My Feminist Journey part 2

When I got to high school, I was still stuck in the fairness idealology. I was also firmly stuck in the girly doesn't equal feminist. I wish I could go back and tell my younger self that you can be both girly and a feminist. They're not exclusive.

I wasn't one of those girls who had a mirror in her locker. Or brushed my hair before lunch. I stopped wearing the horrible make-up of junior high. I didn't wear make-up comfortably for a long time. Even today, the most I ever really wear is mascara and lip gloss.

I made my feelings pretty well known. I was pretty vocal about them; calling boys out when they said something stupid. Believe me, that happened often. I'm sure I had a reputation. But that didn't bother me.

But something happened between high school and college. I became more self conscious. Sure I went to an all women's college. There were no sororities. They had a Women's Collective, a safe place for women. They held Take Back the Night demonstrations, which I participated in. Of course, some jerk would always yell terrible things out the windows at us as we marched through the streets. But that didn't stop me.

What did stop me was professor making terrible jokes in class. I wanted to say something to one professor who joked about rape with the text we were reading. It wasn't funny but for some reason I didn't feel comfortable talking up. I never did tell him my thoughts on his lecture.

Clearly there's a different between calling out boys in high school that you've known forever and calling out a professor. Still, I am disappointed in myself that I didn't share my concerns then.

Being at an all Women's College solidified my ideals, but it also broadened and deepened them.

If you missed the first part of my journey, read about it here.

My Feminist Journey (part 1)

When I was young, this hung in my room and I believed it. I had no reason not too. I actually thought it was Smurfette being a doctor; I didn't realize she was President until just now. 

My parents raised my sister and I to be feminists; We were and we still are. Nothing has changed that, but there were times when I noticed not everyone was a feminist.

I'm sure it happened in elementary school, but I don't have specific examples with the boys in my class. There was one teacher in the fifth grade - a male teacher. He was the first male teacher that I had. He was sexist and I remember being annoyed by him and how he treated boys and girls differently.

Middle school was another story; I began to notice how the boys were acting towards girls and it wasn't good. Somehow they thought we were weaker. I wanted to prove it otherwise. 

I was always a sporty tomboy kid. I played a lot of sports. For a while I was pretty good at them. But there were times when the boys wouldn't let girls play basketball at recess. They would make up stupid rules about who had the next game. That didn't work for me. And it didn't work for some of the other girls either. We took a stand one day and forced the boys to let us play, but we didn't change the feelings.

I became anti-girly. I didn't think you could be both girly and a feminist. I had little time for those who were girly - mostly because I didn't understand it. I didn't need to make my hair pretty for a basketball game - it was just a game. 

Sure, I was happy when in 7th grade, I was allowed to wear make-up. And for a while I did. I had awful shades of lipstick. This was during my very very awkward phase.  But that phase didn't last very long. And it didn't change my views on equality.

I was all about fairness and I wasn't afraid to speak my mind about it, but of course that would change.