
As I've grown older, developed tits, a 'womanly' figure and a skin care routine that has stopped. Because I am more of a 'girl' now I'm being treated like one. And honestly its a bit pants.
Girls can be anything, and they should be treated with respect no matter how they present themselves.
Feminism to me is something we so desperately need, and it is so clear to me that the less like a woman we are the more we are treated like actual people, and that appals me. My fight is not over until every woman in every country is treated like a fair and equal citizen, no matter what they look like, how they behave or what they do.
This book has just cemented what 10 year old me already knew - girls are amazing.
With our lipsticks, stethoscopes, rolling pins, cameras, cars, paint brushes and brains we can tear down the patriarchy and give a big fuck you to society - and I've got my middle finger ready and waiting.
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