Greetings All; Shardvixen here;
When I was a young child, there were rules in our house how a 'young lady' was to act. My mom made me wear dresses till I was in Jr. High. When made me the targeting of bullies (girls who were setting the fashion based on the times). I enter high school in the year of 1979-80. When I was 16 years old, I was introduce to NOW, the National Organization for Women, because I wanted a world where being a women was no different than being a man. It didn't mean I wanted to be a man, but I thought the standards were wrong.
I had read their statement of purpose and agreed with it at the time.(I still agree with it)
http://now.org/about/history/statement-of-purpose/
The above link is in case you want to read it for yourself.
It made me mad that because I carried the eggs rather than the fertilizer, I couldn't do a lot of things. And even if I pushed for all other to agree with me and allow me to do what I wanted, I would be shamed, shunned and in some cases abused, harassed and harmed. And now that happens not only to those standing up for the rights of all but those standing against. No one should be shamed, harmed,or abused for their beliefs no matter how stupid anyone believes the beliefs to be. If the beliefs do damage or harm to others, then education and punishment should come from a law enforcement agency, not from society itself.
I have biases against arranged marriage and the concept and culture around marriage. I have biases against surgery changing children to ensure a good bride price or small boys for jockies. I have a biases against child marriages arranged by parents. I have a biases against religions which don't allow a female to have say over her own body and her own mind and emotions. I have biases against cultures where the husband is allowed to beat, shun and even kill his wife or wives. I have a biases over cultures which allow abandonment of children (especially females) to the nature or a trash bin. I have biases against stories which have women as victims in life and only a male can save them.
I love the story of Cinderella and the other princesses but even as a young girl, I understood that all of them were nothing without their prince. I wanted to read different stories to my daughter. Stories like Disney's Brave where a girl takes control of her own life and saves whatever or whoever besides herself. I loved stories where women were strong because I knew women could be strong even in societies where they were not encouraged or allowed to be.
I am sure it seems to you I am a feminist but the reality is I am a equalitist because I want the same things for my son and grandson. I want them to not be shunned because they want to live a life where they can stay home and be the caretaker of their children, where their heroes will be women as well as men, where they can be allowed to cry when feeling pain or joy, where they can let us women protect them. A world where there will be stories of Cinderfella(which is a movie with Jerry Lewis) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053716/ Very funny movie, maybe it will be talked about in my vlog.
I still believe in the NOW statement but I don't just want to be a feminist, I want to make aware that even though my son is part of the white, male privilege he still gets treated like the stereotypical male. women will expect him to open the door, not to hit them even if they hit him first, that he can't possibly be heterosexual if he likes pink or wants to wear a "female" tshirt. Or if he does choose to be homosexual and likes pink or fashion he must be the more feminine male. Part of this goes to what we think gender means and the stereotypical roles we place on being one sex or another.
There are groups in the world who say they are for feminism but at the same time wish to punish males for just being male, punish them because they have a penis and sperm. I will not be linked to such a group. Just as there are groups who hate females because they are female. I believe we should all be pansexual and there shouldn't be any stereotypical gender roles created by society.
As a female, society is for the most part more acceptable of me wearing no makeup than a male wearing makeup. I can wear pants now and carry a wallet and still be seen as a female, while my son wears a dress and purse could be ridiculed, shamed, and/or shunned as well as harmed.
When I was marching for equal rights it was the belief that men could keep the rights they had and women would just have the same rights. That of course, isn't the way the story went. But I will keep working on that kind of world for my children and their children and so on till we are all equal and it won't matter what sex we are. Hopefully all of you will want a world like that too!
I am outta here. Catch you on the flipside! Peace!
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