I Am Woman, Hear Me Roll My Eyes

So once again a fairly decent conversation about feminity is derailed by tone-deaf people spouting an agenda only tangentially related to the discussion itself.

I am a feminist--although most of the Feminists out there probably don't want me. That's okay. I'm a free spirit in all things I do. I don't need to be accepted into a club to feel that my ideas have merit. (Although I will admit that acceptance is nice.) I'm also a reader and a ponderer and a discusser. No, these things in and of themselves don't accomplish anything per se, but I enjoy the way they allow me to hammer out my worldview.

One of the things I enjoy discussing is the changing world of women in the postmodern marketplace. We can get by wearing less makeup than we did twenty years ago. Our clothes are more relaxed and comfortable in many of our roles. Size and shape restrictions are softening, albeit gradually.

The sad thing is that seemingly anytime "feminism" comes up in conversation there are people whose operational definition of the term leads them to believe that the only type of feminism is a wild-eyed, hairy-legged bra-burning philosophy of misandry. I will not deny that there are a quantity of those women flying the feminist banner.

But PLEASE realise that not every feminist and not every feminist discussion is about hating or blaming men. Most of the time these discussions are about the female experience and how we can change it for the better. So please, you two, don't come into every discussion and start railing about how there is no patriarchy and you love your boob job. I mean, good for you, but that's not what we're talking about. You remind me of guests at a cocktail party who stand on the table and loudly talk only about your personal favourite topic while ignoring everyone else.

And pardon me for bringing this onto my blog, but it was something I wanted to say without upsetting the flow of Aunt B.'s community.