Now before all you ladies out there scroll down to the 'leave comment' section of this blog.. hear me out!
There has always been something about the word 'Feminist' that has sent a shiver down my spine. To me it always made me envision ladies burning their bras at loud demonstrations, refusing to shave their arms and legs and ranting about how unfair the payroll system is. Boo to men and their higher wage.
Now this last statement I agree with. I absolutely think it is preposterous that we women get paid less for doing the same job. It has never made sense and never will.
However, thanks to some crazy rants by the likes of Germaine Greer (who cares if Julia Gillard has a fat ass) and the way in which some people throw out so easily the line 'I'm a feminist' as if it's a controversial statement has always got me a little off kilter with the whole "word" as opposed to the meaning behind it.
I was casually scanning through ted.com which for those of you who don't know (me included, up until a week ago) is a website that uploads videos from people who have done extraordinarily well in their field of work who stand on a platform and offer advice from what they've learnt during their travels. It's fabulous and well worth a look!
Anyway, I was on 'said' website when I came across a great video of Tavi giving a talk about her blog which has taken off like crazy into the virtual world. The girl is only 16 and she has created a website called rookiemag.com that picks a theme each month (this month it is "Age of Innocence') and people contribute what the theme means to them through movies, fashion, diary posts etc, and the young women of America are going crazy about it.
So she opens up her speech with the sentence 'I am a feminist' and straight away I was like 'oh here we go, another young girl who thinks its cool to say I am a feminist' BUT dear readers... she then goes on to explain the idea of feminism and womanhood so well that it put my 28 year old self to shame.
Her key message was so simple and so well described. It went like this:
Feminism is not a rule book. It is a discussion, a conversation, a process.
Well knock me down, and call me Charlie! If that didn't enlighten me to Feminism then I'm not sure who could do it better.
Feminism isn't always about picketed signs, angry demonstrations and foot stomping, it is about openly chatting about the issues at hand and finding ways to fix the discriminations we sadly often face. Also, it is about taking pride in the fact that we are women and exploring the characteristics that make us uniquely well.. us!
The key sub-topic that Tavi explored was the idea of a strong female character.
She brought up the idea that a strong female character was someone who had flaws, weaknesses, was often a bundle of contradictions and these are what makes the character so relatable.
There is no such thing as the perfect women but with shows like 30 Rock, Girls and movies like Bridesmaids where the main female character is quirky, flawed and often contradictory we see women who are real.
Women who are strong, yet have their moments of weakness, who can be outspoken, yet not always right, and who can get themselves into the most disastrous situations yet find a way to come out of it all ok. These women survive, and not only do they survive but they make it look pretty darn awesome!
I have discovered that just because I call myself a feminist, doesn't mean I can't still love men, buy beautiful clothes, spend too much on makeup while still have a strong opinion on our rights, our wants and believing that one day there will be a world where all women can power up the career ladder on the same salary as our cohabitants.
In fact, I currently work for a TV show that is filled with women, my boss is a woman, the lead presenter on our TV show is a woman and heck we even have a celebrity gardner who is indeed (you guessed it!) a woman!
While we still have a long way to go with the sad state of women trafficking world-wide, female genital mutilation in Africa, stoning's in Eastern countries, and plenty still to be done on equal pay rights accross the globe (plus plenty more issues). I'm happy to think we've come a long way from where 'feminism' first started and we've found new methods to get our ideas across while allowing ourselves to be us, not some ideal version of what we should be.
So if being a feminist is wrong, then I don't want to be right.
Two of my favourite feminists
Woo! Girl Power!!!!
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