F is for Feminism…

ooooh.

Hello to the serious button. I am going to try and write about this! Kind of nervous really.

Feminism is a pretty loaded word – it means so much to people in different ways. I am going to approach this by talking about my influences and what it means to me. I didn’t choose this topic to rage out, but to explore. I have grown up and into the world in a lot of different environments and I have had had some great role models over time.

I would like to acknowledge my mother. I thought she was amazing growing up. She was loud, in charge and so very organised. (that isn’t to say she isn’t now!) She never seemed afraid to step  out and into the very male orientated community we lived in. She spoke about being true to yourself and she was fiercely protective of her children. I liked that. I also admired how she coped with divorce and living as a single mother. The mining industry in Western Australia is currently producing a very awesome generation of mums running households while partners are doing fly in and fly out…

Moving on: I read a lot when I was younger. Some of my favourite books were the Tamara Pierce Alanna series and Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn chronicles. Both have great strong female leads whom I adore for different reasons 🙂 The characters aren’t the prettiest or the cleverest – but they kick ass anyway. I think it is really important that there are cool stories in the world where the girl isn’t just a princess waiting to be saved. I want my niece to realise being a princess is not just about her frock and shoes.  I want her to grow and be anything she wants. That being said – I want my nephew to be cool with the concept of doing something that might be considered ‘girly’ as well. (He can’t quite understand why W’s hair is long…don’t only Girrrrls have long hair!)

I chose to train to be a nurse when I went to university. This has to be one of the professions which cops a LOT of flack about being a job for women. If I had a dollar for every insinuation that I may or may not give my patients a “back rub” or if it really is like Grey’s Anatomy *sigh*….That being said, I have met some amazing women who have been nurses for many years and they OWN IT. I chose to do nursing because it was something I was drawn to. Do I wander if it had anything to do with the fact that I have a vagina? Not really. I could easily have done something else. I know some awesome ladies who are engineers and they rock the house at it. I can’t imagine being in a male dominated workforce… that must be interesting.

I have really only started to open my eyes in the last year or two to what the world does to women through advertising and movies. I really enjoy Anita Sarkeesian’s Feminist Frequency channel on you tube. It examines a lot of pop culture – you should check it out.  There was a lot of internet ugly surrounding a kickstarter she had going for a series about Tropes VS. women video games.  Check out this guys thoughts on this. I also have a super internet crush on the lovely Miss Danicia – I met her on the interwebs a number of years on livejournal and we have stayed in touch. She is great! She is a geeky gamer lady and she shares some great resources and articles about feminism. She gives me the courage to hit share on Facebook.

I am a day late about posting this, so I am going to have to wrap up. I am pretty nervous about it as well. I am going to lean into that discomfort and share this. I think its important that women are taught its ok to be themselves and that they can do anything. We aren’t objects and we don’t belong in the kitchen. I want any daughters I have to grow up in a world where she doesn’t have to worry about sexual assault because “she deserved or asked” for it. I want her to not have to endure countless statements that propose that because she is a woman she is lesser/stupid/incapable. I want any other sons I have to respect women, to feel free to cry and express themselves – they will cry like men, like themselves..not like “girls”. I know I have a long way to go in supporting the idea as well.