Hola!
It's... been a while!
I'm not going to bother with anything too profound now, but I felt the urge to write and, by golly, I went with it!
In all seriousness though, I've done... a lot of growing. It's not been awesome, but I'm just happy with where I'm at now. I feel more self-aware, more socially aware, and overall more credible. Because I've looked through my previous journal entries, and I'm not going to delete them because they are relevant, at least for me, for where I've come from, because I look back at the entry where I had discovered Sarah Haskins - two years ago! - and had one of my first real 'Hey, she's a feminist... and I relate to her' moments and it's kind of intense to be able to see the exact point where I, I dunno, opened my eyes?
I feel so melodramatic, but it's important, if only in a small way. I had never thought of myself as being anti feminist (or privileged either, I mean, I grew up fairly lower class/working poor, can't be privileged, right? *nudge nudge*) but looking back now, I can't say I ever really was anti feminist (but I certainly am privileged) and I can see now the merit of actively claiming the title of feminist - if you are one - because so many people, like I was, are wary of that word because of the icky-awful connotations that our society throws at us in everyday life.
Even as lucky as I was to grow up in the household I did, my grandparents wouldn't tolerate prejudice - except on 'laziness', my god, my grandpa had a chip on his shoulder about non-workers - I still inherited a lot of the more subtle, and not-so subtle, ideas perpetuated in society that often slide by under the radar because they 'don't hurt anyone'. So when I'm 14 and think that, man, girls are just so bitchy, it's not corrected, because I have the right idea when it comes to women getting paid the same and being hired for the same positions.
Sadly enough, it took me until seeing someone who wasn't 'whiny' - not belittling her problems - or 'bitchy' - asserting herself - to be able to relate to someone as a feminist. That's not a good thing.
But I worked on it. I educated myself. And I'm still learning.
Feminism isn't perfect, lord only knows it has issues with a capital 'I' when accepting and listening to the experiences of POC, and even the in-fighting over what makes a 'proper' feminist, but it's not something to be ashamed of, or construe as rabid, vengeful man-haters, or imagine as a horde of loose women without 'morals'. It's believing all women, women of any sexuality, creed or color who identify as such are equal to any other man and vice versa. It shouldn't need a title, but until women do have true equality, it's necessary.
That's my jumbled opinion, at least. Haha, what a re-entry!
I'm not going to bother with anything too profound now, but I felt the urge to write and, by golly, I went with it!
In all seriousness though, I've done... a lot of growing. It's not been awesome, but I'm just happy with where I'm at now. I feel more self-aware, more socially aware, and overall more credible. Because I've looked through my previous journal entries, and I'm not going to delete them because they are relevant, at least for me, for where I've come from, because I look back at the entry where I had discovered Sarah Haskins - two years ago! - and had one of my first real 'Hey, she's a feminist... and I relate to her' moments and it's kind of intense to be able to see the exact point where I, I dunno, opened my eyes?
I feel so melodramatic, but it's important, if only in a small way. I had never thought of myself as being anti feminist (or privileged either, I mean, I grew up fairly lower class/working poor, can't be privileged, right? *nudge nudge*) but looking back now, I can't say I ever really was anti feminist (but I certainly am privileged) and I can see now the merit of actively claiming the title of feminist - if you are one - because so many people, like I was, are wary of that word because of the icky-awful connotations that our society throws at us in everyday life.
Even as lucky as I was to grow up in the household I did, my grandparents wouldn't tolerate prejudice - except on 'laziness', my god, my grandpa had a chip on his shoulder about non-workers - I still inherited a lot of the more subtle, and not-so subtle, ideas perpetuated in society that often slide by under the radar because they 'don't hurt anyone'. So when I'm 14 and think that, man, girls are just so bitchy, it's not corrected, because I have the right idea when it comes to women getting paid the same and being hired for the same positions.
Sadly enough, it took me until seeing someone who wasn't 'whiny' - not belittling her problems - or 'bitchy' - asserting herself - to be able to relate to someone as a feminist. That's not a good thing.
But I worked on it. I educated myself. And I'm still learning.
Feminism isn't perfect, lord only knows it has issues with a capital 'I' when accepting and listening to the experiences of POC, and even the in-fighting over what makes a 'proper' feminist, but it's not something to be ashamed of, or construe as rabid, vengeful man-haters, or imagine as a horde of loose women without 'morals'. It's believing all women, women of any sexuality, creed or color who identify as such are equal to any other man and vice versa. It shouldn't need a title, but until women do have true equality, it's necessary.
That's my jumbled opinion, at least. Haha, what a re-entry!