I quite enjoyed the interview with the Chapman brothers in last week’s Observer. Rudeness can be so entertaining.
I was incensed, however, by an article about Amy Winehouse. She said “I wouldn’t say I’m a feminist, but I don’t like girls pretending to be stupid because it’s easier.†Why is it people say “I’m not a feminist†in the same way that they say “I’m not a racistâ€. Their comments make it clear that they are feminists and, unlike being a racist, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that; so why do people think that there is? Does Ms. Winehouse mean “I don’t believe in equal pay for equal work, I don’t believe that women and men are equally capable and I don’t believe that women should have the same rights as menâ€? When she says “I wouldn’t say I’m a feministâ€, that is, surely, the message she conveys. I am a feminist and so is anyone with the slightest bit of sense. Perhaps this is where Ms. Winehouse’s problem lies.
Any other feminists out there?
Feminism still has connotations of militant bra-burning for a lot of people. Women who have grown up since that time (and I include myself in this) have a tendency to take a lot of things for granted and don’t always think about the fact that by owning their own property, having equal rights etc etc, they are making a stand for feminism. When I was younger I wouldn’t have called myself a feminist, but now that I am older and wiser and realise just what the word actually means, rather than the slightly derisive way in which it is often used, I do.
/Any other feminists out there?/
*Puts up hand* Here. I think I agree with you. Unless you truly belive that we should go back to the darkages and not complain about being made to be subservent or being beaten or raped, then to use the phrase ‘I am not a feminist’ is just silly IMHO. I may only be 22, but I am very very grateful for people like the suffragettes who fought for women to be treated equal to men, especially in these days when the news tells us more and more about those contries, primarily in the middle east, that still don’t treat women as equals.
Go Feminism!
Absolutely guilty of being an “I’m not a feminist but…” person in a vague, unthinking, feminists-don’t-shave-their-legs sort of way until a couple of years ago when yourself and Mrs DMTS caused me to engage my brain on the subject and I realised.
I feel incredibly proud reading Norah’s comment above. I read the same Amy Winehouse thing and made the usual noises.
Me me me! I’m a feminist, always have been ever since I went to the Museum of Mankind and asked my mother where the museum of Women and Childkind was. I am just too old to have absorbed that ‘feminism is a dirty word’ backlash but I do have one verbal tic, which is that I hate to describe myself as a ‘woman’ as it all seems so seventies and self-absorbed. The Fawcett society have a t-shirt with ‘this is what a feminist looks like’ – the Grud did an article on that too – and though I’m not big on having writing on my chest, I’d make an exception for that
Sorry about the long comment … blame jetlag
Well, yay for the feminists. I feel much better now.
I made snorting and ‘pshaw’ (how very sweet and old-fashioned, ay?) noises at that very article. Silly Amy.
Oh, and did you know the bloody Chapmans are currently doing on-the-spot portraits of people at some gallery or other? Apparently they are charging £4500 plus VAT – and the journalist observed that the pic he looked at had made the female sitter look like a pile of putty-coloured vomit, or some such.
They are pompous tw*ts.