Right, I feel it's time that I briefly discuss what it means to be an independent woman in today's world. No, shut up, I mean it. I've just listened to some Aretha Franklin, and am a proud owner of no Y chromasomes, so I feel at least partially qualified to wax lyrical on this subject. I bought all my own hair, and am capable of building a damn fine shoe-rack unassisted. I can bake a cake, and yet also wire a plug. And yet, despite all of this, I think some schools of feminist thought are swiftly becoming unhelpful and irrelevant. Of course, there are many parts of the world where women are still downtrodden and marginalized, and I feel especially fortunate to have escaped such a life by mere virtue of my birth location and upbringing. I also think that the gender pay gap is unfair and archaic (although it is thought to be gradually narrowing).
However, I have often witnessed women in my own society whinging on about the lack of chivalry in this world while simultaneously holding the belief that women should be treated equally to men. WHAT?! Seriously, ladies. You can't demand equality in one breath and superiority in the next without seriously undermining both of your arguments. That's like wearing massive baggy y-fronts under a micro-miniskirt - it's all convenience and comfort until somebody inevitably notices and calls you a moron. I personally like to hold doors open for people because THEY ARE PEOPLE and cannot walk through a closed door without banging their noses. It's polite. Therefore, the only reason you'll find me getting annoyed at a bloke, or indeed a woman, for letting a door slam in my face is because it is RUDE, regardless of my own gender or theirs. Larger and more serious gender arguments aside (which I'll leave to those more learned and eloquent than myself), I think many women concentrate on the wrong things when they think of women's rights. They focus on what would be slightly more convenient to them rather than what is important. Of course we should have the right to vote, to wear trousers as we please and get paid the same amount for the same work as a man. We have the right to be indignant if a man lunges at us in a bar with no invitation. But conversely, we do not have the right to get all pissy if we randomly lunge at a man in a bar and he isn't particularly thrilled. Oh no, the word 'lunge' has now got an image of Richard Simmons in my head...
When it comes to clothing, I personally relish my femininity when it suits me, and yet also own a pair of massive, very manly boots. I'm not above wearing said boots with something pretty, just because I can. But I do not expect to be placed on a pedestal by society at large because of my propensity to own skirts and glitter. I know plenty of men who own skirts and glitter, and brandish both with aplomb, but face a brutishly unfair potential backlash for doing so. People who believe that men shouldn't do that make me think 'SHUT UP! A Christmas tree isn't generally thought of as female but you put flippin' jewellery all over that with glee!'
If we all just try our best to do the right thing by one another, no matter whether we are male, female or a bit of both, I think it's a bloody good first step toward equality. Which has got to be much better than a whiney-ass 'ME FIRST!' kinda world.
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