hawk eyed feminism: feminist trekking across the universe

As the year draws to a close the World Wide Web has been crammed with annual lists. We’ve seen the Daily Life’s 20 Most Influential Female Voices of 2012, Forbes’ The World’s Most Powerful People and the list capable of causing an internet meltdown, Buzzfeed’s The 30 Most Important Cats Of 2012.

Channelling my inner X Factor contestant I am now going to take you on my “journey” by revealing the Top 3 Ways I Have Grown as a Feminist in 2012.

1. Bringing Girly Back

Upon hearing the phrase ‘I’m just one of the boys’ I am instantly thrust into social escapism mode spurting out the automatic ‘Excuse me, I have to go to the bathroom’ or in most cases, ‘Excuse me, I have to go the bar’. Of course, this wasn’t always the case. There were moments in my life where ‘You’re such a dude, Em’ sent my ego into an absolute frenzy. I felt like I deserved some kind of honourary pin so everyone knew I wasn’t one of “those girls”, who hates beer, is obsessed with clothes and allergic to sport.

If only I knew back then what I know now. So many summer hours wasted in cargo shorts, watching cricket and drinking Coopers instead of Tequila Sunrises. Loving my male friends no longer means needing to be one of them. Instead of betraying my girlhood, I have embraced it.

2. We Are Family; I Got All My Sisters with Me.

Attending feminist events and following feminist writers has given me a greater sense of belonging to the sisterhood. Forums like All Women Hate Each Other have helped me to understand that many of my thoughts and feelings are not purely individual; that they are often in fact a shared consciousness.

I began to see how aspects of my personality such as the constant need to prove myself were closely related to being a female in the Western world. Of course what I am saying is a simplified version but hey, it’s my “journey”.

3. Dropping the F-bomb

I was brought up on bedtime tales such as The Paper Bag Princess and Princess Smarty Pants that not-so-subliminally taught me the values of female independence (thanks Mum!). However despite living a life driven by feminist principles, it has only been in recent times that I have really started to own being a feminist. I am now completely comfortable dropping the F-bomb into everyday conversation and no longer care that people look at me and think, ‘Eeww! She’s got a bad case of The Feminism’.

Writing from a feminist perspective has also further cemented this sense of ownership and given me the confidence to speak out and question the notion that you ‘catch more flies with honey’. In homage to the fabulously, feisty Germaine Greer, my New Years resolution is not going to be to eat less chocolate, find love and get fit. No, my resolution is to stop being so “goddamn nice” and strive to be more “difficult”.

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