Equality.

In the last couple of days, the issue of gender equality has blown up and gotten people talking, discussing and debating about it - and that's flipping brilliant.

Emma Watson made a speech to the U.N last weekend, as their Women Goodwill Ambassador, and received a standing ovation. She spoke about when she realised she was a feminist, and the issue of gender equality. 

Her speech went viral and was applauded for worldwide, and it really raised the discussion of gender equality, and brought more awareness to the issue. She launched the HeForShe campaign, (as if you needed another reason to love her even more!), and I think it's going to influence a wide audience. With her association of being Hermione in the Harry Potter series and franchise, she has a whole audience of young fans, and I feel that this is going to reach out to those especially, who may not have aware that this even was an issue, or have any opinions on it formed yet.

HeForShe urges men speak up and fight for gender equality, and support the women in their life. The public and celebrities alike have backed the campaign with full force.

@Harry_Styles: "I'm supporting @UN_Women and @Em_Watson in #HeForShe As should you..."

@DouglasBooth: "I am a passionate supporter of gender equality."

@twhiddleston: "@EmWatson you are impeccable & extraordinary. I stand with you. I believe in gender equality."

Joseph Gordon-Levitt, who is also supporting the campaign, has a company named hitRECord, which is an 'open collaborative production company'. It invites anyone and everyone to get involved with projects of a specific topic. And he's asking people what feminism means to them. 

I didn't really know what feminism was until about 2 years ago. I knew it was a thing and people were feminists, but I didn’t know what it all meant.

Until I was researching to write up my dissertation. I read up about it, learnt about the 2nd wave of feminism. Until then, I didn’t realise that the reason I can vote, the reason I can apply for the same job as men, the reason i have the freedom to do so many things, is because of feminism.

Now, I don't want to turn this into a feminism blog (not that that would be bad thing) but it really got me thinking what being a feminist actually means to me. I've posted before about my experiences of it, and I know I am one, but, but that question really made me sit down and really had a think.

What I came to was that, for me, feminism means that your rights, actions, opinions, choice and beliefs not being judged on because of your gender. It's about equality.

Equality. It’s not about women hating one another. It's not 'men-hating'. Feminists don’t hate men, many feminists ARE men. It’s not about one sex being better than the other, but them co-existing as equals. 

It's not even about non-feminists and feminists being against one another. More recently, I read numerous articles about Annie Lennox criticising Beyoncé and her form of feminism as 'feminism-lite'. Now, I know that Annie Lennox has been a long-time activist, and I'm not arguing with her, because it's her opinion, but that almost seems like a battle of 'who's the better feminist' in my eyes. But it seems to me that, different people attract and reach differnt audiences, and surely, the more people that promote a positive message about important matters like gender equality, that can only be a good thing. That message is being spread, because people who listen to 'Single Ladies' may not also be a fan of 'Harry Potter'. Surely, if at the core of it, your beliefs are the same, that should be the only thing that matters?

As Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put more concisely and elegantly, a feminist is a person who believes in the social, political, and economic equality between the sexes.

There should be no expectations of a person to act, look, or behave in a certain way, because of their gender. Just like I said before feminist and feminine aren’t exclusive to themselves - don’t want to shave your legs? That's great! Want to wear a sparkly pink bow? Awesome! Want to be a stay-at-home housewife? Fantastic! Want to be a kick-ass mechanic? That's amazing! Want to have as many kids as the Von Trapp family? Perfect! Don’t want any kids? Perfect too!

Choices like these should be down to each individual person, and they should not be judged by them. Some people think equality's been achieved but with comments such as ones like this:

We've still got work to do.

There lots of different views and types of feminism, so I urge you and go find out more about feminism and figure out what it means to you - I've just bought some books myself and can't wait to get stuck in!

What is your stance and opinion on it?

And if you want, do contribute to the hitRECord video (which I've done so myself!), and join in on an interesting discussion that concerns us all.

Stay sassy & stay happy!

Until next time,

A.x

"You're not a feminist - You don't look like one!"

I got really riled up the other day when a car reversed into the back of mine. And it wasn't because he scratched or dented it.

There's a term that my friend Kim coined once when I was telling her about all the times that people didn't take me seriously because of the purple ribbon tied in my hair, or because I'm on a phone that has bunny ears on.

'Elle Woods syndrome'

If you've seen Legally Blonde (and why wouldn't you have - it's amazing), you'll know what I mean. When people don't take you or your opinion seriously as a grown-up, because in their eyes, you don't look like one.

Let my homegirl Zooey Deschanel explain it to you as she best knows how...

When she said this in New Girl, I practically jumped out of my chair in agreement.

There's been so many times that I've been spoken down to because of my appearance and way I dress. A flatmate of mine once laughed straight at the fact that I called myself a feminist, because - and I quote - I didn't look like one. Apart from not knowing what that actually mean (how is a feminist even supposed to look?...), it's also ignorant and offensive to females and feminists everywhere. 

Feminist or Feminine. 

That isn't a choice that has to be made - why can't you be both?

But this incident really took the biscuit. I went to the supermarket, and as my dad toddled inside to get some milk and other bits and bobs (Elle magazine, chocolate, wine - you know, the essentials), and I sat in the car, all parked up, and waited. And while I was sat there, waiting in my stationary, parked car,all of a sudden there was a big crash sound and I felt a bump. A guy hadn't looked properly while he was reversing, and hit my car. So I got out to check my car and speak to him - like anyone else would do (and also thought to myself, what on earth he was playing at - was he not looking?!)

He just kept telling me how I was making it into a bigger deal than it actually was and that I was over-reacting. The car was fine, but I wanted to take his details in case something came up later on, but he just made me feel like I was being a drama queen!

"Oh, it's nothing really! You should stop worrying - trust me! You don't need my details!"

The way he was talking to me was like I was a useless, little girl, who didn't know my left from my right. He was even getting back into his car while he was saying all this. But then, when my dad came back to the car, the gentleman in question all of a sudden was a whole different person, being super apologetic.

"I am SO sorry. Are you sure everything's OK with your car? Have a proper look - I'd hate for you to drive off and then find something wrong."

I was stunned. 

He would've trusted my dad, who - no offence to my clever and delightful darling dad - is elderly, prone to forget things, English is his 2nd language, and can't even hear my when I say 'Good Morning' to him, rather than talking to a young woman who is socially engaged, studying a Masters degree and does actually know what she's talking about, despite what he thought.

My dad got into the car and I vented all the way home. And when I questioned how I just didn't understand why he did then, even he jokingly replied "Well, you are wearing a dress with hearts on it!"

It just makes me angry and disappointed because it's so ridiculous in this day and age, that people still judge others on their sex, and even more silly, on what they wear! 

Because that's exactly wheat that guy did - he saw that I was a girl. A female. One that didn't dress 'serious' enough, and just assumed that I didn't know anything, and swept me to the side as a silly, little girl who couldn't have dealt with the situation until a male came along.

And in 2014, that just isn't right.

Hope you're all well,

Speak soon.

A.x