Well, if there's one thing the world needs more of, it's another amateur blogger convinced her voice is unique. I'm a university student and an avid observer of interactions between people and their perceptions of others. So many aspects of society reflect gender disparity, and the only way for change to occur is if the problem is recognized.
Ever since I was a child, I didn't want to achieve the "typical" goals of little girls that are forced down our throats from the beginning. At age 6, I told my mother that I was never having children. I refused to wear pink, hated dresses and frills, and preferred to climb trees and read books to playing dress-up and watching the Disney princesses (more on that later). I was the classic tomboy, except that I didn't want to be just like a boy. I had my own interests that didn't align the societal conception of femininity. Funny how some things don't ever change.
Now at 22, I still dislike pink, frills, and children. And for some reason, that makes me intrinsically different from the other girls around me. As we all know, anything remotely different about you makes you an easy target for ridicule and a kind of distrust. People hear me say "I'm a feminist" and immediately their looks, posture, and interaction styles change. It's like telling someone you're a leper.
Uh oh, they think, she must be a bra-burning lesbian. There is no gender inequality anymore!
I love that. No gender inequality. Never mind that the pay disparity between men and women still exists (I believe it's at $0.75 on the dollar now), that preconceived notions of gender characteristics have a negative impact on people from all walks of life, and that women are treated like objects for judgment. People have convinced themselves that there is no problem so they don't have to feel bad, and there won't be anything to change.
I refuse to accept that. This blog is just somewhere for me to go to express my opinions, and hopefully hear from like-minded readers. I love reading feminist literature and follow other feminist blogs, but they don't always address what I want to read about. So here I go, using my voice to say what I think needs to be said.
Enjoy the ride!
