I've been very interested in all the posts to date on the subject of
feminism, and Joni's view on it. I don't think Joni likes being
"labelled" - it happens all too often and with a great deal of inaccuracy,
so I would imagine any time an interviewer says the words "role model", or
tries to categorise her, she immediately goes on the defensive.
But feminism is a tricky one. I don't consider myself a "feminist", and
before everyone gets upset, let me explain! I don't consider myself a
feminist, but I DO consider myself an "equalist". In some circles
(including mine), the term feminist has become synonymous with radical,
female-chauvanist men-haters, who are not interested in equal rights at all.
To be honest, I find these kinds of women distinctly embarrassing, and I've
known a fair few. I guess I'm saying that if you redefine the definition,
then yes, I am a feminist, but with it's current interpretation, I would
never use that label.
I'm for equal rights, and equal opportunities. But having said that, I do
sincerely believe that there are some things that just can't be done as well
by both sexes. To use an example close to my heart, I have had VERY heated
discussions with some women, by saying that women will never play cricket as
well as men. This is not a sexist remark, it's simply a biological truth.
Women's bodies are built differently from men's. We don't have the same
skeletal and muscular structure, and therefore we have strengths in
different areas. A woman is never going to bowl or bat as well as a man,
because she just doesn't have the upper-body strength and skeletal
arrangement to allow it. Obviously there are exceptions, and I'm speaking
very generally, and maybe some of that difference is just that women don't
get the same opportunities in the same sports as men. But that being said,
I would die defending a woman's RIGHT to play any sport she wants to -
equality has nothing to do with ability, and everything to do with
opportunity, and I think that's the biggest difference between an equalist,
and what I believe is the prevailing definition of a feminist. By the way,
the other great thing about being an equalist is that it's all-encompassing.
I can use it for discussions on gender, race, religion, sexual preference,
whatever. Pretty cool!
I guess what I'm trying to say (in a very roundabout, disorderly fashion) is
that in my view, being a feminist (or equalist) is accepting that both sexes
have equal value, and have skills and abilities that are equally important,
but also about recognising and understanding the differences between the
sexes, which doesn't preclude either sex from doing anything outside that
"gender role" if they so wish.
Colin mentioned that he gets hassled for working in a craft that has long
been recognised as "women's work", ie. knitting. This brought back a few
memories. When I was about 10, my father bought my mother a knitting
machine for her birthday. She had a go, but never really found the time,
and by the time she did, Dad had discovered a new toy. He absolutely loved
it. It allowed him to be creative, but wasn't too arduous, and gave him an
enjoyable escape from thinking about work. He got so prolific, that he was
making jackets for a boutique in Auckland's main shopping street - and
making a fair amount of money too. But it wasn't without it's drawbacks.
Specifically, I got teased unmercifully at school because my father knitted,
therefore he must be really "girly" - something I wasn't emotionally
equipped to deal with at the time, and I reacted by refusing to wear
anything he made, or have anything to do with his hobby, which I'm sure
upset him as well.
So it's not just women trying to do "masculine" things, but men wanting to
make that cross-over as well. Things are getting better as they years go
by, but I'll look forward to the day when everyone's an equalist, not just a
few.
Now that I've stirred the fire, I'll once more don my asbestos underpants
and wait for the first flames to hit (and could you make them good, it's
cold here tonight).
Hell
P.S. Marcel, you are definitely qualified to participate in a discussion on
feminism, or as I prefer to say, equalism. If it's only the women
discussing it, I don't think we're going to get very far - something some of
those radical feminists I mentioned earlier fail to realise.
____________________________
"To have great poets, there must be
great audiences too." - Walt Whitman
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