(Untitled)

[kbk]

I am alive. I am yawwwn. Have done two 'days' of placement though today was like three hours because I had group and yesterday was only introductory but tomorrow I will be doing stuff and then I am off on the music society weekend thing - ooh, forgot to remind parentals, will email - which should be um well yes

Comments

[edithmatilda]

I think there are ways and ways of thinking about having frocks and bosoms. I find frocks are a Fun Toy and do not really think of them as "feminine" because I don't feel girly in them, or something. Also with bodies defiantly being the shape of an woman is not the same as dutifully being such

[edithmatilda]

(cont.)

I am not sure why I am uncomfortable around very girly women. Part of it is years of mockery for failing to be as good at Girlness as they are but there's also that aspect of knowing that a very conventional very feminine woman has a whole big set of priorities re: makeup and Cosmo and shoes that I don't just Not Get but actively object to, and also that there's a fair chance she'd find me po-faced and joyless for that. Women who expect me to apologise for my feminism are really really scary. Also often they seem to cluster in All-Girl groups talking about men, and when in mixed groups to behave noticeably differently, and I find that deeply warped, as though I were consciously to change my personality depending on the ethnicity or class of the people in a group

[kbk]

I am not thinky enough to respond to much as yet - more tomorrow, probly - but that last: oh god yes. I was reading a book in a pub - maybe I told you about this? - and got told "I'm not a feminist, I'm an egalitarian." Agh. The problem there, of course, is that the most visible form of feminism is the radical feminism of Dworkin, Greer etc and, as you say, hairy manhaters. And then the part is seen as the whole and blah blah

*koff* *yawn*

*clings to the Miriam because she is a wondrous human being*

Ooh, I'll have to find the right bit of the book again - The Ann Oakley Reader - she talks at one point about how women are perceived by the medical profession, etc. Very much like your "a bit fragile and pants and it's not like they have to be competent is it?" I will let you know. She seems quite good in that she has a pragmatic view of things. This is why I shouldn't be allowed on the second floor of the library, though, because I pick up things like that which are not my area. But I like it.

*hugseses*

[quasi_modo]

Yay glad to see you back and not just because of that icon ;+)

I thin k I get what you mean about feeling female but not so much feminine, I similarly am without doubt male but I don't feel like "A MAN" in the way I came to see men while growing up. I don't really compensate though. I get quite annoyed with the cultural stereo type because I am quite far from the unthinking sex obsessed football fan with personal hygiene problems or in fact most other cultural stereo types. I just try to find my own way although I do feel hopelessly inadequate from time to time

I hope you keep enjoying your placement

[kbk]

:P

It's one of those things that seems to get more complicated the more you think about it; but maybe acknowledging that complication is as valid an end product as a simple answer would be. *shrug*

[kbk]

That is very very cool. It's so nice when people surprise you like that.

[khalinche]

I realised that those might be in reaction to me feeling like I'm "bad at being a woman" - that I reiterate my biological femaleness because I am not confident in my cultural femininity - that I am defiantly female - that it is not something which is natural for me but is a conscious choice on my part - that sometimes I go a bit over the top

That's very well explained, and I can relate to it. I sort of do the same thing with dressing feminine, ie I put a lot of thought into it because my natural way of dressing is old jeans and a big jumper. I've got to dash but I wanted to say I sometimes think the same of myself.

[kbk]

*clings*

I was worried that I was just babbling, so, yay. And jeans + jumper is a perfectly reasonable way to dress. Actually - sorry, you're gonna get this one out of random - at the introduction day for my course, back in September, I remember noticing that the women - who turned out to be mostly secretaries - were in suit jackets etc while the men - professors / lecturers - were more casual, in T-shirts or jumpers. That is to say, become a professor and you can dress naturally!

[khalinche]

Yeah, the lower own the food chain you are in any job the more you have to worry about how you dress. I remember when I was living with Colin after graduating - I was earning 4.92 an hour in a Primark-style clothes shop, he was earning, well, a lot more - and I had to dress smartly, no short sleeves, no t-shirts etc while he just went to work in any old thing.

[tdarien_shields]

That icon always creeps me out...

[tdarien_shields]

(not that you're bad at being a woman or anything)

[kbk]

Heh. I get it.