Two Knives

Feminist and hopeless romantic StealthBadger tagged me for a meme.

If you know what a meme is, please continue to the next paragraph. If you don’t, and I mean you, Mel, read on: The term “meme” was coined by Oxford-educated evolutionary biologist and “Match Game” host Richard Dawkins. It is an idea — cultural informatoin — passed down through generations. In blogging terms, it a question posed and answered by a blogger, who then asks other bloggers to write on the same topic. Sort of a game, sort of a chain letter.

This particular meme, which can be traced back through StealthBadger to SoloMother, to Zen Sarcasm, to A Brain Like Mine, to Feminist Figure (and further but that’s as far as I can follow links) asks for five thoughts on feminism and how it has changed us.

And this is my answer:

1. Financial independence. My mother came way before bra-burning, but she was happy to tell Dayton’s (next Marshall Field’s and now Macy’s) what they could do with their credit card when they refused to issue one in her name. Evidentally, they would only use the name of the person who paid the bills. Can you even imagine that now?

2. Speaking of bra-burning: optional undergarments. Would you want to be strapped into some of those things women used to wear? Can’t . . . breathe . . . call . . . nine . . . one . . . one . . . .

3. No more female doctors. Or female scientists. Or female athletes. Or female anything. Now we have to work on the male nurse.

4. The sexual harrassment lawsuit. I don’t care what anyone says — it’s great to have some defense at the office. Even if it’s just a threat. When I was a teenaged babysitter, I had a dad swack my ass and put his hand on my knee while he was driving me home. I was so mortified I couldn’t tell my parents. My daughters will never feel that way.

5. Ms. Not the magazine, but the identifier. I remember looking at a list of the women on the “Hospitality Committee” at our church, and seeing everyone listed (including my mom) as “Mrs. John (Mary) Smith.” Even as a kid that bothered me. I still cringe when someone chooses to go by “Mrs.”

I know I’m supposed to tag five people, but I’m just not comfortable doing it. I know, I know, I’m not playing by the rules. But do feminists have to?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 14th, 2007 at 4:11 pm and is filed under Two Knives, Feminism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.