I am a baby feminist.

This is the category in which I place myself, because I have only recently started thinking like a feminist, and learning about feminist issues. I’ve only taken one Women’s Studies course, and it was this summer.

So I am just starting out, and just starting to see what is going on with male and female dynamics in the world. It is really overwhelming. This is a real quote:

I’m a huge supporter of women. What I’m not is a supporter of liberalism. Feminism is what I oppose. Feminism has led women astray. I love the women’s movement especially when I’m walking behind it.

Rush Limbaugh said that. Recently. In a serious way. I honestly.. like… I honestly have no words.

I literally just had to take a second to not be angry and to focus my mind. Because hearing stuff like that DRIVES ME NUTS. I mean sure, in my little town, from men who have never been further than an hour away and who’s predecessors and DNA have been here for centuries, that’s only a little annoying. But I deal with it, because they are completely cut off from reality, and they can live their little lives however they so choose. But when men like Rush Limbaugh, who for some reason have fame/notoriety, make comments like that, I feel sick to my stomach. That means he works for someone who shares his beliefs, and has a ‘fan base’ large enough to warrant him still being in the spotlight. That’s terrifying.

I think I have always been pro-girls, but my baby feminist beginnings probably started during my first ever semester in university (typical, I know), when my professor told us of a story back in her days pre-teaching. She was a high-up manager for a bank, and received a promotion to be the representative for all of Atlantic Canada or something like that. She then had access to the payrolls of those who worked under her. Upon looking at them one day, she realized that the man who replaced her at her previous position was getting paid more than she was while she had his position, and was still getting paid more than her after her promotion. This, of course, angered her, and she approached her boss asking for the appropriate raise after explaining the situation, her manager responded with:

“Well, just because we gave you the new position, I wasn’t going to give you a raise..”

She then informed him she would not be accepting the promotion, and returned to her old job until he relented and gave her the raise with a sheepish apology.

This completely threw me for a loop. I had heard stories while still in high school that women were sometimes paid less then men, but I really didn’t believe it. I had no idea things like that happened in modern days, but now I don’t think I’ll ever forget that story.

I then took this Women’s Studies course, and have tentatively declared myself a feminist. That is a hard decision! I’m sure even some of you reading this now are rolling your eyes and making comments like ‘Oh, another femi-nazi‘ or something stupid like that. Others are probably saying ‘Uh, I don’t understand how this is profound at all’.

Well let me tell you, it feels like the whole world is against feminists, including some women! There are extremist feminists, of course, but I thought it was a well-known fact that feminism is a movement seeking equality between women and men. Because there are still so many jokes made, even so-called harmless ‘get back in the kitchen’ jokes enforce a certain way of thinking. But there are still so many jokes about ‘man haters’ and the mindset that feminists want women to have better rights than men, that it’s sometimes hard to admit I am amongst the feminist ranks.

Sure women have it a lot easier now than the very first feminists did. They were fighting to get women equal rights under the law. Many women now, however, feel as though that was all that needed to be done. The reality is, though, that it needs to go so much further.

Recently, there were actually debates (thankfully not in my country) concerning what restrictions should be in place about birth control, abortions, and women’s reproductive systems in general. The word slut was actually thrown around. In reference to a specific woman. This boggles my mind. I’m not sure when this word was ever appropriate to use at any time, especially in public, but in 2012 this is most certainly not acceptable. A woman was banned from speaking on the floor of the State House for saying ‘vagina’ in an abortion debate.

Of course these issues are easy to get fired up about! I’m hoping most self-respecting women would be ready to protest something like The Old Boys Club trying to control their reproductive systems, but as a baby feminist, I have a hard time with smaller things. The ones which are easier to overlook as essentially harmless.

For example, I hear songs on the radio by both women and men which objectify women and their bodies, and are downright lewd. Okay, the lewd part is just my prude-ish-ness. But songs like Flo Rida’s Whistle (which is unfortunately so damn catchy) come on the radio, and I’m torn between wanting to love it as I do all other top 40 music, and wanting to write Mr. Rida a strongly worded letter about his song content.

If/When I (hopefully) blossom from a baby feminist into perhaps a pre-teen feminist, or, maybe one day, a grown up feminist, I will be more comfortable expressing these viewpoints to people that I’m not super close with. I’m still trying to grapple where I stand on the scale of feminism. Definitely somewhere in between an anti-feminist and a man-hater. That’s a for sure. I’m sure with age, I’ll become even more comfortable with my opinions, and expressing thoughts that are different than those from everyone around me.

For now, I shall make a Rush Limbaugh voodoo doll, vehemently roll my eyes when Whistle comes on the radio (and maybe quietly sing along..), and keep trying to learn everything about the feminist movement that I possibly can.

Things I know for sure:

1) I don’t like hearing men or women use the word ‘slut’, ‘bitch’, or any homophobic slurs to describe women with whom they disagree or perhaps dislike. (I may have to work on the bitch one.. I’m growing, okay!)

2) I think everyone should be in charge of their own bodies, and there should really be no debate on how a woman chooses to control her own reproductive system, or any other part of her body. Same goes for men, but they don’t really have as many of the same problems. Just put a condom on boys, it’s okay.

3) I don’t like that women still have pay differences than men, and that most high up managers are men. I don’t know how to solve this problem, but I’m working on it.

There are so many different ways I could get into discussing feminism, like women in the workplace, mentalities that need to change, and feminist backlash. Those are all different posts, for different days though, bloggy. Maybe I’ll tackle them. If I start to figure anything else out about where I stand on the feminist scale, I’ll for sure let you know. I know you’ll be on the edge of your seat.

This has been another riveting post about rural white girl Cally. Thanks for sticking with me during this lengthy, no-topic rant. I’m sure none of you are reading this line.

here is a funny picture: