Hi my name is Helen and I’m a feminist. It’s taken a long time for me to become comfortable with that using that word, for fear that others will mistake me for a woman who goes around bra burning and man hating, for that is not what I am. I do not hate men, I actually kinda like them and I don’t burn my bras either because frankly, I like a bit of support! What I am is a person who believes wholeheartedly in equality for all and a big part of that for me is gender equality. I also believe that language and communication are very powerful tools that can be used to speak out against inequality and make a change so society starts doing things differently.
So, my deed is threefold, firstly I have redefined the word feminist in my own mind to mean equality between the sexes, so that both women and men are able to do and be everything that they want to do and be in their lives, without barriers because of their gender.
The second part is a challenge, to you whether male or female, to redefine the word feminist for yourself and think about what equality really means to you.
Lastly it is a challenge to women to use our language and communication to express our view of equality every day. I don’t mean standing on a soap box on a street corner, what I mean is changing the way we talk about ourselves and other women. I have noticed that a lot of women (including myself) sometimes speak in a derogatory fashion about our own gender, for example “you throw like a girl” or making excuses for bad performance by saying “well I’m only a girl”. And this final challenge is one to change our dialogue and speak about our own gender in a positive way, with the aim to change the way women are viewed with society from the ground up. I believe that being a woman and being a feminist are both amazing and positive things and this deed is me promising to show that in the way I talk and think and I really hope you will join me 🙂