I find white feminism to a very strange thing. This past primary, a woman ran for president, one of the most qualified in the world, and you would have thought white women would have been happy with that, but they weren't. There was a bunch of articles written by white women, moaning and groaning about how unfeminine Hillary Clinton was, unfeminine! One woman wrote an article about how she was so disappointed that Hillary did not give an interview to Vogue because she stated that it might make her look too soft. Most of the respondents agreed that Hillary was not feminine enough, that she was too ballsy, too nut cracking, too emasculating. What the hell did they want, a presidential candidate who would declare Vladimir Putin, a cold eyed killer(?) his friend, a man who's soul he had read as good and honest?
When the feminist movement came along I was a young lady, well able to consider what it all meant. Being a black woman is far more different than being a white woman. They could afford to be feminist because the world was built around them, geared towards them, laid at their feet. Just because they now decided to work for a few years, delay getting married and having families, get higher degrees, and all that went with breaking out of that married/mommy mold, didn't mean that when they decided to seek all those things they wouldn't be there for them. In general black women have always had to work outside the home, always had to help bring money into the household to make ends meet and provide those extras for their families, things taken for granted by whites with their greater earning power. Black women have always had to be feminist because of the way they had to live their lives, with the racism and hatred of whites.
Being a feminist is a mindset. It has nothing to with the clothes you wear, whether or not you can cook or bake cookies, raise six kids, or any of those other things white women opined that Hillary did not do. There were so many sort of "unspoken" wishes that Hillary would bake and serve a plate of cookies. What's up with that?! I don't want a president who gets up in the middle of the night to bake a batch of chocolate chips. Unless it's at my house. She wore pantsuits, she looked manly, not feminine at all. O.K. So you're in a pool full of pants wearing men. If you were to wear skirts and dresses and show leg, what would have been the first thing out their mouths? She's playing the sex card, looking too sexy and feminine! She quelled one thing only to have them open fire on her on another front.
From the time I was fifteen, until the time I was forty-six, when my mom finally passed away, I was her caretaker. Why? Because that poor woman was mentally deranged. She passed away in the house we were living in at the time, and I was totally scared. I had never handled death in any way shape or form, and didn't know what to expect. I didn't want her to be in any pain, but I wanted to grant her wish of not dying in a hospital. I dealt with the funeral arrangements, the church, the arrangements for the services at Arlington, and with my sister. I failed in some things, passed in others. That's life. I have always considered myself a feminist, maybe because I have always considered myself a seeker of civil rights. The two go hand in hand with each other, except I would say that civil rights come first. I was too young by about two years to run away from home to join the movement, but I did my part. The same for the feminist movement. I have always cast my vote for those who would promote and protect my rights, and as a young woman fought for Roe vs. Wade.
The clothes that you wear don't make you a feminist. The cookies that you bake don't make you feminine. Being a feminist for me has meant that I participated in votes, in studying candidates who had my best interest at heart, adding my voice to keep the supremes from overturning Roe vs. Wade, and eroding so many of our other reproductive rights. Trying to see to the educational rights of young girls in this country, as well as all children. Equal pay for equal work, which we don't have yet. It simply means looking after the needs of women. I've raised a child on my own. How tough is that? Tough. I would never chose to do it again because I'd want my child to have a father. But does that necessarily make me feminine? A woman? Every woman who has a womb has the potential to give birth, but does that mean she will make an excellent mother?
It was strange, but none of the women who wrote that Hillary seemed too mannish for them didn't really note the finely honed and intelligent mind this woman has. Did you see her on Bill O'Reilly, keeping him in his place, all the while speaking on the questions he tossed at her? I listened to her intently, wanting to see how she would answer those questions, and according to him she gave not one wrong answer, except the one he didn't like about the troops, I think. Her poise and skill at handling all types of situations were hardly discussed. The author of the article that set me off talked about the fact that Hillary did not do a Vogue interview. So that she could appear softer, more feminine. Wtfiuwt?! What about appearing knowledgible before other nations of the world? For the past eight years we've had a male president who is as dumb as a door knob, and who dragged this country into a war for oil. Yes. A war for oil is what this man allowed Americans to be killed over. Could Hillary Clinton do better? I think so, but at this time I will have to wait to find out.
Is there anything such as a feminine feminist? I'm one. Being a feminist doesn't mean you lose your femininity. Those "journalists", or posters on the cesspool, wrote that as a dig against Hillary and set their brand of feminist back 40 years. Because you have bothered to educate yourself, as so many white women do, hone your mind, your intellectual skills, doesn't make you mannish. It simply makes you a well rounded woman. Does wearing a dress or a pair of Prada shoes make you more lady like? If so, what does that make the pope and his red wearing shoe self? Feminine? Am I less feminine because I'm a football freak? Was totally into the Lakers during the Magic years? (I'm so glad they went down in ignominious defeat, lol). Am I feminine because like most women I love clothes? I love fabrics, textures, bright colors, patterns? Am I mannish because I dealt with all the trials and tribulations that went with dealing with a ailing mother, siblings and a child of my own with no outside help from a man whatsoever, much less my own relatives?
The glass ceiling will not be broken this year. It may not happen in my life time at this point. A black man may become our first president. That's another story. White women seem to be happy with this lot, though I'm not quite sure why beyond the myriad of silly, foolish, stupid reasons they have given, and other white women seem agree with them. I don't know where they will find this strange mix of feminist/feminine woman they seek, except to say that she already exist. In me, my sister, your mother perhaps, an aunt, your sister, Hillary Clinton. If we seek the highest office in the land, I don't think that we will need cookie baking skills, or any other "feminine" skills we might have at our beck and call. What we will need is the ability to the best women that we can be when the next opportunity comes to shatter that glass ceiling.
Cookie bakers need not apply.
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