International Women’s Day & The F Word

International Women's Day

Happy International Women’s Day

I’m a raging feminist but I don’t hate men.

How could I? I have 3 young sons. All of whom I am hoping will grow to be feminists themselves. I know that feminism benefits them just as much as it benefits any woman.

Feminism – the F-word – isn’t an irrational or hysterical hatred towards men or the idea that women actually hold more power over men (which seems to be a bit of a popular idea at the moment) but is in fact that male and female genders are equals and should be treated as such. To me this isn’t a new and radical idea, it’s simply common sense yet there are thousands of people who proclaim themselves not to be feminists.

gender equality

Yet would a man who claims not to be a feminist care to explain to his wife/sister/daughter/mother/grandmother why he doesn’t believe that they deserve equal treatment to himself? Would a woman who claims not to be a feminist think herself unworthy of being treated in the same way as a man because of her ovaries?

Raising Boys

Raising 3 boys I want them to understand that just because a woman wants to be on even ground with them it doesn’t mean that she hates them or wants to take anything away from them. This isn’t about dragging men down and certainly not about “overthrowing” men in order for the XX chromosome to rule the world in Man’s place. One gender should never rule over another, not even if women are the ones in power. We’re not seeking revenge for the mistakes of the past.

scales

No man needs to be offended, feel victimized or afraid of the feminist movement. They should run towards it knowing that it will also allow them to make life choices that they may feel they’d be mocked for due to them being “for girls” in fact while I was sucking on gas and air, about to give birth to my youngest son I had a conversation with my Midwife about how it’s a shame that there are not many male midwives and that there would be so many more if society was more open to the idea instead of labeling it as a woman’s job. This also applies to many other jobs throughout the world.

We women want to be able to hold any job that we are capable of doing, even if its usually regarded as a man’s job. As women, we don’t want the fact that we have a different reproductive system to get in the way. We welcome men to embrace this equality and use it to explore life choices that they may have overlooked because of gender stereotypes.

It’s for the sake of my sons that I am showing them that feminists are not hell-bent on the downfall of men and that feminism isn’t gender exclusive.

I’m a feminist and I love men!

Rhia

You can read our other posts about International Women’s Day here.

 

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