Random Thoughts On Being A Feminist

I learned everything I needed to know about being a feminist from my Mom, with no small measure of help from my Dad. But Mom is the focus today.


I thought about the lessons I learned from my Mom after reading RS McCain's post Whorism. It seems to me that women these days believe that the path to power, and equality, is the path to masculinity. In other words, the only way for a woman to achieve success is to be more like a man. That belief is a head shaker for my Mom.


Mom has always believed that successful women distinguish themselves from men. Don't get me wrong, Mom likes men, and one man in particular-my Dad. She simply thinks that rather than imitating men, women should capitalize on their own strengths and those characteristics that set them aside from men. Therefore, my Mom would be the first to say that men are whores and women cut their own throats by trying to be something they aren't.


Mom doesn't need a researcher to tell her that men view sex as a physical act or that women see it through the prism of their emotions. Mom knows that in even now, the glory days of "sexting" and Skank Doll Barbie, good girls finish first.


Mom would say that men want women, and they want them more when women respect themselves, and expect, demand, that men respect them too.


My Mom is a real feminist. And after fifty-eight years of marriage, my Dad still looks at her like she's the hottest woman on Earth.


h/t The Other McCain