International Women's Day.
Saturday, March 11, 2017
As I'm sure you're aware, this week (on March 9th) we celebrated International Women's Day. Now, I would kind of like to delve into my thoughts and ideas about the topic of women and femininity but I would love to do it in a judgement-free-zone. I would like this to be a place where I can share my thoughts, ideas and opinions without the fear of being rejected or shut-down by my readers. I receive very few emails of people disagreeing with my content, and whenever there is disagreement it can usually be resolved with a few emails back and forth. I guess this will come up later on in the post, but I always feel as though I need to apologise for my actions or opinions when people around me don't agree.
I never really spoken about this before because I believe it is quite controversial and may bring backlash. However, this is 2017 and is probably a better time than ever to voice my own opinions. I guess I'd consider myself a mix between liberal and social feminist. So what does that actually mean? Well, I believe that as a woman we rely on men in the workplace to set our pay standards; however, we also need to rely on equality in the legal and social aspects as to reduce to need we place on men in the workplace. If that doesn't make sense, I can do a whole other post about it sometime in the future.
I thought that I would bring to your attention the three main things I feel as a woman. While these are utterly my own opinion, I have spoken to a few of my (female) friends and they have similar feelings.
1. I am in constant fear that I apologise too much.
While saying sorry is totally acceptable, when you're in the wrong, I find myself apologising for things I have no/little control over. I say sorry about my hair (whether it be up, down or slightly messy); I apologise for the amount (or lack) of makeup I am wearing that day - I apologise for pretty much everything. And when I reflect on a situation, I realise how inferior that makes me seem. That I am willing to apologise for wearing red lipstick in a situation just to seem overdressed, or to wear a casual t-shirt and apologise for it being the first thing I could find. And after noting that many of my friends feel/felt the same, it makes me feel as though the derogation of women is totally real, despite being 2017.
2. I, personally, feel as though I bow down to men.
I mean, in my everyday life. If a man asks me to do something at work, I tend to do it a lot faster than if a woman were too. I'm definitely not sexist, I've just grown up with the idea of a man in a more authoritative manner. I see the men in my life more as an authority figure than a relateable figure and I think that probably just stems back to the way I was raised.
I mean, in my everyday life. If a man asks me to do something at work, I tend to do it a lot faster than if a woman were too. I'm definitely not sexist, I've just grown up with the idea of a man in a more authoritative manner. I see the men in my life more as an authority figure than a relateable figure and I think that probably just stems back to the way I was raised.
3. I have come to accept that my general self thoughts are degrading.
I am constantly telling myself that I am not good enough and there is nothing that can be changed to fix that. Those thoughts definitely accounted for a fair bit of my behaviour as a young teenager and even in the last few years. My "No Makeup January" definitely opened my eyes to who I truly am, under all of the makeup. Not wearing makeup for an entire month was enough to, I believe, change my entire self-perspective.
I am constantly telling myself that I am not good enough and there is nothing that can be changed to fix that. Those thoughts definitely accounted for a fair bit of my behaviour as a young teenager and even in the last few years. My "No Makeup January" definitely opened my eyes to who I truly am, under all of the makeup. Not wearing makeup for an entire month was enough to, I believe, change my entire self-perspective.
much love,
XO
0 comments