06 March 2014

feminism.

When I was little, I was on a soccer team with all boys. 
I was never told I couldn't, and I was not afraid of them. 
So I just played believing I could.
I got the wind knocked out of me more than a couple times.
I played the "who could swing the highest and jump" game,
and scraped all the skin off my nose.
I wasn't afraid to compete with them- they were just boys. 

I grew up in a home where I could be anything I wanted to be.
If I could dream it, I could do it. 
And it made no difference that I was a girl.
In fact, I'm pretty sure my dad was my biggest advocate.
He never stopped believing that I could rule the world.
He was a head-of-household, providing priesthood holder.
Yeah, he believed his daughter could rule the world.

Feminism has turned into this emotionally charged word,
and I feel like I have a unique perspective that falls somewhere along it's lines.
Often, I'm not vocal about it.
But I learned somewhere that we allow evil to win when we do nothing.

I attend a University and am part of a major that is LARGELY male.
In most of my project groups, I'm the only female.
But if I pull my weight, woman or not, I've found that I'm respected for my work.
Yeah, sure, there have been times where I've been looked at differently for being a girl.
But mostly, it's been a good thing.
My group of all girls was where I felt the least tolerance and kindness.

I have run hard races with all boys.
I didn't want them to wait for me, and they didn't.
I kept up because I worked by butt off for it.
I knew if I trained hard enough I could keep up with the boys.

However, I'm "team mom" in most of facets of my life.
I give hugs, I write thank yous, I bake treats, I give rides home from school.
That used to kind of bother me. I wanted to be "hottest" or "smartest" or "funniest".
Team mom didn't seem like the most flattering, or awesome title to be given.
As I have gotten older, and maybe a little wiser, I have grown to love that title.
I am team mom.
Guess what. My body was MADE to be a mom, and I love that about myself.
I love the qualities that make me a woman.

I am married, to a boy who loves me and supports me in whatever it is I want to do.
I've never been made to feel less than him.
You know where the most discrimination has come from?
Other women.
Mostly from my choice to put my husband's career before my own.
As if that was a bad thing. 
As if, as a woman who has gone through the business program,
and done a lot of hard work for an education who chooses to get married
and chooses to put her husbands career in from of her own is a bad thing.

GUESS WHAT.
I could've chosen not to get married, and I could have had a rocking career,
because I can do whatever I want and I have feminine charm and I work hard.
But I made a choice. Yeah, that choice was kind of hard for me.
But it was my choice, and it was what I wanted.
Because I knew what I wanted, and I knew what I wanted in my marriage.
I knew that my career path was about to be rocked because it wasn't about just me anymore.
Because this feminist thing looks down on women for taking a "back seat".
Guess what? I'm not in the back seat.
I would like to submit that I'm actually just in the passenger seat.
Taking turns driving on this adventure. Helping be the navigator.
Helping make decisions
I believe that it's not all about me.
Novel, right?

So what gives? What do I think about the feminist movement?
I don't believe in fighting for people to respect me because I'm a woman.
I don't like labels.
I want respect because of who I am and what I do.
I want equality in whatever form that is for me because I'm Taylor.
I believe change starts not when we shove change at people,
but when we act accordingly to what we believe.
Show it.
Show the little girls of the rising generation
what they can do and who they can be through your example.
BE who you believe you can be. Be who you tell them they can be.
History is hardly ever written by those who argued.
By those who complained.
History is written by people that stood up and did.
They took action and did what they believed.
So girls, don't be scared. Don't sell yourself short.
Apply for the job. Be the astronaut. Be the entrepreneur. Be the mother to your babies.
Live your dreams, and give women hope of living theirs.

So yeah, maybe I'm a little feminist if that's what you want to call it.
I believe in the power of women.
I believe in their power to make a difference, do great things, and change the world.
But I don't want to be treated differently (good or bad) because I'm a woman.
I want to fight for respect, and earn it.
I want to show people who I am by the content of my character and the quality of my work.
I want to make a difference as a mother someday, and as a contributing member of society.
Yeah, and I want to do that while supporting my husband in his career.
That's a choice I've made.
I respect women who work, I respect women who stay home,
I respect women who are single or married.
I love women and I believe in their power.
I believe we are given gifts and talents that often men don't have.
We are different and that's beautiful.
We can do anything we want, I just hope your choices are yours.
I hope it isn't influenced by the world one way, or the other.

I am capable.
I am team mom.
I am a woman.
I am good enough.
I am grateful.




3 comments:

  1. Proud isn't even adequate for how I feel about this post from YOU! Always-- you have been who you are and striving for who you want to become, because you CAN DO ANYTHING, and you make whatever that is yours! Lots of love coming your way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. wow, i love this!! i love this.

    ReplyDelete

comments are my love language.