Right now Tryn is working on a project for school involving feminism, not the first go round where we got the right to vote, but the second one with wages and birth control.
It got me thinking about what feminism means to me. Because of the women and some brave men before me I have never lived in a world where I couldn't vote, where I couldn't open my own bank account. I have always been encouraged to be whatever I want to be. I have experienced wage discrimination. I have never called myself a feminist - in fact honestly, most of the time I disagree with the violent hatred that I see projected by the face of the feminist movement. When you lay out the facts, equal rights, equal pay, equal voice - absolutely. Not just for women but for men and all races. Everyone has a voice as should be paid by the quality of their work, not by their gender or color of their skin. When it comes to birth control I am glad we won that battle too. The ability to take a pill or insert a piece of plastic and reduce the chance of pregnancy has improved the health of many women and children. When it comes to abortion, well, yes things get tricky. Let me just say that I can't imagine ever having one personally - but I cannot, and will not make that choice for any other woman who is in her first trimester.
What I don't understand about some in the feminist movement is the hatred. I have been both a working single, a working wife, a working mom, and a stay at home mom. All have joys and challenges. None are better or worse, all are choices and results of where you are in life. Why the hate and "I am better than you" Why the hate for men? I personally enjoy and embrace the differences between men and women, we really are different and I love the differences between us. I don't want to act or think like a man, and I don't want men to act and think like me, I do want us to try and understand when we don't agree however. And therein lies my basic difference with some of the "militant" feminists. I should be able to vote, and speak, and get equal pay and still be a woman. Wearing skirts or pants as I choose, hair long or short. I should be judged by the quality of my work not by whether my name is listed as J. Smith or Jane Smith.
I am a woman and I enjoy being a woman and all that that means. Wife and Mother, Sister and Daughter. In my own case I am equally at home fixing your computer, scrapbooking photos, unclogging a sink, fixing dinner, or homeschooling my daughter.
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