Feminism.
My plan for this morning was to write a follow up post to the clitoris/penis comparison. Then I read an article in the Globe and Mail about feminism today and International Women’s Day. My brain starts making connections, reaching for ways to connect the two. And I have, sort of.
First – the sexual organs. A friend of mine, who is a doctor, commented on my post on facebook.
First – the sexual organs. A friend of mine, who is a doctor, commented on my post on facebook.
“embryonically speaking, the penis is an oversized clitoris. It starts out like a clitoris-at 9 weeks gestation, boys and girls look the same. Then hormones cause something to go awry and the phallus is distorted in males into a penis. Ah well, all for the best in the long run I suppose. Happy International Women’s Day.”
So there! Ha!
On to more serous issues in feminism.
The Globe article is called, Equality for Women, We’re Not Done Fighting Yet, by Judith Timson. I highly recommend reading it.
The Globe article is called, Equality for Women, We’re Not Done Fighting Yet, by Judith Timson. I highly recommend reading it.
“To be a woman in the 21st century is to live with layers of contradictions. You can be anything you want, until you want to be a mother. You can do anything you want, but make sure you look terrific doing it.
In this country, we have a woman who heads our Supreme Court, but we also have little girls anachronistically trapped in a pink princess culture. (Where is Supreme Court Barbie when we need her?)”
I have always considered myself a feminist because I believe in equality of the sexes (and races but that’s another post). I am deeply disturbed by what I see in the media and around me. Many girls are confident in themselves until puberty and then they self-esteem takes a nose dive. I know this isn’t new, it happened to me to. It took me years to recover because I compared myself to the images in the media. I don’t know what will change that.
What has changed is that girls are becoming sexually active earlier, in a very casual way. I’ve heard that blow jobs are the new making out. I hear that and wonder about the negative impact on their sense of self.
What has changed is that girls are becoming sexually active earlier, in a very casual way. I’ve heard that blow jobs are the new making out. I hear that and wonder about the negative impact on their sense of self.
The article says that there are more female med students, yet men outnumber women in high positions in teaching hospitals. Female lawyers with children struggle to handle the brutal billing system and their family commitments. There are women everywhere in business but only 11% are on corporate boards.
There are ads like the Dove campaign that tell women that they are beautiful no matter what yet the actresses who portray doctors, lawyers, police chiefs, teachers (Gwyneth Paltrow), home makers, etc., in television series are mostly beautiful.
Little girls are sexed up for pageants and in their school clothes (Princess on a five year olds butt, high heels on girls shoes). Although I laughed at the Tom Hanks parody of Toddlers and Tiaras, it’s really not funny because it really happens.
Little girls are sexed up for pageants and in their school clothes (Princess on a five year olds butt, high heels on girls shoes). Although I laughed at the Tom Hanks parody of Toddlers and Tiaras, it’s really not funny because it really happens.
So much contradictory information is thrown our way. How is a young woman to navigate? So many of them eschew the F bomb. Either they think we have finished the struggle or that they will be negatively labelled if they call themselves feminists.
Judith Timson quotes conservative Christina Hoff Sommers as saying “you’re not going to be able to win a Nobel prize on flex time. It’s just not going to happen.” Judith’s retort is that maybe you could if your partner shared the house responsibilities equally.
Judith Timson quotes conservative Christina Hoff Sommers as saying “you’re not going to be able to win a Nobel prize on flex time. It’s just not going to happen.” Judith’s retort is that maybe you could if your partner shared the house responsibilities equally.
So where does that leave us mothers? As always, it leaves us with dialogue. Dialogue with each other and with our children. Sons and daughters. We need to tell our daughters to stand up for their rights. To choose partners who will share the work at home and support their professional efforts (Judith Timson). We need to raise our sons to take responsibility for housework and childcare.
What to you make of all this? Do you feel we’ve made it? Does your partner support you as outlined above? What do your children think of feminism?
It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d certainly donate to this superb blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
I really feel so much of it comes down to self-esteem and confidence.
The self-esteem to see yourself as worth more than sexual service to a boy, but to see that if he wants you, you define the terms and he has to take the whole package or lose out. The self-esteem to know that being the girl who does what others want and do is not doing much for you, and you are more important.
The confidence to be who you want to be and make the choices that feel right for you, popular be damned. The confidence to think you can go for it just as well as the next person.
That goes for little girls, medium girls, and grownup girls alike. If we could all have that, I really think so many problems would be avoided or solvable. Not everything, of course, but so much springs from that. So… the big question, then, would be how to get there, to make these smart, strong, resilient girls?
Well said, everybody. I left an office job (where I had worked like a maniac for nine years to prove my mettle in a male-dominated industry) to stay at home with my kids. It was a difficult transition, in part because I used to equate “stay-at-home” with “the-opposite-of-feminism”. I was wrong. I think the goal of my mother’s, and grandmother’s, generations was not necessarily to match our lives and expectations to that of our husbands and brothers. I think their goal was to give us the choice to live the life each one of us wants: To provide options for women to fill any role in society, and to give us the confidence to pursue those options.
I’ve lost friends who believe I’ve let women down by leaving the corporate ladder. I think we let each other down by limiting and judging each other’s choices.
We’re pretty anti-Barbie at our house. My daughter doesn’t own them, and will not until she begins to earn an allowance and may choose to buy them herself. That has less to do with whatever impact Barbie may have on her body image, than it does with lessons we want to teach both of our kids on the political value of a dollar. But, you know? The fact that my daughter will one day have her own money, and consequently have the power to say “I support this” with each purchase is a clear victory for feminism. We’re getting there.
omg, classic!!! that show does nothing to promote ‘confidence’ at all. give the girls some mud and a shovel and see what they can do! (that’s my plan for march break…playing in the mud with a shovel at my parents’ place…it’s wonderful!)
did anyone see daniel craig dressed in drag? interesting piece….
Love this! And love Jen’s comment. My priorities have definitely shifted since becoming a mom and getting older, not away from feminism but in redefining my own definition. I, like Jen, have different priorities and I am happy with that. But, as a collective, I think we have a lot of work to do to insure that women who do strive for the CEOs chair or the Nobel prize have a shot at it.
Also, I think we need to work harder to value what is unique about mothers and women. I am very proud of this and I think it is seriously undervalued in our society!
Finally, that Tom Hanks video is hilarious but a sad, pathetic reflection of what is an extreme and harsh reality for many girls growing up today.
This is why I love UrbanMoms. On the same day I’m sharing my thoughts on Barbie dolls and our little girls (and offering one up to an UrbanMom member), you’re opening this dialogue on feminism. There’s lots to consider.
I think that point about not being able to win a Nobel prize on flex time could be so sad, but it’s only sad if you consider that the ultimate life’s goal. Me, I’m never going to win a Nobel prize (I work flex time), but I’m able to be the mother I want to be, the wife I want to be, the friend I want to be, and the productive and working woman I want to be. Have we made it? I don’t think so, and I’m so glad there are you, and women like you, who continue to remind us that feminism isn’t a dirty word, and the fight’s not over yet.