"I myself have never been able to find out precisely what feminism is: I only know that people call me a feminist whenever I express sentiments that differentiate me from a doormat or a prostitute."
-Rebecca West
It always baffles me when women who make the choice to be stay-at-home moms and love to cook and keep a tidy house and nurture their family as their full time job, think that being a feminist means you are a crabby, mean, bossy, man-hater who also hates all things associated with family and children. The fact that a woman has the right to choose means that feminism works. I grew up wanting a million kids that I could stay home and bake bread for. As it turns out, not only did my body work against me when it came to the kids part, staying home makes me crazy (even though I am pretty good at baking, if I do say so myself). I am a much happier person now that I am in school. Granted, it means my house is usually pretty cluttered and my bathroom often goes for more than a week without a good scrub, but I am happy. I live in a place and time that I can choose to go to school and get a great education which will most certainly be followed by choosing to work as a nurse.
So thank you to the women who came before me. Many of whom were belittled for their choice to fight for equal opportunities. Because of you I live in a world where I can choose to be something that makes me happy.
"The obvious and fair solution to the housework problem is to let men do the housework for, say, the next 6,000 years, to even things up. The trouble is that men have, over the years, developed an inflated notion of the importance of everything they do, so that before long they would turn housework into just as much of a charade as business is now. They would hire secretaries and buy computers and fly off to housework conferences in Bermuda, but they'd never clean anything."
-Dave Barry
I thought this quote was funny. I also want to state for the record that Scott is a firm believer in both of us being responsible for keeping the house running, that it is our job together. There are no boy jobs or girl jobs. This is a feminist notion his mother taught him.
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7 comments:
Kudos on a point well made! I'm glad you've found what makes you happy, you are going to make an awesome nurse!
You're a feminist? eek!
Next you're going to say that you're a liberal too.
Very good post though. I very much agree with you on everything.
You are already the best shot-giver in the west... You will be a great nurse. I am so glad that you are so happy!
i am a feminist and i stay at home and be a mom. and i also think that women who admit, yes i said admit, here in happy valley utah that being home is HARD and makes them crabby and motherhood is not the cat's meow are AMAZING!!!! it takes courage to say that here in utah county where gigantic flowers on head bands so big that the baby cannot hold its head up is the norm and more power to the beautiful liberal nurse named alta!
I love the Rebecca West and Dave Barry quotes. Housework conferences in Bermuda... thanks for the giggle. P.S. I think you are great.
Alta, you rock!
I just love what you have to say about life. We have a lot in common. We also have lots of good time memories.
I wish I could find the summary I had of the four types of feminism. Anyway, 99.9% of people would be in favor of two of the four types. Only one type is the "radical, mother-hating, man-hating type." The rest just believe that men and women are both of equal value and should have the chance to choose to do what works best for them and their families.
Loved your quotes! Let's go to Bermuda together, ok?
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