and like you and you and you and you
Bravo for New York Magazine, The Rebirth of the Feminist Manifesto finding the feminist movement alive and well in the bloggie world. And, an extra loud BRAVO for The Mamafesto piece that asked, What About the Rest of Us? Over at Mamafesto, they reminded us that feminist parenting is alive and well too. In fact, we are raising the feminists of tomorrow.
We are writing about children being raised inside a mainstream culture that is still uncomfortable with the notion of feminists. But, the results of the feminist movement have created a platform for women and men to practice what are no longer new notions of equality and that extends to parenting. In fact, the backlash against feminism has taken many forms. But, the most concrete was an unwillingness to identify oneself as a feminist. That unwillingness in itself provoked a new batch of women to identify themselves as feminists.
The issues tackled by parents who themselves, were raised with feminist ideals, are complex. We at Femamom write to those ideals and the questions they raise in nearly every piece we write. Hayley has written about how we discuss the word ‘slut’ with our daughters, read more on the topic here. I’ve tackled the word bitch. And Hayley’s piece of being a feminist with a daughter who loves her inner princess? Well, that kinda says it all.
We, as in the collective feminist parent bloggers and writers, are out here.
We are writing about being feminists. We are having the more complex conversations and nuanced conversations that any movement evloves into. We have history behind us: We have the right to vote, the right to an education and the right to manage our reproductive health. These three seemingly simple rights were fought for. And there are many women in the world living without them.
(image: Flickr:Creative.Commons)
Hayley Krischer
November 2, 2011
Miri, Gosh that Ms. Gloria Steinem is one beautiful lady (looking at photo on cover of NY Mag). And though this might be entirely off topic–especially when Emily Nussbaum writes in New York: “women had been trained to dismiss their own struggles as personal matters with no greater meaning.”–it’s hard to deny her beauty. Beauty is hardly a struggle. But GS also breaks ground in that area I suppose–how a classically beautiful lady is “supposed” to act or what a feminist looks like. Not every feminist can get away with being a Playboy Bunny and write a scathing story about it. Read I Was a Playboy Bunny if you’re curious. Also, I found this interesting quote from GS on her looks. She writes:
Miriam Novogrodsky
November 2, 2011
she’s so smart. love that in a feminist. i just learned how to spell the word and there she was, years ago, making pithy commentary. she’s amazing.
Shannon Drury
November 2, 2011
Right on! I’m a fellow feminist mom blogger who found you via The MamaFesto. And I’m happy to add that my smart and beautiful six-year-old feminist daughter is also named Miriam!