We did have a different blog post scheduled in for today but as yesterday was international woman’s day I ended up writing this post instead.
I love international woman’s day, I love seeing all these strong women and men celebrating how far women have come. I do always find it does lead back to a conversation based around feminism, and if you’re an avid reader of our blog, then you’ll know I define myself as a feminist. What shocks me is how many people are still so uneducated on it.
Yes, there are radical feminists that hate men and have pretty extreme views, but the majority of us are not like that. The Oxford dictionaries definition of feminism is “a person who supports the belief that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men” – so shouldn’t everyone see themselves as a feminist?
As a woman, I am still worse off than a man in a number of scenarios in our current society (but still better off than people of colour and other ethnicities and especially women of colour and other ethnicities) and I don’t feel that should be the case.
Being a woman has effected me in various ways throughout my life, I have been sexually harassed on a number of occasions and belittled in previous work places because of my gender (and age). I have been slut shamed by men and women and made to feel guilty about my life choices. I believe that woman shouldn’t have to fear walking alone at night, or getting pregnant incase their work place don’t take kindly to it. I believe women and men should be treated fairly.
However, as I said before, feminism is about equality. I believe men should not be taught to internalise their feelings, as they are prone to higher rates of suicide. I also think it’s disgusting that we don’t talk about male domestic violence and sexual assault – which are very real issues. Men also face daily issues and struggles.
This is one of the reasons that Grayson is being raised as a feminist.
Grayson will be free to be whatever person he wants to be. If he wants to cry, whether it’s because he’s hurt physically/mentally/emotionally then I want him to cry and feel safe in doing so. I want him to play with cars and dress up as Cinderella if he wants to. I want him to stand up for every single minority, because as a white middle class male he will grow up being extremely privileged. That privilege will be known to him, and he will use it to help those that don’t have the same advantage that he does.
I want Grayson to grow up proud to say that his parents are feminists, and that he is a feminist and if anyone ever says “feminism is for girls” he can calmly hand them a dictionary and tell them to look up the definition of feminism.
I am proud to be a feminist, and my child will be proud to be a feminist and you should be too.