Thank Feminism

This comes courtesy of the marvelous Roxanne of Rox Populi.

If you're female and -

... you can vote, thank a feminist.

...you get paid as much as men doing the same job, thank a feminist.

...you went to college instead of being expected to quit after high school so your brothers could go because "You'll just get married anyway", thank a feminist.

...you can apply for any job, not just "women's work", thank a feminist.

...you can get or give birth control information without going to jail, thank a feminist.

...your doctor, lawyer, pastor judge or legislator is a woman, thank a feminist.

...you play an organized sport, thank a feminist.

...you can wear slacks without being excommunicated from your church or run out of town, thank a feminist.

...your boss isn't allowed to pressure you to sleep with him, thank a feminist.

...you get raped and the trial isn't about your hemline or your previous boyfriends, thank a feminist.

...you start a small business and can get a loan using only your name and credit history, thank a feminist

...you are on trial and are allowed to testify in your own defense, thank a feminist.

...you own property that is solely yours, thank a feminist.

...you have the right to your own salary even if you are married or have a male relative, thank a feminist.

...you get custody of your children following divorce or separation, thank a feminist.

...you get a voice in the raising and care of your children instead of them being completely controlled by the husband/father, thank a feminist.

...your husband beats you and it is illegal and the police stop him instead of lecturing you on better wifely behavior, thank a feminist.

...you are granted a degree after attending college instead of a certificate of completion, thank a feminist.

...you can breastfeed your baby discreetly in a public place and not be arrested, thank a feminist.

...you marry and your civil human rights do not disappear into your husband's rights, thank a feminist.

...you have the right to refuse sex with a diseased husband [or just "husband" in general], thank a feminist.

...you have the right to keep your medical records confidential from the men in your family, thank a feminist.

...you have the right to read the books you want, thank a feminist.

...you can testify in court about crimes or wrongs your husband has committed, thank a feminist.

...you can choose to be a mother or not a mother in you own time not at the dictates of a husband or rapist, thank a feminist.

...you can look forward to a lifespan of 80 years instead of dying in your 20s from unlimited childbirth, thank a feminist.

...you can see yourself as a full, adult human being instead of a minor who needs to be controlled by a man, thank a feminist.

Amen.  I grew up in the 60's and 70's - when feminism was in its infancy.  I cannot tell you how many times I was told I couldn’t do something because I was a girl.  One still chafes today.  I wanted to enter the soapbox derby when I was 10 years old.  Girls weren't allowed.  And I didn't have the kind of parent that would stand up for me.  I'll tell you what, though - this prompted me to fight like the dickens for what I wanted when I was in my teens.  In High School I wanted every chance to get into a good college, despite being poor as a church mouse.  I attended a Catholic school - girls only.  The nearby boy’s Catholic school offered up necessary college prep courses; necessary if you wanted to get into something more than just a community college, that is.  So I asked to attend and was refused.  Bad move on their part.  I created the biggest stink you've ever heard - threatened to go to the newspapers and claim discrimination if I wasn’t allowed in.  Dispensation was granted; and I paved the way for other girls to follow me.  I understand college prep courses were added to my alma mater within 5 years as a result.  I did that - and I'm proud of it.

Same kind of thing happened when I was in college.  The high paying summer job on campus was working as part of the painting crew.  The entire school was being re-painted inside and out; hard work – but highly paid hard work - and I needed the money.  I was paying my own way through college, and the tuition was a killer.  Students hired as painters got $10 bucks an hour; a veritable fortune back in 1975.  Again - I raised a huge stink - and the boys that had already been hired stood up for me.  I was the first woman ever hired on that crew.  All this because the soap box derby people were sexist assholes.  It was the 1970’s before they allowed girls to compete, as I recall.  You know – that disappointment still lingers.  When I was a kid – there was a part of me that wanted to design cars and airplanes; or build buildings and bridges.  I had an innate knack for engineering – a talent I put to good use in my chosen profession of the theatre.  I can think three-dimensionally; quite a boon when working in what was then seen as a mostly two dimensional art form.  Still – I sometimes wonder what might have happened if I’d been allowed to participate in that race.    

Comments

[sbgypsy]

I grew up in the late 50's, went to school in the 60's(graduated 1970), and was part of the last bunch of girls to be denied an adult future because "you'll just end up getting married, and then pregnant. Educating you would be a waste, and take up seats better filled by boys who have to support a family." Even that late, I got that BS in my face. So, I can totally relate.

I didn't fight it, I "tuned in, turned on, and dropped out."

*heh*

It's mind boggling, what a waste of potential is allowed to go on. I remember the old NAACP comercials: "A mind is a terrible thing to waste." School should be free, as long as you can maintain a 3.5 or better avg. The nation would be much better off.

[mandt]

BRAVA!!

[sumo]

Still – I sometimes wonder what might have happened if I’d been allowed to participate in that race.

You'd have won it of course!

[The Fat Lady Sings]

I agree with you, Gypsy. I went to Catholic school almost all of my life (save for one year of Junior High). The message was: become a nun or become a wife - no other alternative possible. College was somewhere you went to catch a rich husband. It was not expected that a girl would actually finish. All that bullshit really chafed my ass. By the time the 70's hit - I was ready to bust free. Unfortunately - I followed the expected route – while still trying to be my own person and live my own life. It might have worked too - had the man I married come equipped with a spine. But them's tha breaks, kiddo. Life happens while you're making other plans.

[oldwhitelady]

I was listening to something about Susan B. Anthony, and how she went to sign up to vote. The guy didn't want to sign her up, but finally did. So, along with some other women, cast her vote. She was, later, fined $100 for illegal voting. She refused to pay the fine. Woman voting was not legalized until after she died. Amazing, isn't it?

[The Fat Lady Sings]

And here we are - more than 100 years later - and still we are fighting to hold on to those self-same rights. This current crop of political assholes seems downright determined to take everything Anthony fought for away from us. I often feel like we are being attacked from all sides.

What I want to know is - where are the younger women? We older broads have spent our whole lives fighting like the dickens to get everything allotted to us. Where are the twenty-something women? What aren't they fighting? Why is it still our responsibility? They had best wake the fuck up - or before they know it they'll be shoved back into the kitchen tout de suite!

[Missy]

Amen. I love this.

Thank goodness my father was a feminist. He pushed me to be the best I could be. He tried to protect me from the cultural messages all around.

His older sister was the first person in his family (those Irish) to get a college degree. Nana McK paid her way because my dad--"had the GI Bill."

I was the first person on my mom's side of the family to get a college degree.

[kabbage]

Thanks for this. I sent it to all my sisters, including the SIL who sends me pro-Republican emails all through every presidential election cycle (side note: she's Chicago Irish-Catholic. Is it legal for her to send me this crud?) and all my teenage or higher nieces whose email addresses I have.

I think we need to be sending a lot of the younger women copies of Atwood's A Handmaid's Tale with a note asking them if they see any parallels between that and our current situation. Maybe they're not parallels but two lines on an intersecting path. I am kind of glad I'm almost past childbearing age and sans children.

I graduated HS in 1979 and headed off to engineering school because my parents said they were paying for college educations so they wouldn't have to pay for weddings. They wanted us to have practical majors which would lead to self-supporting jobs.

[The Fat Lady Sings]

You know - younger women really need to smarten up. The rights they take for granted are not written in stone. At any moment they can be ripped away. Look at what's happened to our Constitutional rights so far. We've been waving bye bye to them one by one; and no one's screaming bloody murder save for progressive bloggers.

[Alicia]

I'd love to plaster that on every building in big red letters - especially mega-churches! Thanks for putting that up, FLS.