Last night, I unfollowed someone on Twitter. She's pretty dull and self-obsessed, but the main reason is because she used the phrase 'I think it's safe to say I'm no feminist'. This royally pissed me off and ruined my Saturday evening (even more so than watching X-Factor had already done)
Why? I'll tell you why. This woman used to be a barrister, and now runs her own tech company (doing what I'm not sure) and has succeeded in two very male dominated areas.Without feminism, those opportunities just would not have been afforded to her. Feminism is, quite simply, the belief that women have the right to equality of opportunity, and not to be held back or looked over simply beause of their gender. Nothing more, nothing less. Any woman who declares themselves not to be a feminist is missing the point entirely. You might as well say, "actually I have no problem with earning less than my male colleagues for doing the same job, because, well, I'm only a girl!"
Feminism isn't about saying 'women can do any given thing as well as a man' as this simply isn't true. Pissing standing up is really messy if you're a girl, for one, and it's an undeniable fact of nature that men, in general terms, are physically stronger than women, so therefore better suited to certain tasks and occupations. The idea that feminism means wanting to work on a building, or getting offended at having the door held open for you is just total arsewipe, yet this is the opinion that a lot of women seem to have. You can be a stay at home mum and a feminist! You can enjoy being bought flowers and be a feminist! You can even wear dresses and look purdy and be a feminist! Hearing women slag off feminism just makes me sad, and far too many people take for granted what feminism has done for every woman and girl in the western world.
End of rant.
