A Proud Feminist!

For years, I used to shy away from using the word. Yes, I believed that women were people, equal to (and even better at times than) men. That was my buckling down to Indian society saying 'Feminism' was a dirty word.

No one in my circles would imagine not educating their kids, were even rabid about women's rights, except they didn't call it that. Because then, it is out there too much and would scare men (several of whom by the way, believe in the same values and ARE feminist in thinking....god forbid using THE word to describe them though!).

Then I saw this bumper sticker in the US that said "A Feminist is someone who believes women are people". Love the bumper stickers in the US - they have mastered the art of using just the right amount of humour to put across some amazing (and unpopular) ideas. Also in the US, was part of an International Women's Group - a bunch of us started the first batch out of an international orientation session. Oh man, how it freaked the guys out. The jokes wore thin very quickly (because one could see the almost fear inside!) and I began to wonder why reasonably stable secure men (at least on surface) would be so threatened by a group of women talking of issues totally not related to men in any way.

In India, of course feminist is almost a swear word. The other really disgusting stereotypes are 'women drivers!' (several women are pretty brainwashed to believe they are genetically engineered to be bad drivers and perpetuate these myths!), 'kitty parties'.....am sure I could go on with other examples if I had had the patience to stick with the people who think on these lines!

Am going to do a small research project backed by data to see how many accidents involve women drivers and figure out what percentage (so that volume is not an argument!) of women drivers are bad drivers. And I bet that it will be about the same as men....good and bad are gender insensitive in all performances.

Now I plan to be a card carrying feminist. It still means women are people and equal in all ways. It still means giving people a choice to figure their own lives out, regardless of whether they are men or women. It definitely means taking women's rights forward by being the best person I can be and doing things I want to, regardless of whether these things are 'acceptable for women' in society or not. And it positively means bringing my kids (son AND daughter) up to be bleeding heart liberals who can take care of themselves...cooking for themselves shall not be life threatening and working to stand on their own feet shall be the given.

Thank god I married a feminist....yes, he might wince to hear himself described this way. Funny huh, the power of words?!