Saturday 30 June 2012

Quick Intro

I think I have always been a feminist at heart, I just got a bit lost on the way. Before rediscovering feminism I thought it was all about choice and being more like men to get along in this man's world.  It was becoming a mother for the first time 3 years ago that made me realise that all those "choices" women had were loaded. We are pointed in certain directions by society and it is pretty difficult to not only resist but sometimes to recognise that influence. For example, despite being the higher earner in my partnership, I am still the one working part time.

So a straight talking chat forum soon made me aware that in fact feminism was not only still needed, but vital for a better world for me and my sons.  Many questions were answered and posed.  Many light bulbs went on.

With this newly discovered perspective, I found that a great deal of my interests and life demonstrated that equality still doesn't exist and perhaps more importantly, men don't want to give up their privilege.  This is deeply apparent within the working and sporting worlds I occupy.  It came as a great shock to realise that within the sport I love, women are being discriminated against, dismissed, prevented from realising their potential, disliked and abused or merely tolerated, all because of their sex.  In the workplace I seem to have an expectation that I would be disadvantaged for having children, which is why I waited so long to have them. Why was that expectation there? Why should I be disadvantaged? The answers came down to sexism and a patriarchal society.

The solution is feminism.