This was originally published here on Jan 23 2013. I am republishing it here, along with the below you tube clip of Emma Watson’s speech to the UN.
Does anyone really understand feminism anymore?
Who are the feminists?
The ‘breastfeeding in public’ (mass)debate includes comments from women claiming to be feminists that insist that while they agree that mothers are able to feed anywhere, anytime, that they should be discreet/discrete about it.
You won’t find me on Facebook anymore.
This blog makes a great point about what underlies this thinking. Apparently the feminist movement took us away from the frying pan and straight into the fire.
Nothing stands in our way now – except for the glass ceiling.
As long as we women obey the unwritten rules of the patriarchy, and behave like men, we are welcome to be equal.
I have previously written about the devaluation of motherhood, but I feel that this issue is more about the feminine than just about mothers and not paying tax. It is just that mothering reminds society that men and women are biologically different. Our society has done more than just devalue the feminine, but it has so over-sexualised it, that the very basic and natural act of breastfeeding has become offensive.
It begins with the segregation of mothers, by making society unwelcoming and inappropriate for children. We need ‘breastfeeding welcome here’ and ‘child friendly’ venues not as a way of welcoming mothers, but of warning the potentially offended that certain unacceptable beings will be entering their carefully orchestrated lives. The unpredictable nature of babies and children will offend your ability to eat in peace, to sexualise the world and speak profanities.
All men are created equal – and women can be equal too: if they act like men.
When ‘effeminate’ is no longer derogatory, we will know that society has progressed. And, as long as breastfeeding is considered something that requires discreet behaviour, women will remain oppressed.
Reblogged this on bellabirth: informed birth and parenting and commented:
On Monday, I had the audacity to be at a PUBLIC meeting with my children.
A man tried to suggest our presence there was a problem. I have a right to be there, as do my children. So I told him to “deal with it”. If they were running riot, I would have left. As I hope he would have if his undesexed, unleashed pitbull had been a problem.
And there was another woman in attendance. A well informed, woman who had the audacity to speak her mind. She was shut down.
If my husband had been there with his children – I doubt very much anyone would have marched up to him to suggest he leave.
And if that informed and vocal woman had been a man, I bet they would have applauded and encouraged.
Am I pissed off? You bet!
I am also proud of myself. I stood up to ‘that man’. I defended my rights and those of my children.