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What shape does feminism take in your life?
People keep drawing parallels between the word ‘fuck’ and the word ‘feminism’ – both F words are in turns loved and despised but ultimately impossible to ignore. I don’t like either word but I use them all the time, which highlights the importance of swearing and of feminism, and the importance of clarifying these concepts. When we say ‘fuck’ as an expletive, what we mean to express is anger but what we end up expressing is hatred of the body and puritanical stigmatisation of sex. When we say ‘feminism’, we mean to express liberation and love but what we end up expressing is a problematic political movement.
The only thing that’s clear is that feminism is a part of our lives and not going anywhere, no matter what it really is, and no matter what word we use for it. For young girls, young men, the elderly, sex workers, rape victims, homeless people, models, businesswomen, businessmen, soldiers, refugees, presidents and a plethora of completely diverse other people, feminism is a weekly or daily thought, no matter what word they use for it. Feminism. Support. Overcoming insecurity. Making a friend despite differences. Learning to love someone. Changing sex. Crossing a border. Determination. Promotion. Survival. Victory. Getting tested for HIV. Getting paid. What shape does feminism take in your life?
Here are three completely random ways I saw feminism take shape this year, in my life and the lives of many others.
- Liking Sia
‘I’ve got an elastic heart’ is one of the Australian singer’s best and best-known lines. Another of her biggest hits goes ‘I’m free to be the greatest here tonight’. Sia’s chart-topping numbers pass the Bechdel test – instead of ranting or raving about the pains or wonders of love, she sings about winning and empowerment, encouraging independent happiness and success beyond happiness and success in relationships. I’m more of a chin-strokey techno kind of girl but my music taste expanded to Sia out of solidarity.
- Reading Kate Rushin
This is a bit of a wildcard on this list, as I recognise that not many people read poems so this could be as close to an unhelpful feminist suggestion as feminist suggestions come. However, discovering and recognising powerful, influential women is a huge part of reaching gender equality, a struggle as it is to get female talent recognised. Kate Rushin said the following:
The bridge I must be
Is the bridge to my own power
I must translate
My own fears
Mediate
My own weaknesses
I must be the bridge to nowhere
But my true self
And then
I will be useful
- Buying a mooncup
The tampon tax plagues women the world over, charging them for a natural bodily function. The mooncup is tidy, cheap, environmentally friendly sanitary protection. They should be free but nothing’s perfect. Mooncups cost about £20 and last years, saving money and preventing tonnes of waste going into landfill. Ocean Conservancy volunteers collected 27,938 used tampons and applicators on beaches on a single day (International Coastal Cleanup, 2013).
