girl power, blah blah blah feminism.
Jun. 15th, 2007 11:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
enamouredWhen I was about eleven or twelve, I said I wasn't a feminist.
Which was a little bit ironic, considering that I was that weird girl who was obsessed with the Spice Girls and running around screaming "Girl Power!" whenever I could. At that point, I associated feminism with "crazy, shrieking women who hate men and eat babies" and stuff.
Now, I get it. I consider myself a feminist, because I fully agree with the notion that feminism is about choice. I want to be like my mother, should I get married and have kids. When my brother and I were little, she stayed home with us, and once we were old enough for kindergarten (me) and preschool (my brother), she went back to work. I believe that if you want to be a stay at home mom, by all means, do so (just don't harp on mothers who work, because that's just BS). If you want to do pageants, go ahead! Want to play a contact sport? Go ahead, fight the power. It's your choice.
Feminism's supposed to be about regarding someone's choice with respect, right? Then why the hell are so many women evil to each other? We gripe that we can't trust other women because we're always tagging some henious idea on them: Oooh, she'll steal my man. She thinks she's better than me. She's trying to hit on me, and I am clearly out of her league; and besides, I'm not batting for the wrong team. She's so desperate! She's a slut/skank/whore/insert phrase here!
We see each other as competition, instead of being in the same boat. We all want to be successful, we all want to laugh and have a bright future. We all want to change the world in one way or another; we want to have somebody to love. We want the same things, and we all breathe the same air and cry and all of that. Yet we loathe each other and are generally malicious and cruel to each other, and then we wonder why men want to call us bitches and hos.
It's because we call each other that, whether in jest or out of envy.
Is it possible to be a feminist and hate other women sometimes? 'Cause right now, I kind of do.
Which was a little bit ironic, considering that I was that weird girl who was obsessed with the Spice Girls and running around screaming "Girl Power!" whenever I could. At that point, I associated feminism with "crazy, shrieking women who hate men and eat babies" and stuff.
Now, I get it. I consider myself a feminist, because I fully agree with the notion that feminism is about choice. I want to be like my mother, should I get married and have kids. When my brother and I were little, she stayed home with us, and once we were old enough for kindergarten (me) and preschool (my brother), she went back to work. I believe that if you want to be a stay at home mom, by all means, do so (just don't harp on mothers who work, because that's just BS). If you want to do pageants, go ahead! Want to play a contact sport? Go ahead, fight the power. It's your choice.
Feminism's supposed to be about regarding someone's choice with respect, right? Then why the hell are so many women evil to each other? We gripe that we can't trust other women because we're always tagging some henious idea on them: Oooh, she'll steal my man. She thinks she's better than me. She's trying to hit on me, and I am clearly out of her league; and besides, I'm not batting for the wrong team. She's so desperate! She's a slut/skank/whore/insert phrase here!
We see each other as competition, instead of being in the same boat. We all want to be successful, we all want to laugh and have a bright future. We all want to change the world in one way or another; we want to have somebody to love. We want the same things, and we all breathe the same air and cry and all of that. Yet we loathe each other and are generally malicious and cruel to each other, and then we wonder why men want to call us bitches and hos.
It's because we call each other that, whether in jest or out of envy.
Is it possible to be a feminist and hate other women sometimes? 'Cause right now, I kind of do.
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Date: 2007-06-16 05:39 am (UTC)I find irony in the fact that I just opened my iTunes and the first song that came up was by the spice girls. =P
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Date: 2007-06-16 10:11 am (UTC)gaaah world
Sometimes I wonder why we oppress our own so much.
Word, yo.
Date: 2007-06-16 02:26 pm (UTC)But I totally get what you're saying. Feminism is having the right to control your own destiny. Back in the 20s, they weren't fighting for the right to work, they were fighting for the option to work if they wanted to. I think we get caught up in the "rah rah Girl Powah!" thing that we forget that, which is where all the scorn and elitism comes in. The point is that no woman is better or worse than any other based on her career/family choices. A true feminist decides what she wants out of her life with no influence from outside sources - and if what she wants out of life is to be a housewife with four kids, that's just as admirable as someone who has one kid and a fast-paced, busy career.
It all comes down to stupidity. People can be so unbelievably stupid.
no subject
Date: 2007-06-16 08:04 pm (UTC)At least part of why women are backstabby and competitive with each other is because we're socially expected to be. A fight between men is powerful and impressive; a fight between women is a "catfight" and brings on comments about hair-pulling, scratching, and a pool of mud/jello/pudding. It's trivialized and sexualized, like most things relating to women.
The thing is, even if women band together, their efforts and their cameraderie are seen as less valuable, less admirable. Women's groups are characterized as shrill, or frivolous, or weepy, or gossipy -- you know, "chick stuff". Guys don't get that. Organizations of men are treated as either formidable and businesslike (if formal) or with fond tolerance and boys-will-be-boys (if informal).
So there's a lot of societal pressure going against women when it comes to a sisterhood, and not much impetus to change it ... especially because keeping women divided and competing? Really helps out the patriarchy.
*takes off Lisa Simpson pearls*