Tag: women

Book Review: Here We Are: Feminism For The Real World – Edited by Kelly Jensen

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What is Feminism? Does doing certain things mean you’re not a Feminist? How can I see myself in Feminism? Being young and trying to be a feminist is tough. Actually, scratch that, being a feminist at any age is tough. When I was younger there was little on feminism, I’ve always believed women can do anything, but didn’t want to use the word ‘Feminist’ (I wrote about it here), I truly believe if there were more books like this I wouldn’t have gone through that awkward phase of insisting I was a ‘humanist’ (urgh). Jensen and the writers behind Here We Are have made an incredible book.

I cannot contain my excitement over this book. I want to go out any buy copies for all my friends, female and male nad just urge them to read it. Unlike any feminist book I’ve read before this collection of essays, stories, art, lists and more will speak to everyone. Jensen and her fellow writers just seem to get what being a modern feminist is, because they aren’t trying to tell you what is right. The book is diverse and doesn’t shy away from topics such as not wanting children, intersectional feminism, racism, mental illness. While I believe this is aimed at young adults, I learnt a lot from its pages.

When I requested this on Netgalley I didn’t expect to like it as much as I did. I hoped it would be good and that it would get the message across, but it did so much more. Women and men from all walks of life have contributed their thoughts on such a variety of issues that I struggle to find flaws in its pages. There were some individual quotes that I didn’t agree with, but that’s part of the beauty of feminism, we don’t all have to agree on everything (something else that was mentioned in the book).

The freedom of expressing yourself in your own way is also celebrated in the book. Artist have taken to creating comic strips, there are poems, songs, general essays, interviews, pictures and artwork, all of which make the message of feminism easier to identify with. By doing so the team of artists and writer have all given a breath of fresh air to self-expression in feminism, something which is definitely needed because not everyone is going to side down and read The Second Sex.

This is a wonderful, smart and encouraging read. I don’t think it’s for one age or one gender. The ideas, layout and overall message of the book is creativity, acceptance, equality and, most importantly, love. I hope this book goes far because it definitely deserves to. Pick up a copy now!

 

Thank you so much to the publishers who sent me an advance copy!

Feminist Friday: Born or Becoming a Woman?

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If you’ve ever studied Feminism or Women’s writing you’ll know the quote I’m thinking of when I started to write this post. It started in France with one of the greatest feminist writers of all time; ‘one is not born, but rather becomes a woman’ Simone de Beauvior argued and how right she was. There’s a lot of debate in feminism about what feminism means to each and every one of us. I enjoy debate, it’s healthy in an intelligent society as long as we are willing to listen to each other.

I truly believe that no one is born into a gender. I wrote essay after essay in university about how gender is socially constructed, it’s not in our DNA. I loved those classes, because I really passionately believed in de Beauvior, in Judith Butler etc, I also wanted to apply it to a modern problem. Something that many wanted to ignore. I 100% believe we need to include Transgender women in the fight for equality and feminism. A few years ago Germaine Greer made very unfair and uneducated assumptions about Trans women.

While I myself am I white Cis female, I care very strongly about the LGBTQ community. I truly believe that all women, no matter what, have a right to equality. There’s no one shape for a woman, no one idea, that’s what feminism is about! Being ourselves and being respected. In each culture there is an idea of what a man is supposed to be and what a woman is supposed to be, it’s not hard-wired because of our genitals. It’s who we feel we are.

If someone goes through the experience of living in the wrong body, having to tell that to the people they love in the fear of rejection and then try to fit in with other women then, damn, they’ve tried harder than me. If they are not a woman then I am certainly not. I have my own struggles, problems and issues, we all do but to be insulted after all that and be told you’re still not accepted? I don’t believe in it, to me it goes against everything feminism stands for. We are what is in our hearts, not our pants.

We each become who we are, who we feel we are inside. Some become women, some become men. We, hopefully, become who we are inside.

I’d love to open up a conversation with you all in the comments below or on Twitter about this! If I have any trans readers who maybe want to talk privately DM me (@chloemetzger) or drop me an email on chloefmetzger@gmail.com, as always I’d love to hear from you all!

 

 

Feminist Friday: Standing With Our Sisters in 2017

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It would be easy to say that, so far, 2017 hasn’t been a great year for women around the world. With the new President often making sexist comments, wanting to shut down Planned Parenthood, make abortions illegal etc, we thought we’d seen a bad hit. We came back with marches around the world. Later Russia were happy to decriminalise domestic abuse in the first instance, another hard pill to swallow for women. Every day we hear more and more stories in the news of girls being the victims of honour killings, acid attacks and the like. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed, scared and confused about how things have gone so, so wrong when it’s only February.

Of course, we’ve also seen women and men speaking out against such injustices. Speak out against the governments letting women down and continuing to do so. I worried, when writing this blog that I was talking about the USA again. I feel like I think and write about it a lot, this isn’t because the UK doesn’t have it’s problems, it’s not because I don’t care about women who have it worse, it’s because I need to process what’s happening in what is supposedly one of the most forward thinking nations on the planet.

In these times of darkness, uncertainty and, quite frankly, madness, we need to be there for each other. We need to remember what has come before, that we prevailed. Now that we have social media we can show our support to causes all over the world, let our sisters know they are not alone, that we are thinking and campaigning alongside them. We don’t know what is going to happen, I wish I could say this is all a nightmare that will be over soon, but it might not.

All we have in this fight is each other, fighting amongst ourselves is what they want. Instead of tearing each other down or judging one another we need to lift each other up. We need to let men be our allies if they are willing to stand and fight with us for equality and against the government (hating all men won’t get us any further, it just won’t).

We will stand with our sisters in 2017 and beyond.

Sunday Seven: My Favourite Signs From Women’s Marches Worldwide

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Yesterday millions marched across the world against the 45th president of the United States and his hatred and misogyny. While unfortunately, I couldn’t be marching with them, I was supporting them. I wanted to use today’s post to share some of the brilliant pictures I’ve seen across the internet in the last 24 hours.

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This is one of the first the caught my eye, because it’s true.

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I loved this because to me, he is like a fictional villain, and that’s worrying in itself.

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Men supporting women is important and it’s important to note that there were men supporting the marches too, they’re using their voices too, which is needed.

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Do I need to say more about why this is such a strong image?

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A strong statement on so many levels.

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Princess Leia was one of the first characters to be a strong female. It’s only right that she was there too.

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It’s important to remember that this march was about so much more than women, it was about anyone who has felt marginalised and like they need to raise their voices.

Feminist Friday: Currently Reading – Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay.

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I thought I would do something a little different for tonight’s blog, based on what I’m currently reading. I’ve had Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist on my TBR for such a long time and I’ve finally got around to picking it up and reading it. So far it’s a chatty, funny and thoughtful reflection on life as a woman and feminist. It’s also my first book about feminism this year, I have a long list I want to get through and Gay is just the tip of the iceberg. I’ve included her Ted Talk below for those of you who want to know more.

Enjoy!

Feminist Friday: Star Wars Special

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I’ve just gotten back from watching the latest part of the Star Wars series, Rogue One. Before going in I debated whether or not to do a Star Wars special post on Feminist Friday, because of course I know that there are some issues with Star Wars from a feminist standpoint (that gold bikini was a huge mistake, so was Padme’s ‘oops my shirt got ripped’ outfit) BUT I firmly believe that despite some smaller things Star Wars gave a huge boost to woman and girls everywhere. Star Wars provided kick-ass female role models.

In the pictures above, if you don’t know, are of Princess Leia from the original trilogy, Jyn from Rogue One, Rey from The Force Awakens and Padme from the prequels. In each film there has been a strong female in central focus. Firstly Princess Leia, while she is dressed in white and helped (not saved) by Luke and Han initially she doesn’t act with feminine worship and gratitude. Leia knows what she needs to do and she’s going to do it, with or without a scruffy nerf-herder, a Wookie and a Jedi in training. In the next set of films that were released (in the wrong order, we’ll let that go for now) Padme aka Queen Amidala, a strong leader in her own right and respected in the senate. Moving on to last years stunning release, Rey is the centre of the latest trilogy, while we don’t know much about her she’s strong, fast and highly intelligent. Lastly, tonight I watched the character of Jyn, a leader and a fighter. These characters are incredible, intelligent and strong women.

Whenever I watch these films, I just feel an immense sense of pride that women are being represented this way on screen. As leaders, as fighters, not simply being saved. This is what we need more of in the film industry. Women can still have relationships, fall in love but that doesn’t make them unable to fight in a rebellion, to have ideas and stand up for themselves. I get a heart full of joy when I go to conventions and events and see little kids dressed as Leia or Rey, because they’re dressing up as powerful role models, people who they can look up to.

There’s already so many reasons I love Star Wars and these kick-ass ladies just make me love it more.

Feminist Friday: 10 Fab Feminist Quotes

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“Why do people say “grow some balls”? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”
― Sheng Wang 

“We need to reclaim the word ‘feminism’. We need the word ‘feminism’ back real bad. When statistics come in saying that only 29% of American women would describe themselves as feminist – and only 42% of British women – I used to think, What do you think feminism IS, ladies? What part of ‘liberation for women’ is not for you? Is it freedom to vote? The right not to be owned by the man you marry? The campaign for equal pay? ‘Vogue’ by Madonna? Jeans? Did all that good shit GET ON YOUR NERVES? Or were you just DRUNK AT THE TIME OF THE SURVEY?” 

― Caitlin Moran, How to Be a Womanpexels-photo-1

“We teach girls to shrink themselves, to make themselves smaller. We say to girls, you can have ambition, but not too much. You should aim to be successful, but not too successful. Otherwise, you would threaten the man. Because I am female, I am expected to aspire to marriage. I am expected to make my life choices always keeping in mind that marriage is the most important. Now marriage can be a source of joy and love and mutual support but why do we teach girls to aspire to marriage and we don’t teach boys the same? We raise girls to see each other as competitors not for jobs or accomplishments, which I think can be a good thing, but for the attention of men. We teach girls that they cannot be sexual beings in the way that boys are.”
― Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, We Should All Be Feminists

“Responsibility to yourself means refusing to let others do your thinking, talking, and naming for you; it means learning to respect and use your own brains and instincts; hence, grappling with hard work.”
― Adrienne Rich

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“Feminism is not a dirty word. It does not mean you hate men, it does not mean you hate girls that have nice legs and a tan, and it does not mean you are a ‘bitch’ or ‘dyke’; it means you believe in equality.” – Kate Nash 

“Women are leaders everywhere you look — from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. Our country was built by strong women, and we will continue to break down walls and defy stereotypes.” – Nancy Pelosi 

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“For I conclude that the enemy is not lipstick, but guilt itself; we deserve lipstick, if we want it, AND free speech; we deserve to be sexual AND serious – or whatever we please. We are entitled to wear cowboy boots to our own revolution.” – Naomi Wolf 

“Value yourself for what the media doesn’t – your intelligence, your street smarts, your ability to play a kick-ass game of pool, whatever. So long as it’s not just valuing yourself for your ability to look hot in a bikini and be available to men, it’s an improvement.” – Jessica Valenti 

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There’s just as many different kinds of feminism as there are women in the world. -Kathleen Hanna

Feminism is dated? Yes, for privileged women like my daughter and all of us here today, but not for most of our sisters in the rest of the world who are still forced into premature marriage, prostitution, forced labor – they have children that they don’t want or they cannot feed. – Isabel Allende

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To Everyone Who Didn’t Vote Trump

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Hello,

You might not know me, you might not read my blog but watching the election results come in this morning left me with a sick, sinking feeling in my stomach. I’m not American, but I am human and I know what it feels like to get a result that you think is wrong and dangerous. My country voted for Brexit, and in the process, we got a Prime Minister we didn’t vote for.  I know that there are so many of you who are scared, confused and angry. That you now have a man that uses division, hatred, racism, and misogyny to get to where he is today. You’re right to be scared, most intelligent people would be and, like Brexit, I have no idea how this happened.

It’s not that I’m going to tell you to get over it and just feel better. There’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fear about the future, as there is here. What I am going to say though is that you are not alone in this. There is anger, disbelief ,and shock around the world that lies have won this election. But, most of us know that this doesn’t represent the good of America. There are so many incredible people that I have personally met and he doesn’t represent you as the people you are.

To every woman, every ethnic minority, every disabled person, every LGBTQ person everyone he and his campaign have offended you are not alone. It may feel that way right now, that you don’t know who to trust or what’s to come, but stay strong. The rest of the world understand your feelings of loss and pain and we won’t forget about you. It might feel like your country is against you, but the rest of the world are not.

Feminist Friday: We All Need to Stand Up to Sexual Assualt

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Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you can’t have failed to have heard about that tape. The tape that Donald Trump dismissed as ‘locker room talk’ after shouting louder, but Bill Clinton did worse! As if the allegations against another man seemingly made his disappear and as more allegations against Trump come forward he deems his accusers ‘horrible women’, despite the fact he has been caught on camera many times, are not important. I don’t understand how this person could potentially be a leader of one of the most powerful nations in the world. After one of his comments, one girl decided she wasn’t going to take his comments lightly.
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Courtesy of Twitter/@LMcCrystal
With his words and follow up Trump has tried to normalise sexual assault, calling it ‘locker room talk’. That has offended both men and women, who know that this isn’t the case. These comments are the type of things that lead to women being told to ‘lighten up’ or that ‘boys will be boys’, something that I’ve been at the centre of. I’ve had guys try and touch me when I’m out, who won’t take no for an answer and follow me around. I’ve had guys get aggressive or call me a ‘slut’ or a ‘whore’ or had lies spread about me because I’d turned them down and because they could. Because no one would question them. I’ve been in clubs and had a guy feel me up without permission and felt powerless as they’ve carried on watching after I’d shouted at them. People I’d been out with told me to ‘cool it’ and that it’s just the way it is.
The way these things are ignored and laughed off are not ok. Sexual assault is serious, because if people think they’re going to get away with it, they believe they can get away with more. This happens to both women and men, how can we start to crack down on this? How can we work on educating young people that this isn’t the norm when people in the public eye make comments like this. We need to keep talking about sexual assault. We need to stand up to the lies that this is just a part of life, because it’s not.

Book Review: Rad Women Worldwide – Kate Schatz

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I was sent a copy of this in exchange for an honest review.

It’s a known fact that women were often left out of the history books too often. Although we are getting better at recognising the impact that women have had in the past and are having now, books like this are a huge help. This is a beautifully illustrated and colourful book to highlight some of the great and interesting women throughout the world and history, while there are some that you will have heard of (Malala and Freida Khalo to name a few) and many that you will not have. I had no idea that women had such a prominent history in making peace, that there were female rulers of Egypt. There is so much that is missed out, important people that are only just starting to be recognised, or are sadly only recognised after their deaths. While there is a rich and diverse history in this book, I was longing for more by the time I reached the end and I’m hoping that there will be more to come. This is definitely a five star read and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the incredible women or past and present.