Writing Stuff Down

A friend of mine is creating a Zine on Feminism and she asked me to interview a friend of ours (a local writer) for it. I had a friend proof it and other than the beginning and end she felt it was missing me... So I'm taking that part and filling in the middle with Christy. Here I go...
... Recently I took a vacation to California with my dad. We went to see my uncles and grandmother. My youngest uncle, only 12 years older then myself, and I were debating some issue I cannot now remember. He disagreed with my point and sneered “You’re a feminist, aren’t you!” My first response was to say no. I was insulted that he’d lump me into such a category.

This got me to think though ... Why is feminism such a dirty word? I envision children across the globe getting their mouths washed out with soup simply for uttering this four syllable word. I always take my examples for the media. My parents did not fit the traditional gender roles; however, for my examples of what a woman was I looked beyond them.

Books, I love books so what do they say about feminism. Not in a definition form, but in characterizations. If you read Nora Roberts a lot of her female characters fit three roles – submissive woman overcoming an abusive relationship looking for a caring man who values her strength; the tough as nails tomboy looking for the soft hearted Romeo to soften here; and the sexy siren looking for her good (bad) boy. However these women lack a sort of feminism because its love that makes them whole… Let’s move on to Margaret Atwood. She is a feminist writer, showing the trials between men and woman and exploiting both for their raw human emotions. What am I saying here? I don’t know… But I do know that feminism is much more than a dirty word.

My friend said in my interview of him … “If you made a list of five men and five women you knew and listed their characteristic, the stereotypes wouldn’t be there. You wouldn’t be feeding into propaganda of a man is this, and a woman is that. You’d be listing their qualities. Men would have what you‘d consider female and woman would have what you consider male.”
With the climate of the world still trapped in gender roles and stereotypes it’s hard to say when, if ever feminism will be considered a good cause. For me, I never did reverse my uncle’s opinion on the issue or his negative view on feminist. One thing for certain - next time I won’t hesitate when some one calls me a feminist. I‘ll smile, shrug and say “yes, yes I am.”