Feminism 101

It has become so very obvious in the last 3 days of twitter hassle I have received that the idea of feminism is stuck in the 1950's and the sole territory of masculine women, for want of a nicer way to put it. Well I have news for the next over testosterone's male who wants to pick a fight with a "liberal left who should return to the kitchen and stop whining", yes that's one reply I got. Feminism is not just a title for women, of any inclination, but is open to all sexuality.

To be a feminist, is to return the balance to equal respect for both sexes, it means as much for a man to be a nurse or a nanny as it does for a woman to be a navy cadet or a doctor. My late grandad was a feminist and proud of it. He worked hard all his life  in engineering, and he allowed his wife to continue work after the war as she choose. When she was robbed of her life in 1960 (yes folks pre sexual revolution) he didn't rush out to get another wife, no he raised his two teenage children alone. He found he had skills in needlework and the like that even later in life put me to shame. When he retired he took over the child care of this grand daughter, taught himself how to cook family meals that suddenly had to be fully vegetarian, due to my allergic reaction to meat proteins. He did the family budget and shop, and there was always a hot evening meal at 5.45 everyday. He became the ultimate house man, able to repair a violin, a skirt or refuse a gadget. Yet still maintain his masculinity and his own hobbies. In fact he was proud of these new skills and went on to hand make a rug as therapy after an injury. Had he been alive and fit today he would have happily marched with me to reclaim our rights. He never stopped being gentleman, doors were always held open, women were to be respected .

It actually seems that the generation of males who were alive during the wars were naturally feminists as they saw just what women could and would do in real hardship. It's the generation born post war that seem to be the problem, the baby boomers who had really little hardship other than their own egos, they are the source of the problem. It was these men that were the cause of the conflict in the 60's and 70's when the idea of feminist hit the headlines first. Subsequently we have become a world of divide. If it's OK to pay a lead male actor 30 million for a film, but the films leading lady only gets 10 million it's bound to filter down to the office administrator or even the cleaner. To compound this we have one maybe two generations brought up in this atmosphere, and so the behaviours become inbred.

I'm not saying all men are like this, but the pack mentality leads it to become the social norm. When it should be same pay regardless of gender. I truly thought we were moving away from this when paternity pay and parental leave came into force, but in fact it has made it worse, as now women are being penalised for wanting to take a carer break to raise a child. And what's worse is the government enforce  this by demanding children go into pre school earlier and earlier, and then the cost of preschool and day care go sky high, forcing the parents to work longer hours. The chain reaction is the breakdown of families, the downward spiral of social values and the resentment of one or other parent.

Some men would have you believe this was a direct result of feminism and the fact women wanted out of the kitchen. But if that was the case why make it so hard for them financially to stay at home. No it's a way of controlling women in a subversive manner, making the victims seem to be the cause. Funny how these same governments screamed for women to do those jobs when all the men were at war, or trained women to be spies as they had a higher success rate, or needed women of ethnic minority to do the maths to put man into space. Bit of a double standards, run of fear of the male race, unfortunately often also white and with healthy to repulsive bank balances. It's these fragile egos that are forcing the return of aggressive feminism.

So after a couple of decades we are back to fighting for our basic rights, this time pay and health care, in same fashion of the 60's generation to work and the early fighter to gain us the vote. Personally I feel sick my great grandmothers fought to gain me the vote, my grandmothers proved women were men's equals, my own mother fought to get me an education that was more than home ec and nannying, now I am having to fight for the health and future of all women. In a hundred years, despite women prime ministers and presidents in some countries we have learnt nothing but the fight is still going. So when you call me another  bloody feminist, my reply is yes fourth generation that I know of and from both male and female sides. Being a feminist we should encourage our future to be either sex, it's not a gender label but a moral one.