Anti-Feminist
For awhile I have called myself an anti-feminist. It’s not exactly true, but it’s my way to rebel against what I think is an extreme view of life that is, in my mind, wrong. I’ll never forget my college roommate coming back from her Women’s Studies class and saying that women in magazine ads with dark makeup around their eyes symbolize women being abused and beaten in a subconcious message way. I’m sorry but I don’t see life that way. I’m not saying I don’t believe in women’s rights. Of course, I’m all about that. But I’ll also never forget my other roommate saying "Kathy wants to be a stay at home mom. I just don’t get it. She has so much potential as an English major and she’s going to waste it away." I HATE the idea that being a stay at home mom goes against the feminist movement. Shouldn’t it be about a woman being able to do what she WANTS to do? I want to be a stay at home mom. I appreciated so much the fact that my mom was always around.
But back to the main reason for this entry. I am an auditor. I am a woman in a man’s world. And I have never before felt the innate sense of pressure that I do at work. No one says anything. No one really even gives a specific impression. I feel that I have to work harder than the other guys my level just to be considered on the same level as them. It’s slightly frustrating. In a bizarre way it’s a challenge I want to overcome. I just feel I shouldn’t have to overcome it in the first place. It really is the most strange feeling. Feeling like I have to prove myself when the guys are just allowed in like a free pass. I definitely feel like I’m living in a man’s world.
No concluding paragraph tonight. I left the apt at 645 and would have gotten back at 1030 had I not left CPA class 2 hours early. I can’t handle these 15 hour days of work and then studying with NO break in between.
~Dora
Your room mate didn’t fully understand the entire purpose of being a feminist. There are extremists in every “group”. Being a feminist doesn’t mean your against stay at home mom’s or women who feel it’s their role to cook for their husband. It also doesn’t mean your against women who choose to not have children in order to focus on their career. Being a feminist is about choice – about women FINALLY having a choice. It means having the freedom to vote, having the freedom to NOT be boxed into one simple little definition. I’m glad you don’t feel any pressure or discrimination at your work, but on a broader scale, there are many oppressed women who are held down, abused, degraded and actually made to feel like a second class citizen simply because they were born a woman. So, in short, what I learned in my Woman’s studies class is that being a woman should feel liberating and that we need to be aware of the history of our gender – there is still a lot of work to do to ensure that we all have the freedom to choose who and what we are. Take care
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It *is* harder to be a woman in a career that is mostly men, but it’s definitely possible to thrive. I consider myself kind of a feminist, but definitely not a hardcore feminist. That’s just silly. I don’t believe that men are out to abuse women or that men are innately bad and women are naturally superior. Men are half the population.
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