Click.... when we knew we were feminists

[AtLast]

I was pretty young, about8 or 9. It was when my maternal Grandmother met my Grandpa at the door as he completed his last day of his working life. She (a "First Wave" suffragist that worked for the women's right to vote in the 1920's) untied her apron and tossed it over to him and said (in very broken English)- "I'm retired too." From then on he cooked and cleaned the house and she worked in the yard and garden. Actually, this worked out well as he was the better of the cook and she had one hell of a green thumb. Besides, I grew up in an extended family and we all had specific duties and chores as a family unit. And we all contributed to the "family." I kind of feel like my roots were pretty feminist with this kind of cultural and ethnic background. We all worked in some form in the family business as it progressed- I picked up garbage cans along side my Dad and brother in the early days when he started out.

[Soft*Silver]

my two male cousins and I were around the same age. We did everything together! We hiked in the woods, hung from trees, waded in creeks, etc. Then one summer..dammit...when I threw off my shirt because it was too hot, I got scolded. I was a girl. SO WHAT? I was a girl the years before that and I was allowed to take off my shirt. But now, suddenly, I was not. Pffffttt on that social taboo! The moment that really clicked for me, tho was when they got bows and arrows for xmas. And I did not. I got a white cardigan sweater. The year before we got canteens and helmets with flaslights on them! And this year I get a cardigan????

I should have grown up butch but I love my silk and lace and make up! LOL...

oh, and to Ms Snow...how about Fan the Flames?

[CherylNYC]

I was 6 years old and watching the Flintstones on TV. It was 1968. I remember suddenly becoming enraged at the rigid gender roles that were portrayed, and I instantly decided to boycott the show. In that crystal clear moment I understood that the television was promoting and enforcing oppression of women, and that people who watched it would learn by watching that the way the cartoon characters were acting was the 'right way' to act. I never forgot that moment. I still don't have or watch television.

My father had a lot invested in convincing me that men were just better at certain things. I remember him telling me how embarrassing Billie Jean King's showing was in her match with Bobby Riggs. He told me that it proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that men were superior. Later I found out that she beat him handily in straight sets. My father was so vehement in his negativity that I was sure she must have lost!

My mother claimed to be a feminist and told my sister and I that we could be anything we wanted. We were expected to go to college and become professionals in some respectable field at which we would most certainly excel. (Being an artist does NOT count as respectable.) At the same time, she told us that if we wanted to go to college we would have to get scholarships. They would find the money to send my brother to college. Unlike us, he would have to support a family, after all. You can imagine my fury. My mother told me that she was a feminist, BUT....

[Jess]

Second grade. I had joined the Brownies. It was about half way or a little more through the school year when we got our uniforms and were to wear them to school for a meeting immediately after school was out.

Kevin, a boy in my class who I usually played basketball/ kickball whatever with, walks up to me when I arrived in my uniform ( mind you, I had shorts on under it) and yells mockingly: " You Got a GIRLS dress on". I punched him in the face explaining quite vehemently that " I AM a girl!". Short trip to principal's office and I came back quite entrenched in feminism.

[lettertodaddy]

I don't mean this to sound confrontational at all, but I'm a black woman who grew up in the South and I came from a long line of Black Southern women. I don't think I've ever not been a feminist for those reasons.

[*Anya*]

Originally Posted by lettertodaddy

I don't mean this to sound confrontational at all, but I'm a black woman who grew up in the South and I came from a long line of Black Southern women. I don't think I've ever not been a feminist for those reasons.

Not confrontational at all LD! Each of us knows for ourselves how and when our eyes were opened.

[Quintease]

My mum was supposed to have been a feminist yet I grew up such an angry teen as it wasn't feminism I saw in our house. I was the one she was expecting to cook and clean, while trying to stop me from hanging out with my friends. My brothers were given bikes, expensive toys and all the freedom they could ever want.

Guess who it was that wildly rebelled.

It took a long time, but luckily my mum and I are friends now. She's even admitted to me that she didn't know any other way when she first got married and had kids. She just wanted me to have a happy life and she thought that meant being a good wife and mother. I just thank my lucky stars I turned out to be a lesbian *phew*

[Estella]

I do not remember a time when I wasn't a feminist. My mother was very involved in the women's movement of the 1970's, or as involved as one can be from Platteville, Wisconsin. One of my earliest memories is being in the crowd at an ERA rally in Texas, shouting "hey hey waddaya say, ratify the ERA!" I was probably six or seven. But my "click" moment happened in the third grade, when a substitute teacher was making some sort of remark about ladies. I raised my hand and pointed out that my mother wasn't a lady, she was a woman. What's funny is that I subsequently ran into this teacher, now quite elderly, while I was in high school (veeeery small town) and she actually remembered this incident. She laughed about it, in a sort of weren't-you-a-silly-impertinent-little-girl way. My mother also raised me to be polite, and I saw no point in challenging the old woman.

[Bad_boi]

I don't really think I could ever be a feminist. I would rather be a gender equalist. I see females as equals. Some feminists twist it and wind up hating males and that is the same problem just reversed. (not saying ALL feminists do this) Sexism is sexism. One thing that really bugs me is when a woman will get mad at me for holding a door open or something of the kind. I help people because it is nice. It does not matter to me the person's gender. If they are behind me I am not letting the door hit them and that is really the bottom line there.

[Sparkle]

I have the Catholic Church to thank for my feminism.

I was born "out of wedlock" to my still-in-catholic-high-school taught-by-nuns mother when she was barely 18. My very catholic grandmother was very concerned for my soul; consequently I was in church with her from the time I was an infant and I was enrolled in church school from the moment they would take me.

At age 6, when I discovered that I could neither be a priest nor an altar boy I was shocked and taken aback, when I was told I could not hold those roles BECAUSE I was girl - I was disgusted and appalled. (and I still remember that moment distinctly). I spent the next ten years of my religious education questioning the rationale of every sexist policy, practice and story in the books.

[Dominique]

Originally Posted by Bad_boi

I don't really think I could ever be a feminist. I would rather be a gender equalist. I see females as equals. Some feminists twist it and wind up hating males and that is the same problem just reversed. (not saying ALL feminists do this) Sexism is sexism. One thing that really bugs me is when a woman will get mad at me for holding a door open or something of the kind. I help people because it is nice. It does not matter to me the person's gender. If they are behind me I am not letting the door hit them and that is really the bottom line there.

Hey Bad_Boi....I am going to ask you to elaborate a little further (please)
on the part I changed to red. I find it confusing. Anti woman sentiment. Thank you.

[weatherboi]

the whole point to this thread is to celebrate feminism. it is a mystery to me why you would choose to come in here and share this particular opinion. why come in and share your NONfeminist point of view in a thread that is focusing on the complete opposite? how is this relevant?
can you please clarify why you would come into this thread and insult some of our feminists (not saying ALL feminists will be insulted).

Originally Posted by Bad_boi

I don't really think I could ever be a feminist. I would rather be a gender equalist. I see females as equals. Some feminists twist it and wind up hating males and that is the same problem just reversed. (not saying ALL feminists do this) Sexism is sexism. One thing that really bugs me is when a woman will get mad at me for holding a door open or something of the kind. I help people because it is nice. It does not matter to me the person's gender. If they are behind me I am not letting the door hit them and that is really the bottom line there.